Lead and Cadmium in Vinyl Children's Products: Critical Evaluation of a Report Prepared by Greenpeace

Vinyl (the common name for the polymer polyvinyl chloride) is an extremely versatile material with very widespread use. As a lightweight but extremely durable material, vinyl is a very popular material used in a variety of household products including toys and children's accessories.

The environmental group Greenpeace released a report in October 1997 entitled, "Lead and Cadmium in Vinyl Consumer Products." In this report, Greenpeace alleged that hazardous levels of lead and cadmium were being released from various vinyl toys and children's accessories purchased in the United States and Canada.

Subsequent to the Greenpeace report, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) conducted its own testing of identical or similar consumer products and evaluated the assessment conducted by Greenpeace. Similarly, the Product Safety Bureau of Health Canada tested consumer products identical or similar to those reported by Greenpeace as releasing hazardous levels of lead and cadmium. Based on their analyses, both CPSC and Health Canada concluded that these products did not pose a health hazard to children because lead and cadmium were not released from the vinyl products in amounts that would be harmful to children.

ENVIRON has closely examined the Greenpeace report, and our findings are as follows:

• Much of the analytical data are misrepresented or misinterpreted.

• The accelerated aging test, intended to simulate long-term exposure to excessive sunlight or heat, is not appropriate for any of these products which, unlike the imported window blinds for which the test was devised, are not exposed constantly to strong sunlight.

• The levels of lead and cadmium available for release from these products do not exceed established regulatory levels of concern.

• The mere presence of lead or cadmium in a consumer product is not sufficient for a safety assessment - there must be exposure, which means the metals must be released from the product in amounts that are harmful. This has not been demonstrated by any of Greenpeace's analyses.

In conclusion, the Greenpeace report fails to demonstrate that lead and cadmium are released from vinyl products in amounts that would be hazardous to children under normal conditions of product use.