CPSC Proposes Prohibition on Children's Goods Containing Four New Phthalates

The Consumer Product Safety Commission will consider a change to the agency's regulations to prohibit children's toys and child care articles that contain four phthalates not currently subject to restrictions, the agency said in a proposed rulemaking (here). Those phthalates are Diisobutyl Phthalate (DIBP), Di-n-pentyl Phthalate (DPENP), Di-n-hexyl Phthalate (DHEXP) and Dicyclohexyl Phthalate (DCHP). The agency also proposed relaxing the interim prohibitions on Diisodecyl Phthalate (DIDP) and Di-n-octyl Phthalate (DNOP), while expanding the prohibition on Diisononyl Phthalate (DINP).

The agency's proposal follows the recommendations of the Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel, created as a result of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, it said. The proposal would prohibit "the manufacture for sale, offer for sale, distribution in commerce, or importation into the United States of any children’s toy or child care article that contains concentrations of more than 0.1 percent of DINP, DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP, and DCHP," it said. For DINP, the proposal expands the current interim scope from “children’s toys that can placed into a child’s mouth” to include "all children's toys," it said.

The agency said it believes manufacturers would be able to become compliant relatively quickly if the proposal is finalized. "To meet the statutory testing and certification requirements if the proposed rule were in place, testing laboratories would need to expand their procedures to include the four additional prohibited phthalates, which the staff believes would require minimal effort by testing laboratories," it said. "Therefore, none of the prohibitions in the proposed rule is likely to require more than 180 days for manufacturers and testing laboratories to become compliant. For these reasons, the Commission proposes an effective date of 180 days after publication of the final rule."

The proposed rule would also end the interim restrictions on the use of DNOP and DIDP in children’s toys and child care articles, it said. Manufacturers would be free to use those phthalates which would benefit the companies "if DNOP and DIDP are less costly than the alternatives or they impart other desirable attributes to the final product."