Warning over hand-me-down plastic toys: 84% contain illegal levels of toxic ‘forever chemicals’

Hand-me-down plastic toys such as figurines, dolls and Lego pose a health risk to children, experts have warned.

A study found the majority contain dangerous levels of toxic chemicals which can stunt youngsters’ growth and have been linked to cancer and infertility.

Researchers in Sweden looked at levels of two harmful toxins in more than 150 old and new toys.

While around three in 10 new toys exceeded EU and UK legal limits, more than 80 per cent of old toys breached the target.

Some old toys contained up to 400 times the legal concentrations of ‘forever chemicals’, which can take years to degrade in the body.

Researchers said the broader societal trend away from single-use goods ‘is not always automatically a good thing’.

There is mounting pressure on companies from fast fashion shops to supermarkets to focus on reusables to cut down carbon emissions and tackle climate change.

Experts at the University of Gothenburg, tested 157 different toys, including balls, dolls, figurines and dress-up items for phthalates or chlorinated paraffins.

The former are a group of chemicals used to make plastics more durable, often known as plasticisers. The latter are used to make toys non-inflammable and are thought to be toxic to humans.

Phthalates have been linked to an increased risk of asthma, breast cancer, obesity, diabetes, low IQ, and development and fertility issues.

It is thought that once these durable chemicals get into the body they interfere with our internal systems and disrupt our DNA — which could lead to cancer.

Laws in the EU and Britain mean manufacturers cannot use phthalate in concentrations greater than 0.1 per cent of total weight of the toy.

The limit for short chain chlorinated paraffins is 0.15 per cent. 

But the study found 30 per cent of new toys contained levels that exceeded those targets.

Older toys were significantly worse, with 84 per cent containing illegal levels of the chemicals.

Lead researcher Professor Bethanie Carney Almroth said: ‘Many of the old balls were found to have concentrations of phthalates totalling more than 40 per cent of the toy’s weight, which is 400 times over the legal limit.

‘The study indicates that reuse and recycling is not always automatically a good thing. 

‘The transition to a more circular economy requires bans and other policy measures that get rid of hazardous chemicals from plastic and other materials.’

The legal limits on hidden chemicals in plastic toys were only brought in recently, meaning they do not apply to older products.