CPSC Exempts Certain Plastics From Third-Party Testing Requirements for Toys and Children's Products

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is exempting certain plastics from third-party phthalate testing requirements for children’s products, it said in a final rule. The agency determined that phthalates are generally not used in polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), general purpose polystyrene (GPPS), medium-impact polystyrene (MIPS), high-impact polystyrene (HIPS), and super high-impact polystyrene (SHIPS), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), provided that the plastics contain certain other additives. The new regulations take effect Sept. 29.

The final rule means that “third-party testing of the specified plastics with specified additives is not required to demonstrate compliance with the phthalates prohibitions on children’s toys and child care articles,” CPSC said. Though exempt from testing, children’s toys and child care articles made from these plastics “must still comply with the substantive phthalates content limits” in CPSC’s regulations, and the manufacturer must still issue a certificate stating that the product complies with CPSC requirements,” the commission said.

Phthalate testing requirements for children’s products are meant to address use of the harmful chemical as a “plasticizer” to convert rigid plastic into a more flexible form in products such as a child’s rubber duck or soft plastic doll. CPSC found that the plastics PP, PE, GPPS, MIPS, HIPS, SHIPS and ABS are softened using other additives, so “phthalates are not used as plasticizers for the specified plastics and do not have other uses that would result in phthalate content in the plastics at levels exceeding the specified limit for children’s toys and child care articles,” CPSC said.

“The final rule is not based on manufacturers’ choices or promises to use nonphthalate formulations, but rather, the rule is based on technical studies demonstrating that phthalates have no function or value in the specified plastics,” CPSC said. The final rule is meant to “reduce the third party testing burden on children’s product certifiers while continuing to assure compliance,” it said. CPSC in 2015 exempted toys made of unfinished and untreated wood from third-party testing for heavy elements, in a similar effort meant to address third-party testing burdens (see 1512160012).

(Federal Register 08/30/17)