The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday advised parents to wash their children’s hands after playing with inflatable toys, as nearly 65 percent of inflatables tested recently contained phthalates, a chemical additive that could affect children’s health and growth.
The foundation and the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) tested 14 inflatable toys purchased from hardware stores, outlet malls and wholesale toy shops in April. Nine of the 14 contained plasticizers at levels ranging from 0.35 percent to 25.05 percent of the total mass.
The chemicals found included di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP).
Photo: CNA
The national safety limit for phthalate content in toys, set in accordance with the standard stipulated in CNS 4797-4, is less than 0.1 percent of the phthalates DBP, BBP, DEHP, DINP, DIDP and DNOP.
Among the nine deficient products, one was also found to contain excessive levels of heavy metals, including 405.55mg/kg — nearly five times the maximum permissible level of 90mg/kg — and 67.24mg/kg of chromium, more than the 60mg/kg limit.
BSMI second division director Wu Tzu-jung (吳姿蓉) said phthalates are endocrine disruptors that can interfere with the hormonal system in mammals and cause early onset of puberty in girls and feminization in boys.
“They could also increase women’s risk of developing breast cancer,” Wu added.
Wu said children exposed to high levels of lead are more susceptible to anemia and leukemia, while chromium can irritate children’s respiratory and digestive systems and lead to chronic skin ulcers.
The manufacturers of the tainted toys have been ordered to pull the products off the shelves and make necessary improvements within a given time, Wu said.
Those who fail to comply could face a fine ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$1 million (US$3,300 to US$33,000), he said.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
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