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Survey, emission and health assessment of chemical substances in baby products

Summary and conclusions

Several baby products are intended to more or less to get in direct contact with baby skin or be in close contact to the skin. Moistening in the form of water, saliva, sweat or urine may cause that substances contained in the products, which can be released to these liquids, may get into contact with the skin or mouth of the baby.

Besides uptake of chemical substances through the skin and from the baby sucking on the material exposure may also take place by inhaling of gasses slowly released/evaporating from the baby product of dusty particles and fibres released during use.

The products included in the examination are primarily baby products intended for at children at the age of 0 to 1 year. Baby products have been deliberately selected that based on information from retailers are sold to a reasonable extent.

The project primarily concerned products of textile or plastic with an upholstery or padding. In addition also baby products of flexible foam material were included.

Baby clothing, bed linen (bolster case), shaped plastic objects (bath tubs, chamber pots, comforters, and baby plates), baby cutlery, and toys, wooden beds (cots) and baby care agents/remedies were not included in the project.

Survey

In the survey, the following activities are included:

• Contact to retailers
• Search on the Internet
• Use of questionnaires
• Evaluation of the material from the different types of baby products relating to the content of health hazardous substances.

Consumption of baby products

As several of the larger enterprises/retailers with specialty in baby and child products have not presented detailed and specific information it was not possible directly to estimate the actual consumption of the individual types of baby products.

Nor Statistics Denmark presented a possibility to estimate the consumption of baby products, therefore the volume of trade of the different product types and trademarks must be based on rough estimates.

Some of the products may due to their durability be used for more than one child. In return, supplementary products per child may exist in e.g. child care centres and day-care facilities and perhaps also at grand parents.

Tthe number of purchased new perambulators per year is evaluated to be considerably lower than the number of newly born, which is approx. 65,000 per year, i.e. approx. 25-40,000 perambulators per year.

For other less expensive and less durable baby products the number of pieces per year is evaluated to be closer to the number of new-borns at an estimate of 40-60,000 pieces.

In co-operation with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, the following types of baby products are selected for a further examination of their content of chemical substances and colorants harmful or of concern to the health:

• Pillows for baby feeding (product no. 4, 5).
• Baby carriers (product no. 9, 10).
• Nursing pillows/ cushions with different covers and stuffing (product no. 7, 8).
• Baby mattresses with stuffing of foam, to beds (product no. 6, 13).
• Aprons to perambulators (product no. 11, 12).
• Disposable foam washcloths (product no. 1, 2, 3).

Each selected baby product is represented by 2 different articles or trade marks, for the disposable foam wash cloths, however, 3 different articles. Thus, a total of 13 products have been selected for further examination. The products are presented in Table 0.1.

Chemical analyses

The 13 different products were selected and divided into subsamples for chemical analysis.The products were analysed for i.a. colourants, organic tin compounds, flame retarders and were screened for phthalates and organic compounds. Additionally, migration tests were carried out in saliva and sweat.

Assessment related to ecolabelling

Several of the products contain compounds that exceed the limit values to acquire ecolabels. Only one of the examined products carries an ecolabel: product no. 10 which is EcoTex labelled.

Health assessment

The following conclusions could be drawn from the study:

• All analysed baby products contain measurable quantities of more than one compound classified as hazardous to health and/or environment
• No substances with hazardous health risks were found in the products.
• The analysed disposable foam wash cloths contain 2 substances with carcinogenic, sensitizing and reproduction toxic effects.
• The analysed pillows for baby feeding emit formaldehyde which is probably sensitizing and in higher concentrations carcinogenic by inhalation and may cause sensitisation by skin contact. The assessment shows that the worst case migration to skin may contribute significantly to the acceptable daily intake in this case it is assumed that 100% of the formaldehyde is absorbed via the skin
• The analysed nursing pads contain low concentrations of substances with carcinogenic, sensitizing and reproduction toxic effects which may have a possible health risk in some cases.
• The analysed baby mattresses contain low concentrations of substances with a possible reproduction toxic effect in some cases.
• There are uncertainties in the assessment of the absorbed amount of 2-ethylhexane acid in the products which have not been subjected to migration tests. This means that within this uncertainty there may be a slight health risk with two of the disposable foam wash cloths, one mattress, and one of the nursing pillows.
• One product contained compounds (phthalates) forbidden by Danish and EU-legislation to occur in certain childcare products above a set amount. The excess has been reported to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
• Some of the products contain several substances with chronic effects which are also found in a number of other products in the society. The effect of such multi-source exposure must be of major concern as babies are a sensitive part of the population and should be protected from chemical exposure.

In Table 0.1 is shown the evaluated substances.

Table 0.1 Health effects of evaluated substances

From analysis data of the emitted substances in Table 0.1from the different products a margin of safety (MOS) was calculated when possible and the health risks was assessed.

For the individual products the overall result was:

Product no. 4 (baby feeding pillow) and 5 (baby feeding pillow) contribute with a significant part of the acceptable daily intake of formaldehyde.

DEHP was found in product 11 (apron for perambulator) with no risk found in the assessment, but with a considerable uncertainty in the estimate regarding migration conditions.

In product no. 8 (nursing pillow), the content of phthalates in the product or parts of the product was above the allowed limit of 0.05 wt% stipulated in Statutory Order no. 151 of 15/03/1999, banning phthalates in toys for children aged 0 – 3 and in certain childcare articles. The excess has been reported to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

For the products 9 (baby carrier) and 12 (apron for perambulator) no possible risk of health effects was found and no phthalates with content above allowed limits was present.

Environmental assessment

The classification of the substances regarding the environment is given in the Table 0.2 below.

Table 0.2 Overview for environmental classification

N.C.: Not classified as dangerous to the aquatic environment (N-CLASS 2005).
*: Proposal (EU Risk Assessment Report on styrene 2000).
**: Proposal (Danish EPA, Advisory list of self classification 2005).

The three substances hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane and toluene 2,4-diisocyanate (TDI) are very toxic, toxic or harmful to aquatic organisms, respectively and may all cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment. The discharge and exposure of these substances to the aquatic environment should therefore be reduced or prevented.

Furthermore, the possible environmental effects of the substances 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EHA), 2-bromo-4,6-dinitroaniline (BDNA), hexaethylene glycol dimethyl ether and tetrapropylene glycol monomethyl ether are not known due to lack of data. The discharge and exposure of these substances to the aquatic environment should therefore be minimized until the possible environmental effects are known.

It may be assumed in general, that the direct waste water discharge of substances from the daily use and washing of these types of products, except for the disposable washcloths, is minor compared to other kinds of e.g. textiles, which are washed more regularly. The wash cloths contain 2-EHA among other substances, which may be discharged to the waste water system through continued use of new cloths. As HBCD and the phthalates are substances with low vapour pressure and a high log Kow value, it is most likely that the majority of the content will remain in the products during the time use of their lifecycle unless the products get in contact with organic solvents or are heated to higher temperatures for longer periods. Nevertheless, the release of these substances to the environment will most likely proceed in small amounts as long as products contain these substances.

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Version 1.0 March 2008, © Danish Environmental Protection Agency