Inspectors find phthalates in toys and chromium VI in leather articles
Hundreds of consumer products with illegal amounts of restricted chemicals: these were the findings of a Europe-wide project of ECHA’s Enforcement Forum.
The inspection in 27 European countries showed a relatively high number of products on the European market containing chemicals that are restricted under REACH. Inspectors checked more than 1000 mixtures, almost 4600 articles and 17 substances, and 18 % did not comply with the restrictions.
The most frequent breaches were phthalates in toys (20 % of inspected toys contained such phthalates as DEHP, DBP or BBP at levels above those permitted), cadmium in brazing fillers (14 %), and chromium VI in leather articles (13 % of the tested products).
Overall, most of the breaches were found in products, which had origins that could not be identified (39 % of such products did not comply), followed by products imported from China (17 %).
The report highlights the companies’ responsibility to get information on the chemical composition of their products from their suppliers. This may also include proactively testing the products and making agreements between suppliers so that the chemical composition complies with the chemicals legislation.
Information source: ECHA
Full report available here.
Photo: pixabay.com
