Health Canada Proposes Ban on Phthalates In All Child Care Articles, Soft Vin
Health Canada Proposes Ban on Phthalates In All Child Care Articles, Soft Vinyl ToysHealth Canada Proposes Ban on Phthalates In All Child Care Articles, Soft Vinyl Toys
OTTAWA—Health Canada published draft regulations June 20 that would effectively ban the import, sale, or advertisement of soft vinyl toys and child care articles containing phthalates.
The department also published proposed regulatory amendments the same day to further reduce allowable lead limits in consumer products.
The Phthalates Regulations, issued under the Hazardous Products Act, would implement restrictions similar to those recently enacted in the United States and European Union regarding levels of six phthalates, the department said in a regulatory impact analysis statement published with the draft regulations in the June 20 issue of the Canada Gazette, Part I.
“ ensure that Canadian children will have the same level of protection from phthalate exposure as children in these other jurisdictions, and will prevent Canada from potentially becoming a dumping ground for soft vinyl children's toys and child care articles that are non-compliant in these jurisdictions,” the department said.
The regulations would add six substances—di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), and di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP)—to Schedule II of the act and would set maximum concentrations for their inclusion in soft vinyl toys and child care articles, the department said.
The regulatory proposals would complement the proposed Consumer Product Safety Act, currently being considered by the Canadian Parliament as Bill C-6 to modernize and strengthen Canada's product safety laws, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said June 19.
“This is part of our overall efforts to ensure that families have confidence in the quality and safety of what they buy,” Aglukkaq said in a statement.
Details of Regulations
The proposed regulations would limit concentrations of each of DEHP, DBP, and BBP to no more than 1,000 milligrams per kilogram in soft vinyl of all children's toys and child care articles, Health Canada said in the statement.
The regulations would also limit concentrations of each of DINP, DIDP, and DNOP to no more than 1,000 milligrams per kilogram in soft vinyl of children's toys and child care articles when the soft vinyl can be placed in the mouth of a child under 4 years of age, it said.
“The voluntary action already taken by domestic industry to remove the two predominantly used phthalates—DHP and DINP—from soft vinyl teethers, pacifiers, and other products designed for and intended to be mouthed by young children safeguards only a small portion of soft vinyl children's products marketed in Canada. The vast majority of these products are manufactured offshore, where voluntary Canadian restrictions are not always applied,” the department said.
The regulatory proposal is expected to have minimal cost implications, with the total annual cost of the restriction on DEHP expected to represent 1 percent to 5 percent of an individual Canadian business's annual revenues and the restrictions on other phthalates not expected to impose additional costs, it said.
“This proposal is considered to be a reasonable preventative measure,” the department said.
The draft regulations are open to 75 days of public comment, and will subsequently be published in final form in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
Rules to Further Restrict Lead
Health Canada on June 20 also published proposed Consumer Products Containing Lead (Contact with Mouth) Regulations that would limit the lead content of affected products to 90 milligrams per kilogram of product, equivalent to a lead concentration of 0.009 percent.
The regulations would apply to products that are intended to be, or are likely to be, brought into contact with the user's mouth, including all toys intended for children under 3 years of age, the department said in a background document accompanying release of the draft regulations. Current regulations limit lead in specified products to 600 milligrams per kilogram. Other products are completely unregulated, the department said.
“The proposed lead limit is among the strictest in the world. The proposed regulations will also give Health Canada the authority to prevent the import, advertisement, or sale of affected non-compliant products in Canada, and will allow for quick remedial action if an affected product with more than 90 mg/kg total lead is found on the Canadian market,” the department said.
“The proposed lead limit would ensure that maximum daily intake of lead from these consumer products would not exceed the provisional tolerable daily intake for infants and children set by the World Health Organization, which is 3.57 micrograms of lead per kilogram of body weight per day.”
The draft regulations are open to 75 days of public comment, after which they are to be published in final form in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
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