—The twists and turns of Oreo cookie cream, and flavorful fun with tasty toy bubbles “” Cookie cream rheology In 2016, Newscripts told a tale of twisting tasty treats, a story about Princeton University engineers who tried to figure out where the cream filling will end up when Oreos are split apart by rotating the wafers in opposite directions.
by Mitch Jacoby | June 06, 2022
PHOTO BY PEGGY CORRIGAN DINP is used as a plasticizer in PVC toys and in other products. Children who spend about three hours a day mouthing PVC toys softened with DINP receive the greatest exposures, ingesting as much as 0.28 mg of DINP per kilogram of body weight per day, the panel says. The acceptable daily intake is 0.12 mg per kg per day. Therefore, for those children who routinely mouth DINP-plasticized toys for 75 minutes per day or more, "there may be a DINP risk," the panel says. But for the majority of children, exposure to DINP from PVC toys would "pose a minimal or nonexistent risk of injury," the panel concludes. In 1998, when CPSC asked the toy industry to stop using DINP in toys intended for very young children, such as teething rings, the industry complied by substituting citrate as a plasticizer or switching to polypropylene.
by BETTE HILEMAN | June 25, 2001
The group of chemicals is phthalate esters, used as softening agents in toys made of polyvinyl chloride, and there is a campaign against them that smells a lot like the campaign against Alar, the ripening agent used on apples, several years ago. [Courtesy of National Environmental Trust] Just as in the Alar campaign, the science hardly supports the charges, the appeal is emotional--"Your children will be harmed"--and a popular television show has been made part of the campaign. Two nights before theTimes ad appeared, the ABC program "20/20" broadcast a segment called "Toys in trouble? Are babies at risk from chemicals in toys?" The segment opened with a baby, and her mother talking about teething. The problem with this campaign--which started just before the biggest toy-buying season of the year--is that there seems to be little, if any, evidence of health effects caused by phthalates in toys.
by William Storck | December 07, 1998
—Washington state Restricts Phthalates “” Under a so-called "toxic toys" measure signed into law last week by Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, thousands of toys that do not meet stricter standards for allowable levels of phthalates, lead, and cadmium in children's products will be banned in the state as of July 2009. Gregoire said a barrage of recalls in 2007 showed that the federal standards for toy safety are inadequate. The new law limits concentrations of six specific phthalates to less than 1,000 ppm, an action the chemical industry says is unnecessary. "There is no reliable evidence that phthalates have ever caused any harm to any human in more than 50 years of use," says Sharon Kneiss, vice president of the American Chemistry Council's Products Divisions.
April 07, 2008
“” Boxes of Legos, featuring adventurous characters and vehicles, are easily recognizable on any toy store shelf. But instead of offering the usual space shuttles and trains, a new Lego product line features a science lab. The Lego Friends toys, with their series of female figurines, are sold in purple boxes, with a target audience of girls age five to 12. Ph.D. chemist Thomasin Miller of Houston notified Newscripts of these toys, highlighting one of the female characters, Olivia, and her Invention Workshop. Miller says, “As a female Ph.D. chemist, I sincerely applaud Lego for making such neat toys.” According to Lego’s website, Olivia’s workshop comes with a workbench, a microscope, a chalkboard, a pet robot, power tools, a crystal, chemist jars, and an oil can—some serious, and varied, lab equipment.
by Emily Bones | March 26, 2012
—Babes In Toyland “” Regarding the bill discussing the banning of phthalates in children’s toys, I comment not necessarily as a scientist but rather as the mother of a one-and-a-half-year old (C&EN, Aug. 4, page 8). Anyone who has had anything to do with small children is well aware that they play with more than just children’s toys.
September 22, 2008
Based on comments received on the draft plans, released in November 2020, the EPA broadened the uses it will consider in the evaluations, including use in toys. Because the EPA is evaluating DIDP and DINP at manufacturers’ request, the agency says it cannot broaden the scope to include other phthalates that pose similar health concerns.
by Britt E. Erickson | September 02, 2021
—The Future Of Fisticuffs; Toys, Tech & Telemetry “” The gauntlet—or whatever it is that robots wear on their hands—has been thrown. In June, MegaBots, a company that has built the first American piloted fighting robot, challenged Japan-based Suidobashi Heavy Industry to a duel that’s the first of its kind: an international robo-rumble to take place next year.
by Manny I. Fox Morone | August 31, 2015