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Kortlægning og sundhedsvurdering af kemiske stoffer i hobbyprodukter til børn

Summary and conclusions

Hobby products such as glue, paint, colours, marker pens and textiles are in the hands of children every day, but the marketing of these products is not specifically targeted at children, because these products are used in many other and different connections.

Therefore the products are not always manufactured with due consideration to the fact that children are more sensitive than adults to the effects of hazardous substances.

This survey focuses on the following hobby products:

• Marker pens
• Glitter glue
• Acrylic paint
• Shrink plastic

In the survey children are defined as persons up to an age of 14.

Survey activities

Our investigation activities are described below:

• Retailers
  In total we went to 21 places of purchase, hereunder 3 hobby stores, 4 toy stores, 2 department stores, 3 supermarkets, 2 discount stores, 1 bookshop, 2 DIY centres, 1 museum shop, 1 post office, 1 paper store, and 1 wholesaler. The product selection was made in consultation with the shop assistants and the selection was based on the requirement that the products should appeal to children and should sell well. Subsequently, questionnaires were submitted to the contact persons.
   
• Web search
  The shops searched over the internet 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.
   
• Child care institutions
  We have been in phone contact with a number of child care institutions (2 nurseries, 2 recreational clubs and 1 after school centre) to obtain information about what type of hobby products they were buying within the different product groups and how they handled their procurement.
   
• Art schools/art clubs for children
  Phone contacts were established and subsequently questionnaires were submitted to a number of art schools/clubs.
   
• Catalogue search
  Advertising matters and shopping catalogues for e.g. child care institutions were reviewed and questionnaires were submitted to relevant distributors and importers.
   
• Manufacturers and suppliers
  Questionnaires have been submitted to totally 36 distributors and importers of marker pens, glitter glue, acrylic paint and shrink plastic.
   
• The Joint Council for Creative and Hobby Materials (FFFH)
  The FFFH is an association of manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of hobby materials in Denmark. FFFH^[1] reports that an increasing number of municipalities requests their child and juvenile institutions to use products which comply with the labelling guidelines of FFFH.

Consumption of hobby products

Statistics Denmark was not able to provide consumption figures of the 4 product groups.

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).

Chemical analysis

The analysis proved that more critical substances were likely to be volatile, organic components and it was therefore decided to focus on this substance group in the chemical screening and the subsequent quantitative analyses. In addition, X-ray analysis has been carried out for determination of inorganic components and NIR-analysis.

To obtain sufficient sensitivity with the applied analysis method and thus the lowest possible detection limit, it was decided to use gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry as analysis principle.

Initially, a chemical screening was made in order to determine any volatile, organic substances present in the products. The initial screening detected more than 70-80 different organic substances. Around 50 of these were classified as being hazardous to health. In consultation with the EPA it was decided to quantify approx. 20 substances.

Tabel 0.1 shows the results of the quantitative analyses of the products with the highest content of the substances listed in the table.

Table 0.1 Selected results of the substances with the highest quantified content

By a comparison of the quantitative analysis and the results of the chemical screenings it has been observed that the different colour types from the same product may contain different components.

Within the scope of this project it has not been possible to carry out analyses of all the colour variants in the analysed products and it is thus possible that more of the products may contain components with higher content of the identified substances than demonstrated in connection with the quantitative analyses. Likewise, there may be hazardous substances which have not been identified, because the relevant colour variant was not taken out for analysis.

Health assessment

When children work with marker pens, gel pens, glitter glue and acrylic paint skin contact and absorption through the skin is almost unavoidable. The substances may also be absorbed orally if children are sucking their fingers or are mouthing the objects. Exposure scenarios have been made for skin and oral absorption of marker and gel pens, glitter glue and acrylic paint assuming that ink/paint has been applied to the child’s palms, corresponding to 50 cm² and a weight of the product corresponding to approximately 0.05 g marker pen, 1.25 g acrylic paint or 3 g glitter glue. It is assumed that the same amount can be taken in orally.

Tabel 0.2 lists the substances with long-term effects such as carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic effects (CMR) and allergenic substances.

The demonstrated health effects can be seen from Tabel 0.2.

