Risky mineral Asbestos found in kids’ toys

So here’s the deal: the EWG Action Fund (an investigative organization related to the Environmental Working Group), commissioned asbestos tests for some children’s products.

In the latest edition of “What are manufacturers thinking, and why are they trying to kill our children?”, the Asbestos Nation campaign is reporting asbestos found in some brands of children’s crayons. He reviewed, but was not involved in, the study.

“Asbestos in toys poses an unacceptable risk to children, today as it did in 2000 and 2007, the last time tests found the deadly substance in these children’s products”, said Dr Philip Landrigan, asbestos expert and professor of paediatrics and preventive medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states that: “There is no “safe” level of asbestos exposure for any type of asbestos fibre”.

“Children’s playtime should be filled with fun, not asbestos”, the two senators said.

Check your child’s crayons.

The report did not include the exact amount of asbestos found in each item.

Some stores that sold the products said they are investigating the report’s findings.

And now I’m going to have to be the mean mommy who also insists on checking the brand-name of restaurant crayons before I let my kids color their menus.

A spokesperson for the CPSC told Scientific American that the agency is taking the new report “very seriously”, but “a lot of science will need to go into staff’s work to pass judgement as to whether regulatory action should taken”. “How much of that do they have to inhale in order for their safety to be at risk”, Wolfson said. Landrigan used to be a senior adviser to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on children’s environmental health. It is a fairly common occurrence, as asbestos and talc are often found in the same geological formations. Seven years later, asbestos was found in crime kits.

The crime scene fingerprinting kits were found to contain higher concentrations of asbestos than the crayon samples, and the loose powders can be inhaled more easily than the microscopic asbestos fibers in the crayons.

The four brands of crayon found to contain asbestos were: Amscan Crayons; Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse; Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Crayons and Saban’s Power Rangers Super Megaforce.