Survey of Chemical Substances in Consumer Products, No. 88 2007 – A survey and health assessment of cosmetic products for children – 2 Definition of cosmetic products for children

A survey and health assessment of cosmetic products for children

2 Definition of cosmetic products for children

The project deals with cosmetic products for children. In this connection two things ought to be defined: What are children? And what are cosmetic products for children?

According to the ILO (International Labour Organisation) convention – C13 Minimum Age Convention (ILO, 1973) children are defined as being below 15 years when it comes to age limits for child labour. “Young workers” are defined as being older than a child, i.e. 15 years and above, but below 18 years.

In this project the same definition of children is used, i.e. children are up to 14 years. This corresponds to the limit being used in the Toys Statutory Order (Danish: Legetøjsbekendtgørelsen). Here toys are defined as products which clearly are designed or intended for play purposes for children below 14 years” (Stat. Ord. 1116, 2003).

However, there is also a need for a low limit as the project by definition from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency does not cover products for babies. Babies or infants are often defined as children less than 1 year or children who cannot walk yet. However, the purpose of this project is to survey cosmetic products aimed at children or attractive for children, i.e. it is essential to include an aspect regarding when children can express a wish to get something. It is expected that this ability is not particularly labelled until the age of about 3 years. Therefore, the age of 3 years is used as the low limit in this project.

In other words, cosmetic products for children are in this connection defined as products focusing on children at the age of 3-14 years.

Insofar as products for quite small children are not included in the survey the aspect that small children can suck the toys is neither included.

In this project, cosmetic products for children are defined as:

Products directed to children. I.e. they are labelled with ”Kids”, ”Children’s” (Danish: “Børne-“) or ”Junior”.
Products which by virtue of their appearance are directed at children (for instance in the form of a car or princess figure). In other words, they have a special design or a special appearance appealing to children.

The cosmetic products do not include:

Decorative cosmetics, i.e. make-up, nail varnish, Shrovetide make-up, as this area has earlier been covered by the survey projects of the Danish EPA.
Lip care products if even they are especially directed to children as this area has earlier been covered by the survey projects of the Danish EPA (No. 55 “Survey of lip care products with scent, taste etc.”).
Suntan lotion. This is a wish from the Danish EPA as suntan lotion also includes other problems, aside from allergenic substances.
Products, especially directed to babies and infants. I.e. among others products with the label inscription “baby”.

Table 2.1 is an overview of the types of cosmetic products for children.

Table 2.1: Types of cosmetic products for children

	Products for children
Products labelled especially for children with ”Kids” or similar	Hair shampoo Balsam/balsam spray Body shampoo/bath gel Body lotion/cream Eau de toilette/perfume Deodorant Massage oil^{^{^[2]}} Soap (solid soap – small soap figures or liquid) Hair dyes (rinsing colours) Bath oil Bath confetti/bath caviar/fizzle salt Hairstyling products Bobble bath Toothpaste
Products with special design so it can be confused with toys	Hair shampoo Balsam Body shampoo/bath gel Body lotion Bobble bath Eau de toilette/perfume Can all be designed as dragoon, cars, Star Wars, Disney, Barbie etc. However, especially bobble bath is designed as all sorts of figures.

Footnotes

^[2] Massage oils for children are studied in an earlier survey project. Therefore they are only included if they are not studied in the project in question.