{"id":2116,"date":"2018-09-17T11:11:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T15:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/?p=2116"},"modified":"2018-09-17T11:11:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-17T15:11:15","slug":"toxic-dangers-in-school-supplies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/toxic-dangers-in-school-supplies\/","title":{"rendered":"Toxic Dangers in School Supplies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Consumers shouldn\u2019t assume that children\u2019s products are safe just because they are available in stores.\u00a0 That\u2019s the key finding of a shoppers\u2019 guide released last month.\u00a0 The report, <em>Safer School Supplies: Shopping Guide<\/em>, identified school supplies that contained toxic chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers from the United States Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) conducted laboratory tests for toxic chemicals in popular school supplies. \u00a0The researchers tested markers (washable and dry-erase), crayons, glue (liquid and sticks), spiral notebooks, rulers, 3-ring binders, lunchboxes, and water bottles for toxic chemicals such as lead, asbestos, phthalates, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and bisphenol-A (BPA). \u00a0The supplies were purchased across the country at a wide variety of stores including big box stores, dollar stores, drug stores, online retailers, and arts and crafts stores.<\/p>\n<p>Among the school supplies lab tested, researchers found Playskool crayons from Dollar Tree that contained asbestos, a 3-ring binder from Dollar Tree that contained high levels of phthalates, two dry-erase markers containing other toxic compounds, and the report highlighted two water bottles that have been recalled due to high levels of lead. \u00a0This guide not only listed the potentially dangerous school supplies that was found and explained why and how the school supplies can harm students, but also lists the school supplies that tested negative for chemicals of concern.<\/p>\n<p>USPIRG sent 27 school supplies to an independent laboratory to test for chemicals of concern. The problems they found included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Six types of crayons were tested for asbestos and one tested positive for tremolite. Asbestos is a known carcinogen and can lead to serious health conditions, including lung cancer and mesothelioma.<\/li>\n<li>3-ring binders. Three 3-ring binders were tested for phthalates, and one tested positive for phthalates. Studies have linked phthalates to asthma, childhood obesity and lower IQ scores.<\/li>\n<li>Two brands of dry-erase markers for toxic compounds and phthalates, which tested negative for phthalates but positive for the toxin compounds. Those chemicals include benzene, xylene, and toluene.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The researchers tested other products, which were free from toxic chemicals and lead.<\/p>\n<p>Government is supposed to ensure that products sold are safe.\u00a0 This shoppers guide shows that consumers can\u2019t rely on that protection.<\/p>\n<p>And there is evidence that the situation is going to become worse.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump Administration is loosening regulations to allow for the use of asbestos.\u00a0 According to media reports, on June 1<sup>st<\/sup>, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authorized a rule that allowed the distribution of products containing asbestos on a case-by-case basis.\u00a0 It\u2019s part of a broader strategy by the Trump Administration to allow greater use of this toxin and others like it.<\/p>\n<p>Asbestos was widely used in ship boiler rooms, manufacturing plants and building insulation up until it was completely banned in most countries in the 1970s. \u00a0The U.S. severely restricted its use without completely outlawing it. \u00a0Asbestos poses a major health risk for everyone who comes into contact with it, both directly and indirectly.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s clear that the public should not be expecting greater protections from the federal government and instead will have to hope that state and local governments fill the public health gap.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the public will have to be more educated about its purchases.\u00a0 In terms of school supplies, parents and teachers should use the USPIRG shopping guide, released jointly with NYPIRG.\u00a0 This report is available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/pubs\/201808\/NYPIRG_Toxics_in_Back_to_School_Supplies_FINAL_2018.pdf\">https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/pubs\/201808\/NYPIRG_Toxics_in_Back_to_School_Supplies_FINAL_2018.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Healthy Schools Network has released a \u201ctool kit\u201d for parents, other caregivers and teachers to help them understand school health issues.\u00a0 Access the tool kit here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.healthyschools.org\/coalitionactionkit.html\">http:\/\/www.healthyschools.org\/coalitionactionkit.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The presence of toxic hazards in school supplies highlights the need for constant vigilance on the part of government agencies and the public to ensure that school supplies containing toxic chemicals are removed from store shelves.\u00a0 The only thing kids should be exposed to in school is learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consumers shouldn\u2019t assume that children\u2019s products are safe just because they are available in stores.\u00a0 That\u2019s the key finding of a shoppers\u2019 guide released last month.\u00a0 The report, Safer School Supplies: Shopping Guide, identified school supplies that contained toxic chemicals. Researchers from the United States Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG) conducted laboratory tests for toxic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2117,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions\/2117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}