Asbestos Contained in Crayons? Who Knew
by
Melinda Helbock on May. 04, 2016
Accident & Injury Mesothelioma
Summary: The Environmental Working Group has started a campaign called “Asbestos Nation” to inform the public of the many dangers of asbestos exposure in our world today. Many people may assume that asbestos exposure risk is a thing of the past but this is not so.
Crayons Contain Asbestos?
The Environmental Working Group has started a campaign called “Asbestos Nation” to inform the public of the many dangers of asbestos exposure in our world today. Many people may assume that asbestos exposure risk is a thing of the past but this is not so.
Asbestos is still allowed to be in many products including:
•
Brakes in cars
•
Floor tile
•
Cement shingles
•
Gaskets
•
Clothing
• Cement flat sheets
One of the more surprising areas where asbestos can be found is in crayons.
Crayons?
Asbestos contamination can occur in crayons because some crayons include talc. When this was found to be the case around 20 years ago, all US manufacturers of crayons agreed to take talc out of their crayons. However, many manufacturers overseas have not done so. According to testing done by the EWG Action Fund, some samples of crayons found that there was asbestos found. Most of the crayons that contained asbestos were made in China.
It goes without saying that asbestos should not be in crayons. By age 10, the typical child has used more than 700 crayons. The potential health hazard is that while he or she is coloring, the child could be exposed to tiny asbestos fibers and inhale them. Also, some children do chew or nibble on crayons.
In 2015, Toys R Us, Party City and Amazon.com announced that they were pulling toxic asbestos crayons from their lines of products. These retailers acted quickly after they learned that some of their inventory contained asbestos.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, this is far from the first time that asbestos fibers have been found in toys. The CPSC stated recently that asbestos has been found in other toys for at least 15 years. This is still legal in most states; at this time, only CT bans all asbestos from toys.
Children’s Crime Kits
Some children’s crime kits also have been found to contain asbestos. The problem lies with the fingerprint powder. As children blow powder off of the brush, the contaminants go airborne. Some kits may contain powder with asbestos fibers in it.
Types of Crayons and Crime Kits That Contained Asbestos
•
Amscan Crayons
•
Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Crayons
•
Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Crayons
•
Sabans Power Rangers Super Megaforce Crayons
•
Eduscience Deluxe Forensics Lab Kit -- black
fingerprint powder
• Inside Intelligence Secret Spy Kit -- white fingerprint powder
How Much of a Risk?
Some people say that that the risk of asbestos exposure in these products is very low. However, OSHA has stated that there really is no safe level of asbestos exposure.
It has been found that being exposed to asbestos for only a few days can lead to serious lung diseases including mesothelioma many years later. It can take from 10 to 40 years for any asbestos related health problem to surface.
The higher risk for children is the fact that there is a long time from exposure until the symptoms of illness appear. There will be more time for mesothelioma or another asbestos related condition to appear.
The UK Committee on Carcinogenicity states that the lifetime risk for a child to develop mesothelioma is about 3.5 times higher for a child who was exposed at 5, compared to an adult that was exposed at age 25.
According to Philip Landrigan, MD, who is a well-known asbestos expert at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, asbestos in any types of toys poses a high risk to children and some toy manufacturers continue to not do enough to protect children from asbestos. He stated that it is time that the US government put in place an asbestos ban on all consumer products.
What Is Asbestos?
Asbestos refers to six different types of minerals that occur naturally. Anyone who inhales asbestos fibers for a long period of time can have serious health problems, including mesothelioma and asbestosis.
There are two major groups of asbestos minerals:
•
Serpentine
• Amphibole
Serpentine asbestos includes chrysotile, which features long, curly fibers that may be woven. This type tends to be used in many commercial applications.
Amphilbole asbestos has straight, needle type fibers that are brittle and are used in a more limited fashion in many industrial applications.
The most common types of diseases from asbestos exposure are pleural mesothelioma and asbestosis. These usually fatal diseases can occur many years after exposure. Most of the people who get sick from asbestos were in a job where they were exposed daily for many years. However, there is a chance that children could be exposed to deadly asbestos fibers in toys.
There also is a risk to family members of workers and others who have been exposed to asbestos fibers. It could be that asbestos fibers are brought into the home on clothing, shoes, skin, etc.
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