Today, a group of 50 patient organisations, healthcare professionals and scientists sent a letter to the UK Government urging it to align with the EU’s update to its own toy safety regulation.
The letter calls for the UK to match the science-led approach taken in the EU. The decision to update the EU’s toy safety regulation was driven by an assessment showing that the regulation did not reflect the latest science on the health effects of harmful chemicals allowed for use in children’s toys.
The new EU regulation bans known and suspected hormone or endocrine disrupting chemicals, (EDCs), chemicals toxic to the respiratory system and specific organs, and introduces group bans on bisphenols and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This October, the EU took its penultimate step in rubber-stamping the new law.
The signatories outline the specific vulnerability of children to chemicals that interfere with the hormone system due to the fact that their organs and nervous systems are still developing, which entails complex processes highly sensitive to disruption. They also reference human biomonitoring studies from across Europe that show children are widely exposed to EDCs, with levels in their bodies often detected at higher levels than adults.
The letter outlines the health impacts associated with EDCs, including some hormonal cancers, obesity and diabetes, impacts on the immune and neurological systems and early puberty. The UK has a very high incidences of some of these associated diseases, such as the development of breast and prostate cancers, which affect 1 in 7 women and 1 in 8 men. The signatories urge the government to take all opportunities to prevent exposure to chemicals linked to these diseases and the substantial social, clinical, and financial burden they place on the NHS.
About the signatories
The 50 signatories include 6 patient and health research organisations, 22 academics, and 21 healthcare professionals spanning a range of disciplines, including midwifery and obstetrics. CHEM Trust signed as the charity coordinating the letter.
Signatory Laura Maclachlan, Doctor in Environmental and Occupational Medicine said:
‘Governments have a responsibility to protect the health of our children and future generations and banning harmful chemicals in toys is a crucial step towards reducing exposure and improving the wider environment around us.’
To coincide with the letter, health and environment charities, including a number of cancer charities, also wrote to the government urging them to match this update. The NGOs highlight that the new EU regulation will be in place in Northern Ireland and call for the same level of protection across all four nations. They also stressed the risk of toys considered too unsafe for children in the EU being dumped on the UK market without a commitment to match these new standards.
Since the UK left the EU, it has fallen behind the level of protection from harmful chemicals. NGOs have been calling for an explicit commitment to align with the EU on chemicals in the upcoming Environmental Improvement Plan to ensure people and the environment benefit from the same level of protection as our EU neighbours.
Chloe Topping from CHEM Trust said:
‘We urge the government to listen to the expertise and lived experience of the signatories of this letter and take action to ensure children in Birmingham are as protected from harmful chemicals in toys as children in Belfast and Bologna’.
Suzanne Astic from the Child’s Rights International Network (CRIN) said:
‘Children have the right to grow, learn and play free from exposure to harmful chemicals. Yet in the UK, the outdated rules still allow hazardous substances in toys. The European Union recently revised its Toy Safety Regulation, banning endocrine-disrupting and forever chemicals, introducing digital product passports and tightening oversight of online marketplaces. The UK must not fall behind. To uphold children’s rights, the UK should strengthen its toy safety legislation, raising enforcement standards and closing the gaps that allow unsafe toys to reach children’s homes’.
More information about the EU update to toy safety.
