[ 30 July 2004 ]

No evidence to suggest that phthalates in Scoubidou strings endanger children's health

A statement from the European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates

Scientific experts have given a reassurance to parents that phthalate plasticisers used to make Scoubidou strings* are extremely unlikely to be endangering children's health.

Claims by a German consumer magazine that children may be at risk as a result of putting the strings in their mouth whilst tying knots, or from simply handling the strings, is pure scaremongering, they say.

"The levels of phthalate plasticisers the magazine claims to have found in such products are perfectly normal for plasticised PVC" says Dr David Cadogan of the Brussels-based European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates (ECPI). "To suggest that people are at any risk from their intended use has absolutely no scientific or medical basis.

"The report does not identify which phthalate plasticiser has been found but all the major ones have recently undergone thorough EU risk assessments and there is nothing to show that there would be a risk to health from their use in this application," he said.

It should also be remembered that irrespective of any exposure to phthalates that Scoubidou string users may experience, the alleged health effects from phthalates are also highly questionable. The reproductive effects that have been claimed by Oko-Test have only ever been seen in rodents and not in humans.

Furthermore, a recent study of young adults, known to have been exposed to high levels of phthalates during childhood have shown that none of them were adversely affected up to 20 years later.

Phthalates have been used to plasticise PVC for more than 50 years without a single known case of anyone having been adversely affected.

* Scoubidou strings are colourful lengths of material, such as leather or flexible PVC, that are used to make woven models and such items as friendship bracelets. They have recently regained great popularity in France and more recently in Germany and the Netherlands.

For further information please contact:

Tim Edgar
European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates
Avenue E Van Nieuwenhuyse 4,
B-1160 Brussels, Belgium

Telephone: 0032 2 676 7363
Mobile: 0032 475 37 66 93