On Tuesday 7th July, CHEM Trust and the Child Accident and Prevention Trust jointly ran a parliamentary event hosted by MP Ruth Jones, ex-Shadow Minister for chemicals and MP for Newport West and Islwyn.
MPs dropped in to learn about how out of date the UK’s toy safety regulation is, and the need for the UK to match the EU’s recent revamp to toy safety regulation. The EU’s new approach vastly increases the level of protection for children from harmful chemicals in toys. For example, it bans:
Known and suspected hormone disrupting chemicals- PFAS ‘forever chemicals’
- A group of 10 harmful bisphenols
Children are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of hormone disrupting chemicals as their bodies and brains are still developing and are therefore more sensitive to disruption.
You can read more about what the EU has done to improve toy safety here.
Hearing from the experts
It was important for MPs to speak to health experts, following a letter to the government signed by 50 clinicians, patient organisations and scientists raising concerns about the continued presence of harmful chemicals in children’s toys.
MPs met and were able to hear from scientific and clinical experts, including Professor Fowler, who specialises in the effects of hormone disrupting chemicals on reproduction and development.
“Endocrine disruptors and other chemicals, like forever chemicals, are clearly linked with ill health and development in pregnancy, babies and children, such as increased risk of metabolic disease. These chemicals have no place in toys.” Professor Paul Fowler, Chair in Translational Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen
We were delighted that MPs also heard from Josephine Frame, midwife and Green Perinatal Care Officer at Health Care Without Harm (Europe), who is running a project to remove harmful chemicals from maternity units in UK hospitals.
MPs also spoke to the child safety expert, Katrina Phillips, Chief Executive of the Child Accident and Prevention Trust, and CHEM Trust’s team, as chemical regulation experts.
Our recommendations
We want the UK to match the new EU toy safety standards, including protections from harmful chemicals and other key improvements in the EU regulations, such as new obligations on online retailers to ensure they sell safe toys. You can read more about our asks in our joint briefing, available here.
“Early childhood is a critical and uniquely vulnerable window for development. Young children explore the world through their mouths and because their bodies are still developing, low-level chemical exposure can accumulate over time. Most chemicals are overwhelmingly tested and regulated individually, not as the real-world cocktails children are actually exposed to, so the true risk is likely underestimated. When it comes to children’s health, we can’t afford to wait for absolute proof of harm before we act on strong and mounting evidence of risk. I’d rather act early and be on the right side of history.” Josephine Frame, registered midwife and Green Perinatal Care Officer at Health Care Without Harm (Europe)
UK government action on harmful chemicals in toys
The Department for Business and Trade have just launched a Call for Evidence asking members of the public, as well as consumers and businesses, what the benefits and costs would be if the UK introduced similar requirements to the EU’s toy safety regulation. This is a positive step forward, and our event came at a perfect time for MPs from different political parties to highlight the need for the UK to swiftly match the new EU protections. Delaying or failing to act could mean that toys no longer deemed safe for children in the EU are dumped on our market.
Next steps
In the coming weeks, MPs will be writing to the Minister responsible for product safety calling for children in Great Britain to have the same level of protection as children in the EU from harmful chemicals in toys.- You can find out more about the call for evidence and have your say here. CHEM Trust will be putting out more information about this soon.
A huge thank you to Ruth Jones MP for championing this issue, our event partner, CAPT, and to our wonderful scientific and clinical experts both in attendance and supporting this initiative from further afield!
You can watch our reel of the event here.
Find out more about how you can reduce your child’s risk of exposure to harmful chemicals here.
