Test PH-made dolls for safety, group asks gov’t

A toxics watch group has asked the government to go on a “testing blitz” of locally made dolls after it found a group of industrial chemicals known to affect endocrine and hormone functions in a sample it bought from a store in Divisoria, Manila.

In a recent test-buy conducted by EcoWaste Coalition, a doll made by the Navotas-based New Anding’s Trading and Manufacturing and sold at P100 each was discovered to contain synthetic chemicals called phthalates. These are used to make plastic materials more flexible and harder to break.

According to the group, these chemicals may cause endocrine or hormone problems in children exposed to these toys.

Based on the laboratory test carried out by SGS, a global testing, verification and certification company, the doll head alone contained about 16 percent of phthalate DEHP, way above the 0.1-percent mark set by the Department of Health (DOH).

Through Administrative Order 2009-0005-A, the DOH declared unlawful the manufacture, sale and distribution of children’s toys that contain more than 0.1 percent of phthalates.

Thony Dizon, EcoWaste Project Protect coordinator, said that their group became curious if dolls sold locally were safe from phthalates after European countries took steps to stop the entry and sale of toys, especially dolls, laced with these chemicals.

He added that 18 countries in Europe had banned 165 dolls containing phthalates since 2013 although the Philippine government has yet to take similar action.

The European Union’s Rapid Alert System for Non-Food Dangerous Products revealed that countries like Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom had blocked the entry and sale of doll imports that contain high levels of phthalates.

“This prompted us to buy and send one sample to the laboratory for analysis. We would have wanted to test more products but the cost of analysis is too prohibitive at over P7,500 per sample,” Dizon said.

Last year, the World Health Organization revealed in a study that phthalates could affect fertility in women and cause childhood illnesses like leukemia.

“We sent a formal complaint last week to the Department of Trade and Industry regarding this finding, prompting Undersecretary Victorio Mario Dimagiba to endorse it to the Food and Drug Administration for verification and investigation,” Dizon said.

At the same time, EcoWaste also appealed to makers and sellers of dolls and other plastic toys to comply with the DOH regulation and to properly label their products.

“We also advise consumers to avoid buying plastic toys and shift to nontoxic alternatives,” Dizon said.