Cancer Causing Asbestos in Kids Crayons!
Asbestos is still legal and it’s found in a wide range of products such as vehicle brakes, vinyl floor tile, cement shingles, disc brake pads, drum brake linings, gaskets, clothing and cement flat sheets. Where you may not have expected to find it is in children’s crayons and science kits.
Why is asbestos allowed in crayons?
Asbestos contamination comes from talc used in crayons. When this was discovered in crayons 15 years ago U.S. manufacturers voluntarily agreed to remove talc from their crayon ingredients. But manufacturers from other countries have not done the same. In tests commissioned by the EWG Action Fund, samples of children’s crayons and crime kits were found to contain asbestos. According to Sonya Lunder, Senior Analyst at EWG, none of the American-made products tested contained asbestos; the crayons and kits that tested positive were imported from China.
Asbestos does not belong in children’s products
According to Crayola, the world’s largest crayon manufacturer, by age 10 the typical American child wears down 730 crayons. The concern is that, while coloring, the crayons could release microscopic asbestos fibers, and let’s not forget that some children nibble on crayons.
The issue with the crime kits that were tested was the fingerprint powder. When children blow excess powder off the dusting brush, the contaminants become airborne. Asbestos fibers that become lodged in the lungs can cause grave illness, whose symptoms may not show for decades. While some may argue that the risk of asbestos exposure from coloring is relatively low, OSHA states that there is no “safe” level of asbestos exposure for any type of asbestos fiber.
Asbestos exposures as short in duration as a few days have caused mesothelioma in humans. Every occupational exposure to asbestos can cause injury or disease; every occupational exposure to asbestos contributes to the risk of getting an asbestos-related disease.
Certainly the health risks increase with individuals who work with asbestos in their daily jobs, but investigators have found asbestos-related diseases in individuals with only brief exposures. It can take 10 to 40 years for symptoms of an asbestos-related condition to appear.
The increased risk for children is due to the lengthy amount of time between exposure and symptoms. Since a child may be exposed to asbestos at a very young age, there is more time for the asbestos-related injury to develop.
According to the UK Committee on Carcinogenicity, the lifetime risk of developing mesothelioma is predicted to be about 3.5 times greater for a child first exposed at age 5 compared to an adult exposed first at age 25 and about 5 times greater when compared to an adult first exposed at age 30.
What brands of children’s products tested 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
Actions you can take
Verify what kind of crayons your child’s school provides and purchase your own if necessary.
Bring your own crayons to a restaurant for your child to use on coloring sheets.
Sources:
Elisha McFarland
