Asbestos present in kids’s play sand offered in UK

[ad_1] Bottles of kids’s play sand have been withdrawn from cabinets by the craft retailer Hobbycraft after a guardian found they have been contaminated with asbestos.

The guardian, who didn't want to be named, raised the alarm after her kids performed with the sand at a celebration.

She despatched samples off to a testing lab, which discovered traces of asbestos fibres within the bottles of yellow, inexperienced and pink sand offered in Hobbycraft’s Large Field of Craft arts package.

Asbestos may cause most cancers in later life if inhaled, though the danger to kids who performed with the sand is regarded as low.

The invention got here two months after asbestos traces present in related play sand merchandise in Australia prompted a authorities recall and the closure of colleges and nurseries throughout the nation and in New Zealand.

All of the affected merchandise are manufactured in China, the place gadgets containing lower than 5% of asbestos might be labelled asbestos-free. UK regulation says that there isn't a protected restrict for publicity to the mineral.

The guardian mentioned: “The bottles of colored sand seemed extraordinarily much like ones I had seen on a information report of play sand recalled in Australia.

“I used to be involved sufficient to purchase a set at Hobbycraft and ship it to an accredited lab for testing. Three of the 5 colors got here again constructive for fibrous tremolite asbestos.”

She alerted Hobbycraft, which withdrew the product from sale however declined to challenge a recall discover. “I get more and more upset considering that youngsters are being uncovered unnecessarily,” she mentioned.

Hobbycraft mentioned that no UK authority had warned of a threat and that there was no proof of hurt to clients.

Nonetheless, a spokesperson mentioned: “As a precaution, we have now voluntarily eliminated the product from sale whereas we stock out unbiased testing … We are going to replace clients as quickly as we're ready to take action.”

A authorities supply criticised Hobbycraft’s response. “Dad and mom are proper to be involved by this,” the supply mentioned. “Officers are investigating, however there’s no good motive why Hobbycraft shouldn’t recall this themselves, given the proof.”

The difficulty highlights post-Brexit gaps in well being and security regulation, which go away authorities unable to challenge remembers with out laborious proof of hurt to well being.

The so-called “precautionary precept”, abolished when product security laws was redrafted after Brexit, allowed the federal government to limit merchandise thought to pose a severe risk to well being, with out having to accumulate scientific proof.

Campaigners, together with the British Occupational Hygiene Society, have criticised the federal government for refusing to reinstate powers to withdraw probably hazardous items when product security legal guidelines have been redrafted final 12 months. Present guidelines depend on exporting nations to alert authorities to downside merchandise.

“We all know that there isn't a approach that each product touchdown on British doorsteps might be examined individually for security and the labels can’t be made to inform the reality, so, it was a missed alternative for the federal government,” mentioned Prof Kevin Bampton, CEO of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

“We do have the precautionary precept for the surroundings, which implies that bats and newts in some methods have higher safety than individuals working in Britain and, probably, our youngsters.”

The Division for Enterprise and Commerce rejected the claims.

“We have now among the most sturdy product security legal guidelines on the planet and any product being placed on the UK market by companies should meet our strict standards,” mentioned a spokesperson.

In keeping with the British Occupational Hygiene Society, the well being threat to kids who performed with the contaminated sand is prone to be low, as there have been solely small portions within the bottles.

Nonetheless, Bampton warned that the long-term dangers of publicity to asbestos stay little understood. He mentioned: “This challenge ought to be a wake-up name for regulatory change, so governments might be proactive, act quick and defend human well being from dangers earlier than they defend revenue.”