In the middle of shopping for school supplies, do pay attention to the products you choose for your children. According to UFC-Que Choisir, their manufacture is not sufficiently regulated and dangerous components could be found in many of them, especially in ballpoint pens. The Consumers’ Associationadvises parents not to buy ballpoint pens for their children given the cocktail of harmful substances found in all the references tested”she says in a communicated published this Thursday, August 25.
About thirty school products (markers, highlighters or pens) have been scrutinized by the association. And among them, almost half (40%) include potentially dangerous components for children, including “reprotoxic and endocrine disrupting phthalates, carcinogenic impurities, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, isothiazolinones, benzyl alcohol, toluene and benzene”details the association.
Inhaled, ingested or even in simple contact with the skin, these substances may have consequences for the health of children. More or less serious pathologies ranging from allergies to cancers, even if the risk remains theoretical for the moment in the absence of studies on the consequences on the health of the pupils.
Apply the same regulations to toys and supplies
However, UFC-Que Choisir regrets that almost none of these products is prohibited in the European Union with regard to its composition. Unlike toys, whose regulatory requirements are very strict, supplies are not subject to any specific regulations. Worse still, manufacturers can choose whether or not to affix pictograms warning of the dangers of the substances present. A situation “as lax as it is ubiquitous“, denounces the consumer association.
For its part, ANSES had also already called in July for “apply to all school supplies the European regulations relating to the safety of toys”, thus promoting the reduction or even the elimination of the majority of the substances identified in the supplies, such as perfuming substances or phthalates. It also asked the manufacturers themselves to eliminate certain toxic substances.
What are the recommended products?
If the UFC-Que Choisir advises parents against buying ballpoint pens, it advises those that can be good for children, one week before the start of the school year.
“In the current inflationary context, it recalls that private label items obtaining comparable or even better ratings for certain items compared to major brand products, while being less expensive, they can, on occasion, have real advantages , for example the Leclerc ‘Esquisse’ highlighters and at Carrefourmedium markers and refills for black erasable rollerballs”the statement concludes.
Source :
- Harmful compounds in school supplies: poor parents to protect their children!, UFC-What to chooseAugust 25, 2022
- handles
