AS school opening draws near, toxics watchdog groups have detected harmful chemicals in school materials.
On Wednesday, EcoWaste Coalition said finding toxic chemicals like cadmium and lead in purchased school supplies was “unacceptable.”
The group said both chemicals are “linked to decreased cognitive abilities, learning difficulties, and other adverse health effects.”
Using X-ray fluorescence chemical screening, the group saw that 18 backpacks and lunch bags, mostly decorated with cartoon characters, contained 168 to 2,224 parts per million (ppm) of lead, with three items laden with both lead and cadmium; a pouch had 28,230 ppm of lead on the yellow paint of its zipper; and four stainless steel water bottles were coated with paints with lead that range from 3,220 to over 100,000 ppm, which are all way above the 90 ppm for lead in paint and similar surface coatings.
They also detected that seven plastic envelopes, folders and notebook covers had 130 to 330 ppm of cadmium, which exceeds the European Union's limit of 100 ppm for cadmium in plastic.
Three children's raincoats had 282 to 317 ppm of cadmium, while seven brands of vinyl paper clips had 6,740 to 30,710 ppm of lead, which surpasses an EU limit of 1,000 ppm for lead in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in plastic.
“Our latest market investigation shows that toxic school supplies remain a public health issue that our society, consumers, regulators and educators in particular should be concerned about,” EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator Aileen Lucero said in a statement.
“To protect our children's health, we need to impose a full ban on hazardous chemicals in school supplies and other children's products. And we need to make it mandatory for the chemical ingredients of a product to be clearly marked on the packaging, starting with products marketed for children's use such as school supplies and toys,” Lucero said.
The supplies were bought from various retail stores in cities across Metro Manila and online sellers from July 5 to 13.
“Children are most vulnerable to environmental toxicants because they breathe more air, drink more water, and consume more food in proportion to their body weight and because their bodily systems and defenses are still developing. Children's hand-mouth and hand-object behavior further contributes to increased exposures to these toxicants, which may affect a child's development and even her or his health later in life,” Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health specialist Dr. Geminn Apostol said, which was quoted by Ecowaste.
After testing the items using X-ray fluorescence, the group said that 60 of the products did not have any labeling, while others were inadequately labeled.
“None of the samples had chemicals in products (CiP) information, depriving consumers of their right to know and make sound purchasing decisions,” Ecowaste said.
In addition, 11 crayons did not indicate the “non-toxic mark” that signals “conformity to government-set toxicity limits.”
EcoWaste said the detection of lead in some of the analyzed school supplies “may indicate the use of lead in paints or surface coatings, as well as its use as plastic colorants and stabilizers, while the detection of cadmium in PVC products may indicate its use as plastic stabilizers.”
In another statement earlier this week, Ban Toxics called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recall all children's products laced with harmful chemicals, after doing a similar study on school supplies.
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