Phthalates to be banned in toys and childcare articles 

The nearly seven-year-old temporary ban of six phthalates in the manufacture of toys is about to become a permanent directive. 

The Council finally adopted a common position on the issue on 4 April 2005 agreeing on the need to ban the phthalates in toys for children under the age of three, but saw no need for the labelling of toys for over three-year olds. 

The Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) adopted, on 14 June 2005, a strong line in favour of compulsory labelling on toys containing phthalates. 

In a compromise text drafted by the Parliament and the Council officials, the Council has abandoned the 'age of three' limit on restrictions and the Parliament has given up on nearly all its other demands (including the labelling requirement). 

The compromise proposes to ban three types of phthalates (DINP, DIDP, DNOP) "in toys and childcare articles which can be placed in the mouth by children". More products than initially planned will thus be affected by the directive.

Europe's toy industry association (TIE) has strongly reacted to the compromise proposal and expects it to have a serious and negative impact on the toy industry. "It will set a dangerous precedent for Reach and sound science," it said in a statement. It draws attention to the risk assessment done by the European chemicals bureau (ECB), which concluded that DNIP is safe for use in its current application in toys. "The substitute currently favoured by the European parliament has not been assessed by the ECB, which calls into question the validity of the EU risk assessment process," adds the TIE.

Greenpeace's European Unit commented on the issue by underlining the "important lessons" that are to be drawn from this for the REACH chemicals legislation. "There is a clear need to have an independent audit of the risk assessments to be submitted by the industry to ensure credibility and effectiveness of the new system," said Jorgo Riss. "Phthalates are proven to be hazardous, and can easily be replaced by using non-PVC materials. Without legislation that would consistently require the chemicals industry to use safer alternatives, there is sadly little hope the chemicals industry will clean up its act," he added.