Table 0.2 CMR and allergenic substances in marker pens, glitter glue, and acrylic paint

In total we detected:

• 12 allergenic substances
• 7 substances with possible or proved carcinogenic effect
• 3 substances with mutagenic effect
• 3 substances with reprotoxic effect

P-chloroaniline is for example carcinogenic at concentrations on 2 mg/kg/day in mice and rats, and the substance is classified as carcinogenic in category 2, as can cause cancer. The content of p-chloroaniline in the acrylic paint no. 55 is analysed to be 0.37 mg/g. The exposure via skin is estimated to be 0.031 mg/kg body weight/day when it is assumed that the uptake is 100 % and 1.25 g of paint is in contact with the skin. This gives a margin of safety on 65, and the margin of safety should in this case be 1000. This gives an unacceptable high exposure of p-chloroaniline , which effect both the risk of cancer and an effect on the red blood cells. P-chloroaninline can also cause sensitisation with contact to the skin. Acrylic paint no. 55 is no longer sold.

The pigment C.I, pigment red 3 has been found in acrylic paint no. 54 in the concentration 104 mg/g. Carcinogenic effects has been seen in 2 % of test animals (rats) at concentrations on 830 mg/kg and weight loss has also been seen in 10 % of the animals at this concentration. It has not been shown that these carcinogenic effects can be transferred to humans. The oral exposure can be estimated to be 8.7 mg/kg bodyweight, when it is assumed that 1.25 g of paint is taken in. This gives a margin of safety on 95 and a small risk.

The solvent 2-ethoxy ethanol is found in a pink and a red marker pen with product no. 25 in the concentrations 1.9 % and 0.74% respectively. The substance is classified as harmful to reproduction in category 2. The risk assessment shows that there is no risk when children are exposed to 0.05 g of the substance from a marker pen. The product is not legal, as it is not allowed to sell chemical substances and preparations with concentrations of CMR-substances higher classification limit. Marker pens are preparations since it contains ink, which is a preparation, and the purpose of the ink is to come out of the marker pen. The marker pens are not legal and are no longer sold.

The result is that hazardous substances have been found in 10 products, 5 being glitter glue products, 4 acrylic paint products and one gel pen. It should be noted that only a part quantity of the marker pens in each product has been analysed (one product is e.g. a packet with a number of marker pens in different colours).

The aroma pens contained the allergenic substances d-limonene, benzyl alcohol and citrale in concentrations of between 0.01 and 0.1 percentage weight

An estimate of maximum evaporation of formaldehyde in a small child’s room shows that the formaldehyde content in 6 gram (approx. 6 ml) glitter glue will at the max contribute with up to 25 % of the recommended indoor climate concentration in a child’s room of the size 3 * 3 * 2 m. It is assessed that there are no health effects when glitter glue is used in a small room, but it is recommended that activities with larger amounts of glitter glue (several tubes) should not take place in small child’s rooms with insufficient air renewal.

A wide range of the products contain substances classified as harmful to health, but only a small part of the products pose a risk, but both children and adult will be exposed to the substances from different sources. It is therefore disturbing that so many substances in the hobby products have these serious effects.

The following products did not contain CMR or allergenic substances.

Acrylic paint: nos. 7, 8, 9, 18, 34, 35, 36, 40, 41, 48, 49, 51, and 56

Marker pens: nos. 1, 11, 12, 22, 30, 31, 32, 39, 42, 43, 47, 62, 63, and 64

Gel pens: no. 4 and 44

Glitter glue: nos. 13, 14, 23, 28, 38, 53 – however, formaldehyde with concentrations < 0.01 mg/g has been detected in products nos. 13, 23, 28, 38, and 53

Legislation

The analysed products are covered by Statutory Order no. 329 on classification, packaging, labelling, sales, and storage of chemical products, 2002.

Hobby products for children are considered toys and are covered by Statutory Order on Toys no. 1116, 2003 if the Danish Safety Technology Authority estimate the products as toys. The Statutory Order refers to the standards DS/EN 71-1 - 71-7 with safety and health requirements to toys. An EU standard for organic substances, DS/EN 71-9, has been completed, but is not yet legally implemented. The products with the carcinogenic effect, primarily amines aniline, p-chloral-aniline and anisidine do not observe the requirements in the standard for organic substances DS/EN 71-9, as the substances may not be identified in coloured liquids from toys. The only risk identified is from p-chloroaniline.

Environmental assessment

The results of the environmental assessment show that liberation of the chemical substances through washed off residues of ink and paint from the children’s hands does not represent a threat to the water environment.

[1] Telephone conversation on 9th August 2006 with Birger Schjerning; Schjerning Colours

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Version 1.0 April 2008, © Miljøstyrelsen.