California First to Ban Phthalates in Baby Products
By Elizabeth Weise
Manufacturers of toys and baby products will have to begin reformulating some plastic items made for the California market in 2009.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation into law on Sunday that makes California the first state to ban phthalates, a controversial family of chemicals added to plastics to make them pliable.
Exposure in even small amounts has been linked in some studies to early puberty in girls, genital defects and reduced testosterone production in boys and impaired sperm quality in men, although the chemical industry disputes the strength of the studies.
Under the new law, any product made for young children that contains more than one-tenth of 1% of phthalates (pronounced "THA-lates") cannot be made, sold or distributed in California beginning in 2009.
Environmental groups have primarily been concerned with products that children could put in their mouths, as well as baby bottles and other items that hold food for kids.
Marian Stanley, manager of the Phthalate Esters Panel, an industry group, says that of the several forms of phthalates, the most common one used in products for young kids is diisononyl phthalate, used primarily in teething rings, rattles and pacifiers.
Legislation similar to the California bill was introduced in Oregon, Maryland and New York in 2005 and 2006, but none advanced out of legislative committee. Lawmakers in Washington state are considering a bill, says Marisa Walker of the Breast Cancer Fund, a non-profit group that focuses on environmental causes of breast cancer.
Environmental groups are contemplating pushing for phthalate bans in Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois and New Jersey, said Dan Jacobson, legislative director at Environment California.
The European Parliament voted in 2005 to ban three forms of phthalates in toys and child care items and restrict use of three others in items children might put in their mouths. Canada has had a voluntary agreement not to use phthalates in kids’ products since 1998.
The chemical industry has not determined how it will react to the new California law. "Now, people are just evaluating our options, looking at where do we go from here," Stanley says.
"This law is the product of the politics of fear. It is not good science, and it is not good government," says Jack Gerard, president of the American Chemistry Council. "Thorough scientific reviews in this country and in Europe have found these toys safe for children to use. California businesses will now be obliged to take products off the shelves that their customers need and want."