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Survey and health assessment of chemical substances in hobby products for children 1 Survey
Danish children are in daily contact with a number of different hobby products as for instance glue, paint, colours, marker pens and textiles. As these products are not specifically targeted at children they are not manufactured with due consideration to the fact that children are more inclined to have direct skin contact (and even mucosa contact) to the products and are less conscious of the content of hazardous substances. Further children have a higher breathing rate than adults relative to their body weight, and are thus more exposed than adults at a given concentration of volatiles. Although labelling directives exist, which enable parents and purchasers in daycare institutions to choose products with the lowest possible content of hazardous substances, there is generally a need for more information on this issue. The analysed products are covered by Statutory Order No. 329 about classification, packaging, labelling, sale and storage of chemical products, 2002. Thus, products shall be labelled according to the requirements in the Statutory Order. If the Danish Safety Technology Authority estimates hobby articles to be toys, then the toys shall have a CE-mark and the products are covered by the health and safety requirements to toy (Statutory Order No. 1116, 2003). Hobby articles like glue or paint that have a content of dangerous substances shall be labelled with a risk label that shows the safety and risk. The below hobby product groups for children are included in the survey:
These product types constitute a representative selection of the product range in the shops. Marker pens and acrylic paint are used by both children and juveniles (and adults) for drawing and painting. Shrink plastic is a relatively new material within hobby articles. Glitter glue is a less defined product, which is presumed to appeal especially to children. 1.1 PurposeThe purpose of the project is to examine which hobby products are available on the Danish market and what is the consumption pattern. Further, data have been collected from manufacturers and suppliers on content of substances in the various products. 1.2 LimitationMarker pens, acrylic paint etc. used by children are not necessarily marketed to children, as more of the products are actually used by both children and adults. For the 4 product groups (marker pens, acrylic paint, glitter glue and shrink plastic) the following delimitations have been made:
Children are defined as persons up to the age of 14. 1.3 Method/procedureApproaches were made to:
1.4 Implementation1.4.1 RetailersVisits were paid to a number of retailers (total 20) and to one wholesaler and their assortment of the 4 product groups was inspected. The retailers were:
Product samples have been bought in all the visited shops and at the wholesaler. The products to be selected, which were all bought in consultation with the shop assistant, should appeal directly to children and should sell well. Subsequently, questionnaires were submitted to the visited shops or to their headquarters. 1.4.2 Web searchThe applied search words and their hits on the web appear from Table 1.1. Table 1.1 List of search words and number of hit
We did not buy any products over the internet, as the webshops were toys chain stores or similar, which had also physical shops. Further, more of the webshops had a product range within hobby materials which was primarily directed at professional users. We found, however, one or two smaller internet shops with a reduced product range for children. These web sites typically focus more on activity proposals and application examples. 1.4.3 Child care institutionsA number of child care institutions have been contacted (2 nurseries, 2 recreational clubs and 1 after school centre) in one municipality to find out which products they were using within the individual product groups and how they were undertaking their shopping activities. The institutions, we were in contact with, used only suppliers, which observed the requirements for hobby products laid down by the municipality. Their shopping was effected through sales representative visits, online ordering, or phone ordering. In cases where the institutions faced an acute need for a specific hobby material, such purchase was made in a specified hobby shop. 1.4.4 Art schools/art clubs for childrenWe made phone contact to a number of art school/clubs for children and questionnaires were sent out concerning estimated consumption, product names, etc. Questionnaires were submitted to the following art schools and clubs:
Three of the submitted 6 questionnaires were responded. 1.4.5 Catalogue searchAdvertising matter including shopping catalogues for e.g. child care institutions have been reviewed and questionnaires have been sent to relevant distributors and importers. 1.4.6 Manufacturers and suppliersQuestionnaires have been submitted to a total of 36 distributors, manufacturers and importers of markers pens, glitter glue, acrylic paint, and shrink plastic with questions about i.a. product name, sales figures and substances of each product. At the time of the deadline only 6 companies had responded and a reminder resulted in further 4 responses, i.e. 10 responses were received out of 36 possible! Additionally, more of these were inadequately filled in. 1.4.7 Contact to FFFHThe Joint Council for Creative and Hobby Materials (FFFH) is an association of manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of hobby materials in Denmark. Today, about 25 companies are associated to the FFFH, and manufacturers, importers and distributors are equally represented. FFFH has elaborated labelling guidelines and specific criterion for creative and hobby materials. The FFFH guidelines classify the hobby products in according to four specified categories, labelled A, B, C and D[2]. Products labelled A may be used by children from the age of 3. The A label implies that these products comply with the safety criterions of the FFFH. Products labelled B can be used by children from an age of 5 years, but under adult expert guidance. The product does not meet the most restrictive demands of FFFH (A)². Products labelled C may not be used by children and juveniles under the age of 15. These products do not comply with neither the EU regulations (The Toy Directive) or with the criterions of the FFFH². D-labelled products may only be used by adults. The D label implies that the products are labelled with a danger symbol, e.g. harmful, irritant or inflammable substances². Apart from the classification the FFFH labelling system also include information about substances in the products and an instruction in use and storage. The information about the product substances are based on information from the manufacturer. FFFH[3] reports that an increasing number of municipalities require from their child and juvenile institutions that they are using products which comply with the labelling guidelines of FFFH. 1.4.8 Statistics DenmarkContact has been made to Statistics Denmark and information has been retrieved from the database “StatBank Denmark”. The information achieved from Statistics Denmark was partly about the possibility of specifying the extent of consumption of the individual product groups and partly data on the children population under the age of 14. 