Interim US phthalates ban may cause market loss

11 August 2008 22:19  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--A temporary federal ban on use of three phthalates in infant toys and child care products may cause permanent loss of market share even if the plasticisers eventually are exonerated, industry officials said on Monday.

 

Legislation given final approval by the US Congress in late July and almost certain to be signed by President George Bush would permanently prohibit the sale of children’s toys or child care articles that contain more than 0.1% di-(2 ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP) or benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP).

 

The legislation imposed only an interim or temporary ban on the sale of children’s toys or child care articles containing concentrations of more than 0.1% of diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) or di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP).

 

Those interim bans on the three plasticizers may be lifted after a two-year study by Chronic Hazard Advisory Panels (CHAPs) that federal regulators are to convene.

 

However, officials with the phthalates esters division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) said on Monday that while they are confident that the CHAPs studies will exonerate the three plasticizers and ultimately lift the ban, that action may be too late for total market recovery by the softeners.

 

“It is hard to say if those [temporarily banned] phthalates can recover market share” that they will lose during what could be a 3-4 year period of market denial, according to Dean Finney, a market consultant and member of the ACC’s phthalates panel.

 

The phthalates facing interim use prohibitions might face permanent market share loss, Finney said, even if the federal studies prove that the three plasticizers are safe for use in infant toys and child care products.

 

Although the legislation specifies that the scientific CHAPs studies are to be completed in two years, ACC officials noted that it can take up to a year to put together a competent review panel of scientists and other experts before any work is done.

 

In addition, after the three separate panels - one for each of the temporarily banned phthalates - have completed their two-year studies, officials at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will have to review the results, which could take up to a year.

 

So, after what might be a four-year absence from applications in infant toys and child care products, the temporarily banned phthalates might have a difficult time in recovering those segments, Finney said.

 

“I hope that they could regain share in child products that are not meant to be mouthed and in the recreational market, but they might not regain some of the sensitive markets for very young children,” Finney said.

 

Infant toys and child care products now account for several million pounds annually of DINP, Finney said.  “Clearly there will be a downturn in that area, but I don’t think it will result in significant job losses,” he added.

 

He noted that toy applications for DINP represent a “small but not insignificant” market, but one that is much smaller compared with the plasticizer’s use in building and construction materials.

 

($1 = €0.63)

 

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By: Joe Kamalick
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