By State Rep. Christopher W. Babbidge

D-Kennebunk

Are your child’s toys safe to use? Last week, in a hearing by my committee, the Committee on Natural Resources, I heard disturbing testimony. I learned that some Chinese manufacturers produce two sets of products, one for the U.S. market, and a safer, toxin-free line for Japan and Europe. Why? I know that the European Union has adopted advanced laws to protect public health and environment.

The problem is that, here in the United States, regulation to assure product safety is inadequate, even according to federal agencies such as the GAO. The Toxic Substances and Control Act (ToSCA) passed in 1976, has been the framework for federal regulation of chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. But the approximately 80,000 chemicals used in commerce were grandfathered, and in the last 42 years only five chemicals have been restricted.

Lead in children’s toys from China has recently made mainstream news as it continues to be a problem. About 890,000 American children between ages one and five have elevated lead levels.

Representatives of the toy industry flew in to Augusta to testify before our committee. They said that 80 percent of all toys in the U.S. come from China. They said that the lead violations recently reported resulted from a breakdown within the industry, but that the industry has safety guidelines which are adequate when followed. They also said there is no requirement to test children’s toys for toxic chemicals, and that the recent flap was uncovered by a private citizen’s complaint.

I did some research and found such a case. A Bedford, Mass. resident decided to test the toys in his church’s nursery. Using his Woburn company’s XRF analyzer, he discovered that their Fisher Price rattles and Little Tykes cars measured well above the lead standard. Fisher Price recalled 1.5 million toys worldwide last August.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) negotiates recalls with manufacturers. The CPSC had 40 recalls in 2006, followed by 61 in 2007. Lead was banned in paint in 1978, but outsourcing has caused many recent recalls. Last June the CR2 company recalled 1.5 million units of the Thomas and Friends railway toys. Last August, Mattel recalled  9 million toys, some purchased as far back as 2003. The recalls were followed by full-page ads by Mattel with the lede, “Because your children are our children too.”

The Center for Disease Control was concerned late last year with incidences of lead toxicity in contact lens solution, eye shadow, pet food and toothpaste. Mattel’s armband for its toy blood pressure cuff tested high, and Mattel accepted returns, but there was no recall. Some, like Toys R Us, did pull it from the shelves. Other items causing recalls included a cooler for breastmilk storage, a baby bottle cooler, pencil pouches, children’s sunglasses, potty training seats and Halloween ugly teeth, the latter issued on Halloween day, in time for newspapers after the holiday.

Recent recalls for lead include coin banks on Jan. 10, children’s blocks on Jan. 24, reading and math aids by SRA and Glencoe on Jan. 31, children’s sketchbooks on Feb. 6, children’s table and chairs on Feb. 8, Life of Faith charm bracelets on Feb. 14, and children’s necklaces, as well as children’s memory testing cards, just three weeks ago.

The Baby Connection 7-Pack Feeder Bibs distributed by America’s largest retailer were banned by Illinois in April 2007, but action was not taken by the CPSC on a national level until this January. My daughter, Melissa, a new mother I’m very proud to say, just purchased a reversible bib distributed by iplay babywear that included a “PVC free” label. The company explains with the product that polyvinyl chloride is a plastic that requires toxic chemicals to make it stable and soft for use in many baby items. It is a known human carcinogen. Lead and cadmium, common stabilizers for PVC, are toxic, especially to children, and more especially to children under 2-years-old. The plasticizers used to soften PVC are called phthalates. These phthalates are endocrine disruptors, having been shown to disrupt reproductive functions. Europe and Japan have banned PVC products intended for children under five, but many infant PVC products are still available in the U.S.

Two years ago the Governor’s Task Force to Promote Safer Chemicals in Consumer Products was authorized, and, after twenty-three months of work, their report was issued in December. Among its recommendations was to identify chemicals of high concern, using reliable authorities, with properties of concern including how long they exist in nature, if they accumulate over time in body tissue, if they are cancer-causing, whether they are toxic regarding reproduction, early development, the nervous system, and their effect on key organs. Another recommendation is to authorize the state to restrict the use of these chemicals of high concern, when safer alternatives are available, effective, and affordable.

Is it necessary for the government to ban harmful chemicals, or will responsible corporations police themselves to protect the public? Two years ago, the EPA ruled that the DuPont Corporation covered up company studies that revealed that Teflon causes cancer, birth defects and other serious health problems in animals, and that it was polluting drinking water and the blood of newborn babies. The indestructible chemical is in the blood of 95 percent of the American population. 

DuPont was fined $16.5 million, which paled compared to the company’s $2 billion profit that year. Since testing is not required, most companies don’t check to see if their chemicals pose risk to human health before they bring them to market, and, if they do, like DuPont, they may not act responsibly.

Rep. Hannah Pingree of North Haven has introduced L.D. 2048, An Act to protect Children’s Health and the Environment from Toxic Chemicals in Toys and Children’s Products. Pingree, the House Majority Leader, who mostly lives on a beautiful, pristine Maine island, let herself be one of 13 people tested for toxins last year, and she indeed tested positive for 80 toxic chemicals, with high levels of mercury and phthalates, which are known to cause birth defects and impact brain development in children. If Pingree and all thirteen “random guinea pigs” tested positive, you and I have these chemicals in our bodies, too.

Pingree offered testimony that last year a coalition of 12 groups sponsored a study testing 1,200 common toys, included unregulated chemicals such as admium, arsenic, mercury, and PVC plastic, the latter found in 50 percent of the toys tested.

The press has revealed studies that plastic baby bottles are leaching bisphenol-A, and the shampoo we’re using on our babies is soaked with phthalates. 

Phthalates have been banned in the European Union and California, and Washington state and Massachusetts are pending passage of strong protective legislation.

Pingree’s bill offers a comprehensive process to make products safer. It authorizes the Department of Environmental Protection, with the Center for Disease Control, to identify chemicals of high concern, and, after research and consulatation, to develop a priority list, and to authorize the Board of Environmental Protection to develop major substantive rules that may include chemical bans when safer alternatives are available. 

The latter would require approval by the legislature.

Maine’s infants and toddlers, especially, deserve to be protected from harmful chemicals.

The federal government has failed to do it, and the American Chemistry Council and others have lobbied against Pingree’s bill.

Today, after considerable debate, by a vote of seven for and four against, my committee passed the bill. 

Now it goes to the house and senate.