It is a $1.5 billion industry but Ramkinkar Sharma does not seem to be aware of it. His small toy shop on Lansdowne Road stocks all kinds of children’s toys. The samples are attractive and since they are cheaper than the branded toys, they are popular. “Business is brisk,” he admits. While that may augur well for him, there are dangers that Sharma and his colleagues all over the country are exposing their customers to.

A new study on unbranded toys — which have a wider market — by the Delhi-based environmental group Toxics Link claims that alarming levels of lead and cadmium have been found in Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) soft toys in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. “There are no legal and binding standards that stipulate the safe limits of the heavy metal contents in toys (plastic and otherwise),” says Dr Abhay Kumar, senior programme officer, chemicals and health, Toxics Link, adding that the study was started in January and the results came out in August.

Explains Ravi Agarwal, director of Toxics Link, “Since a large number of toys, mostly made of PVC, are imported into India or are made in the unorganised sector, there is little quality control and we felt it was necessary to examine the issue of lead and cadmium presence in toys.” The study focused on the dangers inherent in playing with toys that did not measure up to the Bureau of Indian Standards.

According to Toxics Link, Mumbai and Delhi alone account for nearly 95 per cent of the toy production in the country. Unbranded toys are generally made in suburban and rural areas. Sharma, for example, obtains his toys from Salkia on the outskirts of Calcutta. When asked about quality control and safety issues, he shrugs, an attitude that is common among suppliers, according to the researchers of the study.

India does not have any enforceable standards for lead, cadmium and other toxic materials in toys and hitherto soft PVC toys have not been investigated as one of the possible sources of these metals’ exposure to children. These soft toys, the study says, account for 35 per cent of the total production of India’s toys.

“It is worrying that close to 20 per cent of Mumbai’s toy samples showed very high concentrations of lead, levels that exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agency limit in painted toys, and these pose a real threat to children,” says Prashant Pastore, senior programme coordinator of Toxics Link. Pastore is concerned that these toys are made to look attractive to children. And it is this factor that makes them even more potentially threatening.

However, Ajay Desai, president of the All India Plastic Manufacturers Association in Mumbai, rubbishes the claim that plastic toys are harmful. “Plastic toys have been in use for a long time and there are very few cases of any harmful effects, if any at all,” he says. Agrees Rakesh Rungta, who has his own plastic toy factory in Barasat. “Nobody has ever complained about any illness caused from toys that I have manufactured,” he says.

In the absence of previous studies, it is difficult to ascertain the levels of exposure unbranded toys available in India can cause to children. But this new study does establish that there is a potential risk to children using these toys. The researchers hope that their study will come to the public domain so that people become aware and the government is compelled to enforce stricter standards.

Speaking of the dangers of lead poisoning from toys, Dr S.K. Rastogi, retired deputy director of the Environmental Toxicology Section of the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre at Lucknow remarks, “The chief culprit with respect to toxicity of toys is the widespread use of pthalates in the manufacture of toys.” He adds that pthalates cause neurotoxicity that can affect the eyes, skin and brain. “Respiratory problems can be severe owing to pthalate poisoning picked up from toys,” he warns.

Cadmium present in toys can also cause illnesses. “Diarrhoea, bone fracture, damage to the central nervous system, psychological disorders and even cancer can occur from exposure to cadmium in toys,” says Dr Kumar. Elaborating on the manner of entry of poisonous metals in children, he points out that the chewing and swallowing tendency of children is a common source of lead and cadmium exposure. Another source of exposure to lead and cadmium is the toxic dust released during the degradation of vinyl in children’s products. He says that both lead and cadmium are proven poisons, being neurotoxins and nephrotoxins, respectively. Neurotoxins are agents that can have toxic effects on the nervous system while nephrotoxins are agents that can have toxic effects on the kidney.

Some researchers stress that the cardinal issue with the dangers of using plastics lies in scrap plastics being used for manufacturing toys. “Scrap plastics are second-hand, discarded material that may contain contaminants like lubricants and dyes and are very likely to cause poisoning in children,” says Subhash Santra, professor of Environmental Science, Kalyani University.

As with all studies, there are dissenting voices though. Krishnajyoti Goswami, director of the National Referral Centre for the Prevention of Lead Absorption in India, West Bengal chapter, says that most middle-class people would only avail of branded toys which do not constitute a health hazard. “The problems that have been revealed in the study existed primarily when unbranded toys were the only toys available and that is no longer the situation,” he asserts. He does acknowledge though that there are some dangers from unbranded toys sold on the roadside or in fairs.

At the end of the day, Sharma goes home with the day’s earnings. He, however, remains unaware of what his products may do to unsuspecting children. At the moment, those tiny tots, more used to branded ones, seem to be the lucky ones.

statutory warning

The chewing and swallowing tendency of children is a common source of lead and cadmium exposure.

Pthalates used in the manufacture of toys can cause neurotoxicity that can affect the eyes, skin and brain. Respiratory problems too can be severe owing to pthalate poisoning.

Cadmium present in toys can cause diarrhoea, bone fracture, damage to the central nervous system, psychological disorders and even cancer.