PAHs in toys and childcare products - Miljøstyrelsen

3 Test results
3.1 Procedure for selection and purchase of the specific products
A range of different stores was selected in order to cover the range of different
categories of toys and childcare articles (see table 2.5). However, as this is a
screening investigation not covering the whole market, stores representing a
significant share of the market was prioritised. Products were purchased from
supermarkets, sport goods shops, toy shops, discount shops, clothes shops
and book shops.
Baby shops were considered but as they primarily sell expensive products
from northern Europe they were given up upon. In general there are a lot of
Nordic produced baby products.
For the selected products, maximum 3-4 shops were visited for purchase. If
the selected product type were not available from the stores visited, the
product type was given up upon. Table 3.1 provides a description of the
different types of products which were purchased. Table 3.2 describes the
products which were not available from the store visits and were therefore not
purchased. The specific purchased products are described in details in the
appendix A.
Focus were given towards the cheapest products, based on the hypothesis that
these are highest risk products with respect to the production process being
based on low quality extender oils. To the extent that country origin of the
product could be identified, the aim was to choose products from Asia based
on the hypothesis that cheap products from production countries outside EU
may have a higher risk of containing PAHs due to a weaker regulation and
possible also lower quality of the production materials. As carbon black is
included in this investigation, products with black colour were chosen. In
cases where this was not possible, products in different colours were
purchased. The focus was put on products with high skin contact. Branded
goods were given low priority. Products made of rubber and soft plastic
materials were chosen (see table 3.1), whereas hard plastic materials were
avoided (see table 3.2), as it was expected that extender oils are more
common in soft plastic materials. Products of foam plastics were also avoided
as these were not expected to contain extender oils. Many grips and handles
on toys and childcare articles are made of foam plastics.
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