QC councilors want toxic toys banned

Three Quezon City councilors have pushed for the approval of a measure that would require local health officials to take steps to ensure that all toys sold in the city are not harmful to children.

In the resolution drafted by Councilors Dorothy Delarmente, Eden Delilah Medina and Lena Marie Juico, they cited the growing demand for playthings during the Christmas season as the reason for the proliferation of toxic kids’ toys.

They cited a September 2012 study conducted by the environmental watch group EcoWaste Coalition, which discovered high levels of toxic metals such as antimony, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury in 74 of the 150 toy samples bought from Divisoria district retailers in Manila.

According to EcoWaste, out of the 150 samples, 54 were tainted with lead of up to 14,100 parts per million (ppm) when the US limit is pegged at 90 ppm.

The councilors likewise cited the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead in Paint, which noted that lead was “a chemical of major public health concern that could have profound and permanent adverse health effects on children.”

These included mental retardation, developmental delays, learning disabilities, lower IQ scores, poor school performance, attention deficit disorder, aggression and other behavioral problems, as well as anemia, hearing loss and kidney damage.

Delarmente, Medina and Juico stressed in their proposed measure that “health experts have declared no safe threshold for lead exposure among children and have recognized the reduction of childhood lead exposure as a fundamental goal in public health.”

Under the proposed ordinance, the Quezon City Health Department will coordinate with the Department of Health and Food and Drug Administration to ensure that toys sold in the city are safe for children.