In a rare action by US Congress, the use of a host of toxins found in children's products has been banned with the measure coming into effect in six months.
US CONGRESSIONAL negotiators have agreed to a ban on a family of toxins found in children's products, handing a major victory to parents and health experts.
The ban, which would take effect in six months, would have significant implications for US consumers.
The rare action by the US Congress reflects a growing body of scientific research showing that children ingest the toxins by acts as simple as chewing on a rubber duck. Used for decades in plastic production, the chemicals are now thought to act as hormones and cause reproductive problems, especially in boys.
It also signals an important crack in the chemical industry's ability to fend off federal regulation and suggests that the landscape may be shifting to favour consumers. California prohibited the use of these chemicals in children's products last year.
Earlier this year, the US's largest retailer Wal-Mart, the biggest toy seller Toys R Us, and Babies R Us told their suppliers that they will no longer carry products containing the chemicals, known as phthalates, as of January 1st, 2009.
The European Union banned six phthalates from children's products in 1999 and more than a dozen other countries worldwide have done the same.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto says that President Bush opposes the ban but that it is too early to say whether he will veto the measure, which is part of popular legislation to reform the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Among other things, the legislation would ban lead in children's products and would give consumers access to a new database of complaints or accident reports for goods. The measure also allows stiffer fines for violations and enhanced enforcement of consumer safety laws.
Under language finalised yesterday, US lawmakers agreed to permanently ban three types of phthalates from children's toys and to outlaw three other phthalates from products pending an extensive study of their health effects in children and pregnant women.
Phthalates make plastics softer and more durable and also are added to perfumes, lotions, shampoos and other items.
They are so ubiquitous that in one 1999 study, the US Food and Drug Administration found traces in all of its 1,000 subjects.
The chemical industry has waged a costly battle to defeat the measure. It was led by Exxon Mobil, which manufacturers diisononyl phthalate, or DINP,the phthalate most frequently found in children's toys.
Daryl Ditz, of the Center for International Environmental Law, says industry viewed the ban as a benchmark that might signal a shift in the US Congress's willingness to toughen restrictions on toxins.
"The great fear is that if a big, established chemical like this can be driven from the market, what's next?" he says.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who sponsored the measure, says the action is a first step toward moving the US closer to the European model, where industry must prove the safety of a chemical before it is allowed on the market.
US companies manufacture $1.4 billion worth of phthalates annually, and less than 5 percent of that is used in children's products, according to the American Chemistry Council.
A study at the University of Rochester Medical School in 2005 found that male babies born to women with high levels of phthalates in their blood exhibited changes related to low sperm count, undescended testicles and other reproductive problems.