July 2013
Featured in this insight: Chemicals, Education, Medical & healthcare, Children & young people
Study finds toxic chemicals in toys used by pre-schoolers: The Centre for Public Health and Environment Development (CEPHED), based in Nepal, recently released findings that toys can contain deadly chemicals such as lead, mercury, chromium and bromine.
Research was conducted on 100 samples collected from footpaths, educational enterprises, supermarkets, departmental stores, and toy shops. Ram Charitra Sah, Executive Director of CEPHED said:
"While collecting the samples we tried to include wide range of toys in terms of colour, composition, materials and country of manufacture."
According to the research report more than half (54%) of the toys sold in the market contain toxic chemicals that pose a risk to children’s health. Among the 100 samples, 28 toys were contaminated with lead, 1 with mercury, 9 with cadmium, 14 with chromium and 40 toys with bromine.
Ram Charitra Sah then stated:
"We were shocked by the results that showed that children are exposed to higher levels of toxic chemicals."
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