Dutch laboratories find asbestos in even more play sand products
Dutch laboratories have found asbestos in at least 25 play sand products, AD reports after surveying accredited asbestos laboratories. The carcinogenic product has now also been found in kinetic or magic sand, though the brand Kinetic Sand stresses that its products are clean. There has still been no official recall of these products.
The laboratories told AD that it is mainly private individuals, companies, childcare institutions, and schools requesting that they test play sand products. SGS research is the lab that found asbestos in magic sand. The lab stressed that it only found small amounts of the carcinogenic substance in this type of sand. “But it’s in there, and that shouldn’t be the case,” a spokesperson told AD. Asbestos is strictly prohibited in toys.
Last week, AD asked the Dutch laboratory Nomacon to test various play sand products, and it found asbestos in six products containing colored loose sand - sand tables and playsets for making sand paintings and art. The sand tables even contained up to 5 percent asbestos.
Despite this and the new discoveries, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) still has not recalled any play sand products. Though some stores stopped selling them as a precaution, and the childcare sector organization urged daycares and after-school care centers not to let kids play with sand for the time being.
A spokesperson for the NVWA told AD that it can’t force a recall at this stage. “That can only be done based on research by the NVWA or the companies themselves,” a spokesperson said. The NVWA is investigating, but that could take weeks.
