Asbestos found in children’s toys, lab kits, says environmental group

EWG Action Group says federal health authorities have known since 2000 that crayons could contain asbestos, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission said that although risk of exposure was “extremely low”, crayons should not contain these fibers.

WASHINGTON, DC: An environmental group is calling for a ban on asbestos in products after it found traces of the carcinogen in children’s crayons and toy crime lab kits.

The two crime scene sets were ordered from Amazon.com and ToysRUs.com.

All the products that tested positive were manufactured in China.

Tests by an independent government-certified lab found asbestos in children’s crayons.

“We were surprised”, said Sonya Lunder, report co-author and senior analyst of EWG, via CBS News. “Crayons and crime-scene toys were found to have asbestos in years gone by, and the manufacturers of both had already promised to deal with the problem”, she explained.

The contaminated crayons included Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crayons, Disney’s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Jumbo Crayons and Saban’s Power Rangers Super Megaforce Jumbo Crayons and ones by Amscan, according to the new report.

Some brands for toy crime scene kits use replacements instead of talc, like cornstarch – because in powder form, the asbestos can become particularly unsafe if it goes airborne and is inhaled by children.

With experts saying a child could use an average of 730 crayons by the time he reaches 10 years of age, any amount of exposure to asbestos fibers could be quite bad. The tiny-nearly invisible-fibers float through the air and can be easily inhaled, resulting in scarring, inflammation, and breathing impairment over time.

“Just a couple of fibers can lodge in your lungs and be there forever”, Lunder said.

“These are important findings, because asbestos is being placed in children’s products”, said Lemen, now an adjunct professor with Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta.

After reviewing the study, Dr. Philip Landrigan, an internationally recognized expert in the area of asbestos and other toxic materials and a ex- senior adviser to the US Environmental Protection Agency on children’s environmental health, provided the following statement.

“A child exposed to asbestos is 3.5 more likely than a 25-year-old to develop mesothelioma, a lung disease that is only caused by asbestos because of the long lag time between exposure and diagnosis”.

Read the full report.