Recycling receipts with BPA in them can spread the BPA to other products made with recycled paper, including napkins and toilet paper. If you get a carbonless receipt, don't recycle it. Avoid handling carbonless copy cash register receipts.Use baby bottles with labels that say "BPA free.".Reduce how much canned food you eat and how much canned formula your baby uses.
#Is chewing on plastic bad how to
Understanding Breast Cancer Risk and How to Lower It.Fertility and Pregnancy Issues During and After Breast Cancer.Talking to Your Family and Friends About Breast Cancer.Special Report: COVID-19’s Impact on Breast Cancer Care.While regulations in Europe and elsewhere have banned or limited use of many chemicals in toys, children may still be exposed by playing with something passed down through the generations or picked up at a yard sale or second-hand shop, researchers note in Environmental Science and Technology.
Young children are particularly susceptible to the health impacts of these chemicals because they have faster metabolisms than adults and more rapid growth of organs and tissues. Under these conditions, several toys released quantities of bromine, cadmium, or lead that exceeded limits permitted under toy safety regulations in Europe.
Researchers also did additional tests designed to simulate stomach conditions by putting toys in a hydrochloric acid solution. To assess the amount of chemicals in the toys, researchers used what’s known as X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, a process that scientists often use to determine what chemicals are in rocks, minerals, sediments and fluids. “These residues are likely derived from the recycling of electronic waste.” “The study also found evidence of large quantities of flame retardant residues in some neutrally colored toys,” Turner said by email. “The findings confirm the presence of relatively large concentrations of chemicals which have since been restricted or banned, including the brightly colored pigments cadmium sulphoselenide and lead chromate,” said Andrew Turner, an environmental health researcher at the University of Plymouth. They discovered high concentrations of hazardous elements including antimony, barium, bromine, cadmium, chromium, lead and selenium in many building blocks, figures and items of jewelry that were typically either yellow, red or black.Įven at low levels, these chemicals can be toxic to children who are exposed to them over an extended period of time, especially when kids chew on toys. Toys included cars, trains, action figures, puzzles and blocks - all of which were small enough to be chewed by young children. (Reuters Health) - Children who play with second-hand plastic toys may be exposed to unsafe levels of chemicals like lead and cadmium that have been linked to developmental problems and organ damage, a UK study suggests.įor the study, researchers tested 200 second-hand plastic toys they found in homes, nurseries and charity shops.