Potential Risks from Toys Linked to Chemical Exposures

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For there to be health harm from a chemical three elements are required: 1) a chemical must have toxic effects; 2) an individual must be vulnerable to the toxic effects; and 3) sufficient exposure must occur.  Children and toys represent a special case of this triad, termed the "risk triangle," because children may have increased vulnerability to chemical harms, and children have potential exposure to chemicals through play with toys. Figure 1 depicts the relationship between these three elements and children. If chemicals used in toys are potentially toxic and capable of migrating out of the toy into the child during normal play or foreseeable misuse, then adverse health effects are possible.

            IFCS Forum IV adopted a decision on Children and Chemical Safety that explicitly acknowledges that special consideration needs to be given to children because of their “potential enhanced exposures and/or vulnerabilities."[i]  This applies to chemical exposure through toys in a number of ways. Children are physically and physiologically immature.[ii] Throughout childhood they grow and change in terms of their physical size and proportions, and their vital organs and organ system functions.  Chemical exposures during certain critical periods of development can result in damage, at times permanent, to critical structures and functions such as the brain and nervous system, the endocrine and reproductive systems, and others. Depending on the state of development and a variety of other factors, a child’s ability to successfully metabolize and excrete chemicals differs from that of an adult, sometimes offering them greater protection and sometimes increasing their vulnerability.  Children's behaviors put them in intimate contact with toys and potentially the chemicals in toys through normal and intended play, as well as through excessive mouthing, sniffing, cuddling, rough-housing, breaking, swallowing, or inserting into nose, ears or other orifices.  Finally, the cognitive development of a child may be inadequate for him/her to appreciate warnings or dangers associated with a given toy.  For all of these reasons, chemicals used in toys have the potential to end up inside a child's body, either at a dose that is sufficient to cause harm, or at a time when even small doses can be harmful.

            Reported and potential adverse health effects associated with chemicals in toys can be categorized as acute poisonings, chemical burns, allergic sensitization, or more subtle, sub clinical damage from low-dose exposure, damage from short or long-term exposures to chemicals that lack acute toxicity, or early life exposures contributing to delayed illness expressed in adult life. (See Table 1)  Acute poisonings are most commonly a result of ingestion of a toy, toy part or toy fragment, but may also occur with inhalation of volatile materials, or absorption from excess dermal contact.  Burns from caustic chemicals can affect the skin, mucus membranes including eyes, or the lining of the gut or lungs.  Both acute poisonings and burn events are readily identifiable, and are frequently associated with visits to medical professionals.  Thus, systems could be developed to track acute toy-related chemical events through poison control centers, or hospital and emergency room admissions.  In contrast, current surveillance mechanisms do not allow for definition, identification, tracking, or control of risks and harms associated with early life chemical exposures linked to sub clinical illness or allergies during childhood, or delayed illness in adulthood.[iii]   

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[i]"Chemical Safety in a Vulnerable World"  Forum IV.  Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety.  Bangkok, Thailand, 1-7 November 2005. Final Report. IFCS/ForumIV/16W.  Available at  http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum4/en/f4rep_en.pdf   Accessed 13 May 2006

[ii]IFCS FCS Working Group Chaired by Hungary.  Protecting Children from Harmful Chemical Exposures;  Chemical Safety and Children's Health.  IFCS/FORUM-IV/11 INF 7 October 2003.  Available at  http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum4/en/11inf_en.pdf   Accessed 13 May 2006

[iii] IFCS FCS Working Group Chaired by Hungary.  Protecting Children from Harmful Chemical Exposures;  Chemical Safety and Children's Health.  IFCS/FORUM-IV/11 INF 7 October 2003.  Available at  http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum4/en/11inf_en.pdf   Accessed 13 May 2006