Children who go trick-or-treating later this month may face a real health threat as many of the consumer products being made for Halloween contain at least three poisonous chemicals. Ecological group EcoWaste Coalition said 42 of the 60 Halloween products such as accessories, masks and toys – or 70 percent of the samples – it had tested for poisonous chemicals included amounts of cadmium, lead and mercury. “Our test reveals that some Halloween products are unsafe for children due to their highly toxic ingredients and should be pulled out from the market at once," said Anthony Dizon, Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect. EcoWaste and QES (Manila) Inc., a local dealer of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzers, tested the products for toxic chemicals such as antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury. XRF is a portable device that shoots beam into the material and then measures certain chemical elements in less than a minute. It is widely used by regulatory agencies and private companies in the United States. The products tested were bought from popular retail outlets in Metro Manila from October 8 to 11 and analyzed with XRF on October 12. They include:
- accessories - costumes - hats - masks - face paints - decorations - screamers - trick or treat buckets - toys.
The samples, which cost P5 to P499.50, were obtained from prominent shopping malls and bargain shops in Metro Manila.
Seven of 10 items with toxic metals Out of 60 samples, 42 (70 percent) had at least one toxic metal such as antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury above levels of concern. None of the 42 products found with chemicals of concerns indicated that they contain such toxic substances. Of the 60 samples, 36 (60 percent) were found to contain cadmium above 75 parts per million (ppm), the limit proposed under House Resolution 4428, the “Children’s Toxic Metals Act" bill of the USA. An unlabelled red plastic devil mask from Landmark had 199 ppm of cadmium, the group said. Ten samples (17 percent) exceeded the 90 ppm regulatory limit for lead under the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. A pull string skull toy bought from shop number IQ 2-4 in 999 Shopping Mall tested with the highest levels of lead at 3,463 ppm, as well as chromium at 3,771 ppm. Two samples (3 percent) had mercury above the 1 ppm limit for cosmetics set by the Food and Drugs Administration of the Philippines, including a crayon body paint product with 239 ppm of mercury from Anding’s Toys and Flowers, Inc. in New Divisoria Center. Cadmium, lead and mercury are among the 28 chemicals and chemical compounds in the Philippine First Priority Chemicals List that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had established to likely cause unreasonable risk to public health, workplace and the environment. The tests also showed 13 samples (22 percent) contained more than one toxic metal that raises the health risk due to multiple exposure. "For example, a key chain with a witch-like pumpkin design had antimony (476 ppm), cadmium (187 ppm), chromium (2,306 ppm) and lead (2,683 ppm)," it said.
'Safe' samples tainted with cadmium Of the 60 samples, nine were face and body paint products, six of which provided chemical information on their labels and seven claimed to be “safe" or “non-toxic." However, all seven “safe" or “non-toxic" products turned out to be tainted with cadmium. All nine face and body paint products were found toxic, including expensive branded products bought from a bookstore that registered high levels of cadmium from 104 ppm to 180 ppm . Only five of the 60 samples had the mandatory license to operate (LTO) number on their labels, and 55 had either no labels or incomplete labels, depriving buyers with basic information such as the product brand and name, its manufacturer or distributors, contact details, age suitability and precautionary instructions. EcoWaste Coalition reiterated its call to the industry not to manufacture, import, distribute or sell toys and other articles intended for children that contain chemicals of concern. It noted both Halloween and Christmas are getting closer, and concerned government agencies should launch a unified campaign with the civil society and the mass media to rid the market of untested, unregistered and unlabelled toys and other children’s products. “It will be extremely hard for consumers to ascertain which children’s products are really free of toxins. The government and the industry need to guarantee that only products that have been proven safe for children, registered and labelled are sold in the market," Dizon said.
— LBG, GMA News 
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