Brussels, 26 Oct. 1999 - Greenpeace today revealed that Health Commissioner David Byrne and Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Liikanen are jointly proposing an EU-wide emergency ban and a permanent ban of soft PVC teething toys for children under three years old (1). Greenpeace welcomed that the European Commission is finally moving ahead on banning soft PVC teething toys. However, Greenpeace stressed that the proposed measures are insufficient and inconsistent with the Commission's acknowledgement of a serious and immediate health risks for babies.
Both ban proposals would only cover the toys intended to be put into the mouth. All toys that are not meant for teething but are likely to end up into a child's mouth should merely be labelled "ensure that this toy is kept out of the mouth" via the long-term permanent proposal. No immediate market withdrawal of the banned toys is foreseen.
"After two long years, it is great to see that EU Commission finally admits that soft PVC toys are dangerous products that can have harmful impacts on health. This a knock-out punch to the PVC and plasticisers industry, which has spared no effort nor trick to defend the use of hazardous soft PVC in baby products", says Axel Singhofen, EU Toxics Advisor from Greenpeace International. "However, these minimalist measures are completely insufficient to address the concerns the EU Commission itself recognises".
Greenpeace points out to the well-known fact that small children explore the world by putting everything into their mouth, and referred to Dutch tests showing that small children spend more time sucking on toys not meant for teething than on toys meant for teething (2). Restricting the ban only to teething toys would, therefore, ignore a major part of the problem. Furthermore, a permanent ban of this narrow scope would diminish the protection already in place or pending in 7 out of 15 EU Member States. These countries have included all toys for under- three-year-olds in their national bans.
"To label toys for babies with 'keep out of the mouth' is absurd - it is like labelling sun-glasses 'should not be worn in the sun'", said Singhofen.
Greenpeace condemned the lack of a market withdrawal from the current proposals. A ban of future marketing alone would mean that all toys that have left the factory, e.g those on their way to Europe from China, or in stock and on shelves, could continue to be sold.
"Allowing the continued sale of products which are known to represent a serious risk to small children is utterly irresponsible. We call on the EU Commission, the Member States and the trade to ensure a full and immediate market withdrawal of all soft PVC toys for children under three. We do not want anymore hazardous soft PVC Christmas presents", Singhofen added.
Notes to editors:
(1) The two proposals are currently undergoing EU Commission interservice consultation. The proposal for a permanent ban has also been sent to Member States for comments, which allowed Greenpeace access to the document. A decision by the Commissioners on both proposals is foreseen for 10th November, 1999.
(2) Phthalate release from soft PVC baby toys (September 1998) Kñnemann WH, ed.
