China starts to check brominated flame retardants content in toys.(Health, Safety & Environment)

Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, CAS, for the first time in China, check the brominated flame retardant (BFR) content in sample toys purchased from southern China, and did risk assessments on their BFR exposure dosage.

Through monitoring, they found a variety of brominated flame retardants (BFR) in the toys, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), 1,2-bis (2,4,6-tribromophenoxy) ethane (BTBPE), decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), and polybrominated biphenyls (PBB).

The BFR content in rigid plastic toys is notably higher than that in other toys, while the octa- and nona-BDEs contents in foam toys are relatively high. The researchers speculate that this might be caused by decomposition of highly brominated diphenyl ethers. Aside from a kind of rigid plastic toys, the PBDE persistent contents in other toys are all below the threshold limit.

In most cases, children's BFR exposure when playing toys is very little. Although that via sucking and chewing toys by infants and toddlers is much higher, the exposure risk is still far below the threshold limit.

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