Take a blood sample – are rewarded with a toxic sticker. At health centers and hospitals across Sweden have Bamse Stickers by seventy times the permitted levels of chemicals distributed to children. Now threatens Chemicals Agency with the prosecution.
Photo: Claudio Bresciani and Lars Brundin.
The self-adhesive stickers with Bamse motif became a married shock to Erikshjälpen, who sent them to hospitals and health centers throughout the country.
It was under a standard supervision Chemicals Inspectorate discovered that Bamse the stickers contain more than seventy times the allowable amount of the chemical diethyl phthalate (DEHP) – which are classified as hazardous by the EU.
Erikshjälpen knew nothing, until HD and Sydsvenskan telephoned Malmö company Egmont Publishing which has sold the stickers.
– We knew nothing , it seems to have happened quite quickly, says Erikshjälpen Communications Louise Nordlund Isaksson.
But the fact is that it has not gone very quickly. Chemical Inspectorate message to Egmont Publishing is dated last May of this year – more than two weeks ago.
DEHP is a kind of phthalates. They can affect the hormonal balance and impair fertility. The largest amounts of phthalates found in products for flooring, wallpaper, wire, foil, and coated fabrics.
Since January 2007, they are prohibited in all toys in a content of 0.1 percent.
but Bamse the stickers that Egmont Publishing has sold containing 7.41 percent – more than seventy times above what is allowed in Sweden.
– but it’s not that you should think that it poses no immediate risk, but our given the regulation is to minimize the total exposure that children are exposed to, said inspector Margaret Daho on Chemicals Agency.
How the toxic adhesive brands ended up on Egmont know Kemikalieinspektionen not.
– they are the manufactured far from here, and the rules have not gone up to the manufacturer, or they have cheated. We have asked the company to submit comments on the analysis of our results.
How common it is with this kind of discovery? In a regulatory project that the Chemicals Inspectorate did earlier this year found banned chemicals in more than one in seven toy analyzed.
Erikshjälpen has now stopped the dispatch of the stickers.
– We sent boxes to over two thousand locations in Sweden, and we do not know how many this regard so we contact everyone and stop further mailings, says Louise Nordlund Isaksson.
and Egmont Publishing risk prosecution.
– As a rule, the prosecution, we will report all such cases. It is likely that it will be so in this case, says Margareta Daho on Chemicals Agency.
Egmont to July 4 in which to submit their comments on the inspection.
– We takes note of the Chemical Inspectorate report and take very seriously the. We are also surprised when the product is well tested and meets all the requirements of our own test reports. We are therefore now on and carry out new tests and investigate what has happened, says Jonas Lidheimer, PR and Communications Manager at Egmont Publishing.
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