Byrne set to restrict use of PVC in toys

Date: 07/10/1999

By Renée Cordes

HEALTH Commissioner David Byrne is certain to come forward with plans for new restrictions on the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in toys, according to his officials.

"We will come forward with a proposal and it will not take too long," said a spokeswoman this week. She added, however, that Byrne had not yet decided whether to propose an all-out emergency ban on the use of the softening agents known as phthalates.

Speculation that the European Commission would take action to limit the use of PVCs revived last week when the EU's leading scientific expert committee decided that two new tests could not decisively show whether softening agents contained in toys such as dummies and teething rings were toxic to children.

The panel found that the tests could not distinguish effectively between safe and unsafe toys, prompting renewed calls from environmental groups for PVC to be outlawed immediately.

"This takes away the last line of defence for the industry and there is no reason for Byrne not to come forward with an emergency ban," said Axel Singhofen, EU toxics adviser at Greenpeace International. "Doing further tests would be a waste of resources."

Over the past few months, Austria, Denmark, France, Fin-land, Greece, Italy and Sweden have announced unilateral bans on the use of phthalates, and Germany has said it plans to follow suit.

However, Europe's chemical and toy industries insist that a Union-wide emergency ban would be premature, given the lack of information about alternatives to phthalates.

"We believe that the use of phthalates in toys is safe," said Maurits Bruggink of the Toy Industries of Europe, claiming that it "could be dangerous to force consumers to use products with substances which are less well known than phthalates" .