Asbestos found in children’s play sand sold in UK | Retail industry
Bottles of children’s play sand have been pulled from shelves by crafts retailer Hobbycraft after a parent discovered they were contaminated with asbestos.
The parents, who did not want to give their names, were alarmed after their children played with sand at a party.
He sent samples to a testing lab that found traces of asbestos fibers in bottles of yellow, green and pink sand sold in Hobbycraft’s Giant Box of Craft art kit.
Although the risk is thought to be low for children playing with sand, it is thought that asbestos may cause cancer in later ages if inhaled.
The discovery comes two months after traces of asbestos were revealed in similar play sand products in Australia. government recall And closing schools and nurseries across the country and in New Zealand.
All affected products are manufactured in China, where products containing less than 5% asbestos can be labeled as asbestos-free. UK law says there is no safe limit for exposure to the mineral.
Parent said: “The colored sand bottles looked extremely similar to ones I saw in a news report about sand play games being recalled in Australia.
“I was concerned enough to purchase a set from Hobbycraft and send it to an accredited laboratory for testing. Three of the five colors tested positive for fibrous tremolite asbestos.”
He alerted Hobbycraft, which pulled the product from sale but refused to issue a recall notice. “I’m becoming increasingly saddened to think that children are being exposed unnecessarily,” he said.
Hobbycraft said no authorities in the UK had warned of the risk and there was no evidence of harm to customers.
But a spokesman said: “We have voluntarily removed the product from sale as a precaution while we carry out independent testing… We will notify our customers as soon as we are able to do so.”
A government source criticized Hobbycraft’s response. “Parents are right to be concerned about this,” the source said. “Authorities are investigating, but given the evidence, there is no good reason why Hobbycraft shouldn’t remember this themselves.”
This issue highlights gaps in health and safety law post-Brexit; These loopholes leave authorities unable to issue recalls without concrete evidence of health hazards.
The so-called “precautionary principle”, which was repealed when product safety legislation was redesigned after Brexit, allowed the government to restrict products deemed to pose serious threats to health without the need to obtain scientific evidence.
Campaigners, including the British Occupational Hygiene Association, criticized the government for refusing to give back the power to recall potentially dangerous goods when product safety laws were redesigned last year. Current rules depend on exporting countries. Alert authorities about problematic products.
Prof Kevin Bampton, chief executive of the British Occupational Hygiene Association, said: “We know it is not possible for every product arriving on the UK’s doorstep to be individually tested for safety and labeled truthfully, so this was a missed opportunity for the government.”
“We have a precautionary principle for the environment, which means bats and newts are in some ways better protected than working people in Britain and potentially our children.”
The Ministry of Commerce and Trade denied the allegations.
“We have some of the most robust product safety laws in the world and any product introduced by businesses to the UK market must meet our strict criteria,” a spokesperson said.
According to the British Occupational Hygiene Association, the health risk to children playing with dirty sand is likely to be low because it is found in very small amounts in bottles.
But Bampton warned that the long-term risks of asbestos exposure were still poorly understood. He said: “This issue should be a wake-up call for regulatory change so governments can be proactive, act quickly and protect human health from risks before protecting profits.”
