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Mapping of perfume in toys and children's articles

5 Mapping of fragrant children's articles

• 5.1 Sub-activities of the mapping
• 5.2 The mapping
  • 5.2.1 Introductory overview
  • 5.2.2 First contact to the trade
  • 5.2.3 Questionnaire and inquiries for declarations and sales figures
• 5.3 Products located in the mapping
  • 5.3.1 Declarations and sales figures for fragrant products

5.1 Sub-activities of the mapping

The mapping was divided into the following 3 activities:

• An overall mapping of the Danish market for toys and children's articles that both contain perfume and appeal to children aged 0-10 year.
• Procuring declarations, if possible.
• Estimating the size of the sale of the above products in Denmark.

The activities are described in the following.

5.2 The mapping

5.2.1 Introductory overview

An overview of products containing fragrances or flavouring agents, appealing to children aged 0-10 years and sold in Denmark, was prepared via Internet searches, distributor contact and contact to selected families with young children.

This preliminary mapping resulted in a list of approximately 15 named fragrant products for children.

5.2.2 First contact to the trade

From the list of products, addresses and telephone numbers of retailers, suppliers and importers of the products searched for were found. These distributors, suppliers and importers were subsequently contacted on the phone. It was not possible to find the telephone number of two of the distributors. These distributors were contacted via e-mail instead.

At this introductory contact, the content of the project was described and the ones contacted were asked if they would fill in a questionnaire on their range of toys and children's products containing fragrances or flavouring agents. The persons contacted were informed that the investigation did not include theatre make-up, ordinary make-up or body care products.

When the distributors, suppliers and importers were contacted, they were asked if they had any knowledge of other similar fragrant products.

In total, 23 distributors, importers and suppliers were contacted, distributed as 9 distributors and 14 importers/suppliers:

Two of the distributors represented convenience stores, three represented specialty shops for children's products and one represented trading in books and paper articles, whereas the remaining three distributors all were characterized by having a large selection of cheap products. Among the 14 importers/suppliers, 4 were specialized within books, office and writing articles, 7 were specialized within toys and children's products (2 of them within babies' products). The 3 last suppliers/importers were dealing with accessories for mobile telephony, toys sold together with sweets and mixed leisure and furniture and fittings.

5.2.3 Questionnaire and inquiries for declarations and sales figures

The questionnaire contained questions about product names, producers, importers/suppliers and the size of the sale of the products. In the covering letter of the questionnaire, the contacted persons were also asked to enclose any declarations of contents and/or safety sheets for the single products.

The questionnaire was sent to 18 distributors, importers or suppliers. Furthermore, 5 distributors, importers or suppliers were interviewed on the phone, corresponding to 23 contacts in total.

Of the 18 questionnaires, seven were duly filled in and returned.

5 of the 18 contacted distributors, importers or suppliers informed that they did not want to participate in the investigation. The remaining 6 of the 18 contacted distributors, viz. Danish Supermarket (Nielsen 2004), Coop Denmark (Kirchhoff 2004), Jysk (Bank 2004), Nokia (Hylstofte 2004), Søstrene Grene (Grene 2004) and Tiger (Nielsen 2004), informed that they do not sell products containing fragrances or flavouring agents.

When the distributors, importers or suppliers were subsequently contacted on the phone or via mail, declarations and sales figures were asked for.

5.3 Products located in the mapping

In total, information on 15 product types containing fragrances was received.

Some of these product types contained several product components with different scents. Examples hereof are speed markers and mechanical pencils with various scents of fruit. Furthermore, there is a series of fragrant rubber figures with 14 different scents. If all single products of the product series are included, 68 products containing scent have been identified.

The products identified occur from table 5.1 below.

As the market for toys and children's articles containing fragrances changes very quickly, the present mapping should thus be seen as a snapshot of a moving picture. That the market changes quickly can be seen from the fact that product D03 (space hoppers with scent) was no longer available at the time of investigation in spite of information about the marketing of the product in Denmark. Furthermore, the products D10-D14 were being phased out and it could be established that the products only were available in non-scented versions in the autumn of 2004 (about 5 months after the start-up of this investigation) The D15 product (flower) is no longer on the market.

The distributors informed that some products are only available on the market for a very short period of time. The distributors refer to these products as "crazes". As examples of crazes can be mentioned products like slime with coke scent and fragrant stick-on labels with certain figures. Moreover, there are seasonal articles like school timetables and products with "Christmas scents". No seasonal goods were identified during this mapping.

Table 5.1 only includes products where the scent is intended and forms part of the marketing of the product. This means that for instance Pokémon figures in Pokémon balls are not included in spite of a clear scent of coconut, as the scent is not used for the marketing of the product.

Table 5.1: Result of the mapping of fragrant toys and children's articles, June 2004. Overview of products, product series and scents.

^ Is no longer on the Danish market

5.3.1 Declarations and sales figures for fragrant products

Several distributors, importers or suppliers informed that declarations and sales figures were confidential and therefore could not be disclosed. Information relating to the received declarations has been treated confidentially.

In total, declarations of two products/product series and sales figures for eight products/product series were received. As none of these producers wanted the declarations published, the declarations were conveyed to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency as confidential material. The received declarations have been controlled for declared sensitizing substances according to the list in table 4.1 and it can be established that four of the products in the product series D08 (speed markers) have a declared content of sensitizing substances, viz. the speed markers with lemon, rose, chocolate and violet scent. From the confidential declarations, it appears that four of the five declared fragrances in the speed marker with lemon scent are on EU's list of sensitizing substances. As to the other speed markers, two of four, one of six and one of eight fragrances are on the list.

Data sheets for CE labelling of 8 products were submitted. However, the content of fragrances in the products does not appear from these data sheets.

Information about sales figures has been submitted for 8 of the products/product series. These sales figures are confidential and have been conveyed to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. From the data provided, it has not been possible to estimate the size of the market for fragrant toys and children's articles in Denmark.

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Version 1.0 March 2006, © Danish Environmental Protection Agency