EC to Ban Some Plastic Toys, Citing Hazard

The European Commission said it will impose a Europe-wide emergency ban on some plastic toys. The ban, endorsed by a committee of European Union scientists, will apply to soft toys that contain chemical compounds called phthalates, which have been found to cause cancer. The banned toys are designed to be put in the mouths of children under 3 years old. The commission, the EU’s executive agency, is going ahead with the measure even after toy makers offered last week to pull products from store shelves. It rejected the offer, saying a self-imposed ban would be too difficult to monitor. The decision to outlaw the toys is “based not on scientific evidence but on political point-scoring,” said Alan Munn, chairman of Toy Industries for Europe, a trade group. Eight of the EU’s 15 countries have already banned soft PVC toys, and two more have bans pending, the commission said. Phthalates are used in soft PVC toys and teething rings to make them elastic and to make bright colors adhere. El Segundo-based Mattel Inc. stopped shipping baby toys made of the material in January, spokesman Sean Fitzgerald said.