A new rule approved by lawmakers requires companies that manufacture children’s toys to disclose the presence of 66 known toxins in their products.
The rule surpasses one adopted by the state of Washington in 2008, by requiring manufacturers to identify specific toys that contain a set of substances known as “chemicals of high concern.”
Critics say the rule will burden Vermont industries with costly new testing requirements for chemicals at levels below those known to cause health risks.
“For someone like a one-, two-, three-person shop, I think it could be pretty difficult to comply with,” said William Driscoll, vice-president of Associated Industries of Vermont. “We’re in uncharted territory with this — no other state in the country requires this level of testing and reporting.
“We’ll have to learn what the effects will be,” he said.
Proponents of the rule hailed it as an important victory for consumers. Lauren Hierl, the political director for Vermont Conservation Voters, says all 66 chemicals have been shown to cause adverse health effects.
“It’s so you, as a parent, can say, “You know, I don’t want to buy a toy that has something known to cause cancer for my kid,” said .
“It’s ultimately helpful as consumers to be able to know if there are harmful chemicals in a product I’m choosing to buy,” she said. “I might choose something different.”
The rule will go into effect July 1, 2016.
Lawmakers in the Legislative Committee for Administrative Rules signed off on the regulation Friday. Their approval formalized a provision in a law called the Toxic-Free Families Act that the legislature adopted in 2014.
Vermont’s law exceeds the stringency of a similar Washington state law, Vermont Public Interest Research Group’s consumer and environmental advocate Falko Schilling said.
Washington’s law identifies only what type of toys contain the chemicals in question, he said. Vermont’s will identify their model and make.
The Department of Health will establish a web site disclosing which toys contain these molecules, Schilling said.
The new information manufacturers must provide may help state health officials determine whether warnings or bans on certain products are justified, he said.
Driscoll says the law goes too far in forcing manufacturers to test for the presence of chemicals at concentrations below those known to cause health risks. The mere presence of a dangerous chemical, while in amounts below what might harm a person, might create a false impression about the safety of a product, he said.
Manufacturers should have been given more time to come into compliance, too, he said.
“We’re going to do the best we can to see what we can do to help manufacturers comply,” Driscoll said of his 500-member organization. “As implementation comes forward, and some of them can’t comply despite their best efforts, we’ll see if they make reasonable accommodations. As of now, the clock’s ticking.”
