The Ministry of Environment announced that after a fact-finding investigation on the status of toxic materials in 3,009 children’s goods distributed from April 2014 to April of this year, it discovered that 121 items or 4 percent of the investigated products contained excessive levels of toxic materials. (image: Franklin Heijnen/flickr)
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Environment authorities have cracked down on toys, stationary and household items with more than permissible levels of toxic chemical materials and heavy metals. These noxious materials even can cause neuropathy among children, and the government ordered manufacturers issue recalls and stop selling the products.
The Ministry of Environment announced that after a fact-finding investigation on the status of toxic materials in 3,009 children’s goods distributed from April 2014 to April of this year, it discovered that 121 items or 4 percent of the investigated products contained excessive levels of toxic materials.
Among the 121 items, 10 products exceeded the risk control standard for children’s health protection under the Environmental Health Act. Eight products, including plastic toys, dolls and bath toys, contained more phthalate than the permissible level, and two accessory products had more cadmium than the standard.
In some products, the toxic content was serious. One eraser contained more than 43.6 percent phthalate, 430 times more than the permissible level of 0.1 percent, and a hairpin was found to have 33,690㎎/㎏ of lead, 374 times more than the permissible level of 90㎎/㎏.
Among the 121 products, authorities ordered 34 to be recalled and made public its investigation results on its homepage. Among the 34 recalled products, 12 items were made in China, while most Korean products to be recalled were manufactured by small-sized firms.
Phthalate is an endocrine disrupting chemical, and can cause infertility or a reduction in sperm count.
However, as some of the products were produced even before the enactment of the Environmental Health Act (July 2013) and the Quality Control and Safety Management of Industrial Products Act (July 2011) and are being distributed at traditional markets and small stationary shops, a complete recall of the products is expected to be impossible.
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