1.4.9 Other contacts1.4.9.1 SKI Statens og Kommunernes Indkøbs Service A/S ( National Procurement Ltd. – Denmark)We contacted SKI to find out whether there was any call-off agreement on hobby products for children which was, however, not the case. 1.5 Purchased productsThe selection criterion for purchase of primarily marker pens and glitter was that the packaging should appeal to children in the form of illustrations and/or colours. Further the shop assistants were questioned about which products within the specific product group they were selling with children as target group. Based on the application possibilities of shrink plastic this product is presumed primarily to appeal to children. Acrylic paints sometimes come in packagings which are very attractive to children; however, the product group as such is not specifically targeted at children but is sold to both children and adults. Within the 4 product groups we have chosen articles which according to the shop personnel products sell in larger amounts. The products purchased cover both the cheap and the expensive end of the market. 1.5.1 Marker pensMarker pens are easy-accessible as they can be bought everywhere: at gas stations, convenience stores, kiosks, department stores, bookshops, hobby shops etc. Part of the marker pens sale consists of lots as part of e.g. one of the main attractions in the weekly advertising paper or in a discount shop. The product group itself is easily defined (pens with felt tip), whereas it is a bit more difficult to distinguish between pens to be used by children and pens to be used by adults. There are two easy identifiable groups: marker pens for professional use and pens which through the packaging or colours or similar are aimed at children. But in-between there is a grey zone in this product group where a systematic and unambiguous definition cannot be made. This fact has impact on not only the purchase of these products but also on the importers’ and manufacturers’ specification of their product range. Within the group marker pens we have purchased in total 26 units with each 1-50 items. The price of the purchased marker pens is in the range of DKK 0.49-15.00 per pen. Table 1.2 gives a survey of the marker pen types, shop type and the price. Table 1.2 list of marker pens purchased
1.5.2 Glitter glueGlitter glue is a product group which appeals to the aesthetic sense of children, especially girls, but is also used by adults for e.g. invitation cards etc. Like marker pens, glitter glue products are imported in lots, which are sold as special offers and do not become a regular part of product collection. Within this product group we have bought 11 units with each 1-9 items. The glitter glue has been bought partly as a kind of pen (cartridge in soft squeezable materials), and as loose glitter to be dusted on glue. The price for the purchased products lies between DKK 1.00 and DKK 9.67 per glitter pen/cartridge with glitter. Details about the purchase appear from Table 1.3. Table 1.3 List of purchased glitter glue products
We have chosen to include gel pens in our survey, although they can be classified neither as marker pens nor as glitter product. We have provided only a few products in this category (3 packets with 3, 6, and 30 pens, respectively). Gel pens appeal to both children and adults. According to the shop assistants gel pens with glitter are mainly sold to children, whereas the adults are buying the pens without glitter. The price for the products is between DKK 1.67 and DKK 11.65 per glitter pen/glitter cartridge. Details about the purchase appear from Table 1.4. Table 1.4 List of purchased gel pen products
1.5.3 Acrylic paintA very few of the products are aimed directly at children. Some of the products, however, were packed in a way that would primarily appeal to children or they were available in toy stores. Acrylic paint products, bought in convenience stores, hobby shops, and DIY centres, were selected in consultation with the shop assistant. In total we bought 18 units of acrylic paint. 15 of the units were single tubes/bottles/jars and 3 of them came in a package with 12 small tubes/jars. The price was in the range of DKK 7.99 to DKK 66.46 per 100 ml. Information about the purchased acrylic paint, the shop and the price appears from Table 1.5. Table 1.5 List of purchased acrylic paint products
1.5.4 Shrink plasticShrink plastic is a relatively new article and is sold in a limited number of shops. In this project we succeeded in finding the product only in a couple of hobby shops. In the other shop types, the shop assistants did not even know that the product existed, and moreover, we have been asked by importers, manufacturers and similar what shrink plastic was. According to FFFH³ shrink plastic is on its way out again after only 2-3 years on the market. Within this product group we have bought 5 units with 1 to 5 sheets per unit. The price of the products was in the range of DKK 7.95 to DKK 17.44 per sheet. Information about the shrink plastic, the shop and the price appear from Table 1.6. Table 1.6 List of purchased shrink plastic products
1.6 ConsumptionIt was not possible to get a quantitative specification of the consumption of the 4 product groups from Statistics Denmark. SKAT (the Danish Tax Authority) states that marker pens have their own KN-code[4] but it is not possible to determine how the consumption is distributed on children and adults. According to SKAT, the 3 other product groups (glitter glue, acrylic paint and shrink plastic), have no individual KN-code. The information provided by manufacturers, importers and distributors is not sufficiently comprehensive and precise to make an estimate of the consumption in Denmark. According to Statistics Denmark there were 1,015,879 children below 14 years in 2006 and it is presumed that most children were in daily contact with markers pens, whereas not nearly all children are users of the three other product groups (glitter glue, acrylic paints, and shrink plastic). 1.7 Product ingredientsUpon purchase of the hobby products covered by this project, we contacted distributors, manufacturer and importers to get information about i.a. contents of substances in their products. Only 10 of the 36 distributors, manufacturers and importers returned the questionnaires and of not all of these answered the questions about substances in the products. The questions regarding content of substances were not limited to the products included in this project, but did also include other products within this category. [3] Telephone conversation on 9. august 2006 with Birger Schjerning; Schjerning Colours [4] KN-code is an 8-digit product code number (KN ~ Kombineret Nomenklatur)
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