The EWG Action Fund has attested four of 28 boxes of crayons tested positive for asbestos.
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The two crime scene fingerprint kits that were found to contain asbestos are the EduScience Deluxe Forensics Lab Kit and the white fingerprint powder in Inside Intelligence Secret Spy Kit.
All were made in China.
Four brands of children’s crayons and two kids’ crime scene fingerprint kits were found to contain asbestos, according a report released Wednesday.
And asbestos was found in two of 21 toy crime lab kits it evaluated.
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.
“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, professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
According to the news release, the contaminated crayons were purchased from February to May 2015 from PartyCity and Dollar Tee, in a suburban county near San Francisco. The tiny-nearly invisible-fibers float through the air and can be easily inhaled, resulting in scarring, inflammation, and breathing impairment over time.
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring minerals and prolonged inhalation of fibers can trigger serious and fatal illnesses including cancer. The lab toys, on the other hand, were ordered through ToysRUs.com and Amazon.com.
Ex- US Assistant Surgeon General Richard Lemen welcomed the report.
“Clearly some toy manufacturers haven’t done enough to protect children and others from asbestos in consumer products”.
Another expert, Christopher Weis, agreed. A senior toxicologist and senior advisor with the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md, Weis adds, “It’s the policy of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services that there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos”.
“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”.
“We require that every product we carry meets or exceeds all applicable state and federal laws, industry standards, codes and requirements”.
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Read the full report.
