除了有些塑膠奶瓶可能將有毒化學物質污染到食物裡之外,塑膠玩具也有隱藏的危險。尤其是PVC(聚氯乙烯)。歐洲早已禁止玩具製造商使用此一成分,但是美國還沒。

使用PVC製造玩具的過程中,爲了使產品有彈性或更耐用,有時製造商還會添加鎘Cadmium、鉛lead或是Phthalates (鄰苯二甲酸酯),這些化學物質通常無法百分之百和塑膠結合,小朋友如果把含有這些物質的玩具放到嘴巴裡,便有可能吃下這些有毒物質,影響腦力發育,甚至可能致癌。

這幾天打了許多電話到幾家玩具廠商去詢問此一問題,發現還是有很多知名的大公司仍然繼續使用PVC來製造給小朋友-包括嬰兒-的玩具。雖然他們多已停止使用鎘、鉛、及鄰苯二甲酸酯,然而PVC畢竟不是個好東西。

這裡有一份2003年綠色和平組織所作的報告可供大家參考。下次買玩具給你們小朋友的時候,請盡量選擇對孩子健康較沒有威脅的產品。

評分Grades:

A: Excellent, will phase out all PVC products, or products contain no PVC

B: Above average, will phase out some PVC products

C: Average, will eliminate phthalates in toys for children under 3

D: Below average, will eliminate phthalates only in toys intended for the mouth

F: Fail, no policy change

Manufacturer

2000 Grade

2003 Grade

Comments

Brio

A

A

Keep up the great work!

Chicco

B

A

Good effort

Discovery Toys

C

B

Could do better

Disney

D

Inc

No reply after repeated inquiries

Evenflo

D

A

What an improvement – bravo!

First Years

D

C+

Not living up to potential, but keep trying

Gerber

A

A

One of the stars!

Hasbro/Galoob/Playschool

D

Inc

No reply after repeated inquiries

International Playthings (Primetime & Early Start

A

A

One of the stars!

Kids II

D

Inc

no reply after repeated inquiries

Lamaze Infant Development

B

A

Hope you can eliminate PVC in those last three products quickly

Lego Systems

A

A

Still waiting for the elimination of PVC in train wiring

Little Tykes

A

C

May have been misgraded in 2000, what a disappointment

Manhattan Baby

F

B

Incredible improvement – keep it up!

Mattel/Tyco/Fisher Price

C

C

Could do a lot better – keep working at it

Munchkin Inc.

F

D

Barely improved – need to work much harder

Safety First

D

Inc

No reply after repeated inquiries

Sassy

A

A

Please get rid of that one PVC product – the baby photo book

Shelcore

C

D

Very disappointing

Tiny Love

A

A

Great work!

Warner Bros.

F

Inc

No reply after repeated inquiries

資料來源:http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/2003-toy-report-card