Phthalates in Children’s Toys and Child Care Items
What are Phthalates?
ChemServe Laboratory specializes in the testing of regulated phthalates in children’s toys. Phthalates are a group of chemicals used in hundreds of products, such as toys, vinyl flooring and wall covering, detergents, lubricating oils, food packaging, pharmaceuticals, blood bags and tubing. In addition, they are present in personal care products, such as nail polish, hair sprays, aftershave lotions, soaps, shampoos, perfumes and other fragrance preparations.
Visit the FDA phthalates page for more information.
Three phthalates have been permanently prohibited by Congress in concentration of more than 0.1% in “children’s toys” defined as a product intended for a child 12 years of age or younger for use when playing, and a “child care article” defined as a product that a child 3 and younger would use for sleeping, feeding, sucking or teething.
Three additional phthalates are prohibited pending further study. This interim prohibition applies to child care articles or toys that can be placed in a child’s mouth and contains a concentration of more than 0.1% of the above phthalates.
Phthalate testing at Chemserve
ChemServe is certified to perform phthalate testing for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. It employs microwave preparation sample preparation techniques followed by GC/MS analysis. The analysis includes the six phthalates that must currently be below the level of 0.1%. They are:
- Dibutyl Phthalate
- Di-(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate
- Benzyl Butly Phthalate
- Di-n-octyl Phthalate
- Diisononyl Phthalate
- Diidodecyl Phthalate.
Our laboratory follows the procedure developed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission: CPSC-CH-C1001-09.4
Phthalate testing is one part of the broad toy testing program and consumer product testing at ChemServe. We also provide compliance analysis in meeting the ASTM F963 Toy Standard and analysis by ICP for:
- Antimony
- Arsenic
- Barium
- Cadmium
- Chromium
- Lead
- Mercury
- Antimony
- Selenium
