High levels of toxic substances have been found in over 32% of children’s toys tested in a recent analysis of toxic heavy metals and chemicals in toys on the market in the Philippines. None of the samples, including a toy with 198,900 ppm of lead, provided a list of chemicals that make up a toy nor provided text or graphic warnings. The study, released on the Universal Children’s Day on November 20, the day when the UN General Assembly adopted the “Declaration of the Rights of the Child” in 1959 as well as the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” in 1989, underscores the need to expedite the enactment of the proposed Safe and Non-Toxic Children’s Product Act in the Philippines. The Act seeks to regulate the manufacture, importation, distribution and sale of children’s toys, school supplies, childcare articles and other related products containing toxic chemicals beyond the permissible limits. The study was conducted by the EcoWaste Coalition, a public interest NGO in the Philippines, and IPEN, a global network of public interest health and environment NGOs.
This report relates to Sustainable Development Goals 3 & 12.
Special thanks to IPEN's South Asia Regional Coordinator Tripti Arora and Regional Hub Toxics Link for their important contributions to the development and finalization of the project.
Facilities in Douala are significant sources of lead pollution
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LOCAL health and environmental conservations activists are putting pressure on regulators to impose stringent guidelines on locally manufactured and imported children’s toys as studies show that they are harmful.