EcoWaste Coalition Finds Bromine and Antimony on Watercolors' Black Plastic Casings
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The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition has raised a red flag over the sale of watercolor sets with black plastic casings containing known components of health-damaging brominated flame retardant (BFR) chemicals.
Of the 20 watercolor sets with black plastic components analyzed, 10 were found to contain bromine ranging from 1,724 to 6,527 parts per million (ppm) and antimony ranging from 251 to 1,125 ppm. The rest of the samples had traces of bromine and/or antimony.
The samples were purchased from August 16 to 21 for P24 to P60 per set from retail stores selling school supplies in Makati, Manila, Marikina, Pasay, Pasig and Quezon Cities, and subsequently screened for bromine (a key component of BFRs) and antimony (a component of antimony trioxide, a common BFR synergist) using an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer.
The detection of chemical elements bromine (atomic number 35 and chemical symbol Br) and antimony (atomic number 51 and chemical symbol Sb) on the black plastic of the analyzed art materials indicates the likely use of recycled plastic from electronic waste (e-waste) containing BFRs. The plastic casings of TVs, computers and other electronic gadgets are usually black, producing black plastic when recycled.
“The use of recycled e-waste plastic in school supplies, toys and other consumer products provides a direct route of exposure to BFRs, especially among children. Stringent control measures are required to halt the unregulated use of recycled plastic e-waste in the manufacture of consumer articles which spread BFRs into new products and into children’s hands, mouths and bodies,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.
“While laboratory analysis is needed to identify the specific BFRs present in the products screened by the EcoWaste Coalition, the presence of bromine and antimony on watercolor sets that are not required to meet fire safety standards shows the inappropriate recycling of plastic e-waste with BFRs into consumer products, and the urgency of establishing a health- and environment-protective limits for POPs’ content in waste to ensure a non-toxic circular economy,” said Jitka Strakova, Global Researcher, International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN).
BFRs are synthetic chemicals added to consumer products to prevent or slow the spread of fire and reduce fire-related injury and damage. Humans are exposed to BFRs, which can leach from the products they are used in, through the ingestion of contaminated food, dust and water and through skin exposure.
According to the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), "adverse effects (of exposure to flame retardants) may include endocrine and thyroid disruption, immunotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, cancer, and adverse effects on fetal and child development and neurobehavioral function."
"Children are more vulnerable to toxic effects because their brains and other organs are still developing," the NIEHS said.
To protect human health and the environment, some BFRs have already been listed in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), including Penta-, Octa-, and Deca- Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs), Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), and Hexabromobiphenyl (HBB).
The low POPs content limits for wastes should be at levels that will prevent recycling of POP-BFRs into new products, as well as prohibit the export of wastes containing POP-BFRs to low- and middle- income countries, the EcoWaste Coalition and IPEN emphasized.
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Reference:
http://www.ipen.org/documents/
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/
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