General Discussion

MH1

(17,600 posts) Wed Jul 22, 2015, 08:56 PM Jul 2015

What's asbestos doing in kids' crayons?

There is no safe level of asbestos exposure.

Recently, the Environmental Working Group Action Fund, a national nonprofit, commissioned a test of crayons and found that several brands - some marketed under the kid-appealing names of Mickey Mouse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Power Rangers - contained asbestos fibers.

OK, so maybe your child isn't going to be breathing in crayons, and the asbestos just might stay put. Then again, contaminated crayons could release microscopic fibers as they are worn down, the EWG contends, adding that the average child uses 730 crayons by the age of 10.

...

All of the crayons and toys that contained asbestos were imported from China. (The complete results are available at www.asbestosnation.org.)

...

Astoundingly, this wasn't the first time asbestos had been found in either product. Contaminated crayons were found in 2000, and toy crime-scene kits tested positive for asbestos in 2007.

After the previous findings, American crayon manufacturers pledged to stop using talc. But did everyone else? That's why the EWG tested the products again. This time around, Lunder said, no American-made products tested contained any asbestos.

The National Cancer Institute has concluded that "overall evidence suggests there is no safe level of asbestos exposure."

So plenty of people are concerned.

Philip Landrigan, professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, called the presence of asbestos in toys "an unacceptable risk." Landrigan, who reviewed the study, but was not involved in it, is an asbestos expert and former senior adviser to the Environmental Protection Agency on children's environmental health.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/kidshealth/20150719_What_s_asbestos_doing_in_kids__crayons_.html

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Also at the Environmental Working Group's own site:
http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2015/07/asbestos-your-children-s-toys

Kids lovingly wear down crayons through frequent use—as many as 730 crayons by age 10, according to Crayola—and sometimes chew or eat them. Fingerprint kits contain loose powders that kids blow and possibly inhale; the kits even include brushes and straws that make this easier.

The suspected origin of the asbestos in the items that tested positive is talc, a binding agent in crayons and an ingredient in fingerprint powder. Asbestos deposits are frequently found in talc mines and may contaminate talc products. Although the crayons pose a lower risk than the powders, scientists agree that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure.

The dangers of asbestos have been public since the 1970s. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has known about asbestos in crayons for 15 years, and eight years ago asbestos was found in another brand of fingerprint toy. Shockingly, these products are legal in 49 states—only Connecticut bans asbestos in children’s toys.

5 replies

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What's asbestos doing in kids' crayons? (Original Post) MH1 Jul 2015 OP

Asbestos exposure comes from breathing it in. former9thward Jul 2015 #1

So? Children sharpen crayons and play with them in other ways that could result pnwmom Jul 2015 #3

Show me one, just one, scientific study which shows this. former9thward Jul 2015 #4

I'll take the word of the professor in preventative medicine and my own observations pnwmom Jul 2015 #5

Luckily for the importers, TPP will keep meddling legislators from banning asbestos in kids' GoneFishin Jul 2015 #2

former9thward

(32,077 posts)

1. Asbestos exposure comes from breathing it in.

Reply to MH1 (Original post)

Wed Jul 22, 2015, 08:59 PM

Jul 2015

Every scientific study has shown that. More of the "appeal to emotion" and continue the war on science.

pnwmom

(108,994 posts)

3. So? Children sharpen crayons and play with them in other ways that could result

Reply to former9thward (Reply #1)

Wed Jul 22, 2015, 09:11 PM

Jul 2015

in fibers being breathed in.

Every mother knows that.

And did you miss this part:

"Fingerprint kits contain loose powders that kids blow and possibly inhale; the kits even include brushes and straws that make this easier."

And do you think this professor in preventative medicine is part of the "war on science"?

Philip Landrigan, professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, called the presence of asbestos in toys "an unacceptable risk." Landrigan, who reviewed the study, but was not involved in it, is an asbestos expert and former senior adviser to the Environmental Protection Agency on children's environmental health.

How anyone could argue against eliminating asbestos from kids toys is beyond me.

former9thward

(32,077 posts)

4. Show me one, just one, scientific study which shows this.

Reply to pnwmom (Reply #3)

Wed Jul 22, 2015, 09:21 PM

Jul 2015

There is none. That is the war on science, when what "every mother knows that" trumps science. Crayons have been around forever.

pnwmom

(108,994 posts)

5. I'll take the word of the professor in preventative medicine and my own observations

Reply to former9thward (Reply #4)

Wed Jul 22, 2015, 09:24 PM

Jul 2015

over your uninformed opinion.

Crayons come with sharpeners. When using sharpeners, tiny particles are released. Children can inhale particles.

This isn't rocket science.

There have also been multiple studies to assess the risk of ingesting asbestos, and the DHHS conclusion was that "ingestion exposure to asbestos should be eliminated whenever possible."

(And we haven't always imported crayons from China. That's a relatively new development. The testing didn't reveal asbestos in American crayons.)

http://www.asbestos.org/crayons/copyCrayon.html

Public-health experts, including pediatricians and asbestos specialists, reacted angrily and called for the immediate removal of asbestos from crayons.

"It just makes no sense in the world to put a substance with the toxicity of . . . asbestos in crayons when safe alternatives exist," said Dr. Philip Landrigan, pediatrician and director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Brooklyn, N.Y.

"This is not a circumstance where you go through the rigorous toxicological and epidemiological studies," Landrigan said. "You just get it out of there."

SNIP

But in 1987, the Department of Health and Human Services gathered a team of experts from EPA, CDC, NIOSH and OSHA and evaluated 11 studies on ingestion done over the previous 20 years.

The interagency report concluded: "The potential hazard should not be discounted, and ingestion exposure to asbestos should be eliminated whenever possible."

The task force's work was unchallenged by experts in the field and remains so today, said Dr. Richard Lemen, formerly deputy director of NIOSH and an assistant surgeon general.

GoneFishin

(5,217 posts)

2. Luckily for the importers, TPP will keep meddling legislators from banning asbestos in kids'