Plastic — Toys, Baby Bottles, Pacifiers, and Teething Rings

Please note that this section contains my personal notes from my readings on this topic.

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In the 1980s the EPA and the National Toxics Program (NTP) conducted studies that showed DEHP caused cancer in rodents.  In reaction, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) asked toy makers to remove DEHP from any products that babies might put in their mouths, for instance rattles, teething rings, and pacifiers.

The European Union has gone further.  Although phthalates are the cheapest option for softening plastic, these countries have recently mandated that any DEHP, BBP, and DBP in toys sold in any of its twenty-five member countries be replaced with nontoxic alternatives.  The EU has prohibited three additional suspicious chemicals — diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), and dioctyl phthalate (DOP) — from pacifiers and baby bottle nipples, as well as other articles for children designed to go in the mouth.  This represents a progressive governmental action affecting twenty-seven countries (as of 2007), benefitting the health of their 457 million inhabitants.

– The Toxic Sandbox (2007) by Libby McDonald; pages  89 – 90