American Chemistry Council Responds to Data on Phthalates and Toys in USPIRG'S Annual "Trouble in Toyland" Report
The American Chemistry Council provides data to address claims made regarding phthalates and toys in USPIRG's annual "Trouble in Toyland" report.
Arlington, VA (PRWEB) November 21, 2007
The American Chemistry Council points to research to contradict suggestions made by USPIRG's "Trouble in Toyland" report. Responding to the annual study, Marian Stanley, manager of the American Chemistry Council's Phthalate Esters Panel (http://phthalates. org/), says, "USPIRG's annual 'Trouble in Toyland' report gives only minor attention to phthalates, yet even this minor attention yields major mistakes. Surely if PIRG is going to publish this annual survey, it can at least take the time to serve the public's interest -- and children's interest -- by doing its research before going to print."
Ms. Stanley outlines the discrepancies between the claims made by "Trouble in Toyland" and third party supported research:
1. The report claims that EPA studies show the cumulative impact of phthalate exposure shows an 'exponential increase in associated harm.' In fact, there has been one study by an EPA researcher on the subject of additivity. This study makes no claim of 'harm,' and showed that the cumulative exposures it measured were below EPA safety levels (http://www. phthalates. org/yourhealth/human_exposure_chart1.html).
2. The report also claims that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show phthalate levels in humans are "higher than levels shown to cause adverse health effects." Contrarily, data from the CDC (http://www. phthalates. org/yourhealth/human_exposure_chart1.html) show that both average exposure and exposures at the 95th percentile are far below the levels that have resulted in adverse health effects in some rats. (Only for critically-ill neonates getting life saving treatment involving flexible vinyl tubing and other equipment has it been hypothesized, but not shown, that levels might exceed federal safety levels.)
3. Also in the USPIRG's report are claims that phthalates have been linked to "abnormal genital development in baby boys." In actuality, the author of a statistical study looking for a link between phthalates and health effects in baby boys (http://phthalates. org/yourhealth/endocrine. asp) said there was no such abnormal genital development - stating flatly that she detected "no frank genital malformation or disease."
4. Additionally, according to "Trouble in Toyland" phthalates have been linked to premature delivery and early onset puberty. While one study did claim to show evidence of babies being born one week early, that is hardly the definition of premature. Another study on early puberty has long since been demonstrated to have been conducted improperly and is generally considered invalid.
5. And finally, the USPIRG report claims that the Consumer Product Safety Commission said there might be a risk to children who mouth toys for "'75 minutes a day or more'." However, the CPSC later did its own observational study (http://phthalates. org/yourhealth/childrens_toys. asp) of mouthing habits of children and found that the norm was a very few minutes at most.
"We expect better from PIRG…not another round of the kind of partial reporting and misinformation we see on the Internet and in news reports every day," concluded Ms. Stanley. "Parents face tough decisions regarding what toys to give their children, and deserve accurate information."
###
