The nonprofit organization Environmental Working Group Action Fund (EWG) discovered that a number of crayon brands, as well as children's toy crime scene fingerprint kits are positive of asbestos, a known carcinogen following the test conducted by the Scientific Analytical Institute of Greensboro, North Carolina.
The private laboratory analyzed 28 boxes of crayons and found that four of them have asbestos. Also, two of the 21 toy crime scene fingerprint kits tested have found asbestos with as much as 1 percent asbestos concentration, already dangerous for that amount.
"This is an exposure that could easily be avoided," Sonya Lunder, senior researcher for EWG senior and one of the study's main authors said. According to Lunder, toys should be asbestos-free to ensure the child's safety while playing.
Lunder also warned consumers that asbestos could be present in almost any product.
"The lesson here is that parents can't just read labels and choose safer products by looking at the labels themselves," she continued, leaving a gentle reminder that it is not enough to just read the labels.
Around 15,000 people died because of asbestos every year, according to the data provided by Asbestos Nation. The nonprofit group already sent out advisories warning parents not to buy certain brands of crayons that were tested positive of asbestos including: Amscan Crayons, Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Crayons, Nickelodeon Teenage and Mutant Ninja Turtle Crayons Saban's Power Rangers Super Megaforce Crayons.
EWG also advised against buying EduScience Deluxe Forensics Kit, as well as Inside Intelligence Secret Spy Kit because the powders in the kits contain "relatively high" levels of asbestos. The group, however, is worried because even retailers do not have any idea how asbestos came into the supply chain since all the products that were found to have asbestos all came from China.
Excessive exposure to asbestos could lead to mesothelioma, a rare cancer that develops in the body's stomach or abdomen, with symptoms usually occurring 20 to 50 years after the exposure.
