Department of Bromatology, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Pharmacy, Vojvode Stepe 450, 11221 Belgrade, Serbia.
Institute of Public Health of Serbia Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut, Dr Subotića 5, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Anal Methods. 2024 Aug 29;16(34):5835-5844. doi: 10.1039/d4ay01092b.
Phthalates are a family of synthetic chemicals commonly used as plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride-based polymers. They are used in a variety of commercial consumer products, including children's toys. Exposure to phthalates is associated with various adverse health effects, such as developmental and reproductive disorders, liver and kidney toxicity, In the European Union, but also in the Republic of Serbia, restrictions have been imposed on the presence of seven phthalates in toys. In addition, the European Union has established the Rapid Alert System for Dangerous Non-Food Products (RAPEX) to protect consumers across borders by preventing or restricting the sale and use of non-food articles, including children's toys, that pose a significant health and safety risk. In this work, 118 samples of children's toys from the market of the Republic of Serbia were analysed for the presence of all seven restricted phthalates using the HPLC-DAD method. We also comprehensively analysed the RAPEX notifications of toys posing a chemical risk due to the presence of phthalates from 2012 to 2022. In total, 23.7% of the tested toy samples contained one or more phthalates above 0.1% w/w, which corresponds to the legal limit. DEHP was found above the limit in all non-compliant toy samples, followed by DBP, DINP, BBP and DIDP. DIBP and DNOP were not found in any of the samples. In general, phthalates were present in the tested samples in concentrations ranging from <LOQ to 36.6% (w/w), depending on the type of phthalate detected, with DINP detected in the highest concentration. In the period 2012-2022, 1192 alerts related to non-compliant toys were registered due to the illegal presence of phthalates. Among them, DEHP was present in 94.79% of toy samples, while it was the only phthalate in 58.4% of toy samples. Furthermore, DEHP was present in the highest concentration of about 18.5% (w/w), with a maximum detected concentration of up to 55% (w/w). The results presented in this article show that even more than a decade after the introduction of the ban and restrictions on phthalates in toys, toys are still a significant source of children's exposure to phthalates.
邻苯二甲酸酯是一类常用的合成化学物质，通常用作聚氯乙烯基聚合物的增塑剂。它们被用于各种商业消费产品，包括儿童玩具。接触邻苯二甲酸酯与各种不良健康影响有关，例如发育和生殖障碍、肝和肾毒性。在欧盟，塞尔维亚共和国也对玩具中的七种邻苯二甲酸酯的存在实施了限制。此外，欧盟建立了快速预警系统（RAPEX），通过防止或限制销售和使用对儿童构成重大健康和安全风险的非食品物品，包括儿童玩具，来保护跨境消费者。在这项工作中，使用 HPLC-DAD 方法分析了来自塞尔维亚共和国市场的 118 个儿童玩具样本，以检测所有七种受限邻苯二甲酸酯的存在。我们还全面分析了 2012 年至 2022 年因存在邻苯二甲酸酯而具有化学风险的玩具的 RAPEX 通知。总共，23.7%的测试玩具样本含有一种或多种超过 0.1%w/w 的邻苯二甲酸酯，这与法定限制相符。在所有不合规的玩具样本中都发现 DEHP 超过了限制，其次是 DBP、DINP、BBP 和 DIDP。DIBP 和 DNOP 未在任何样本中检出。一般来说，邻苯二甲酸酯在测试样本中的浓度范围从<LOQ 到 36.6%（w/w），具体取决于检测到的邻苯二甲酸酯类型，其中 DINP 的浓度最高。在 2012-2022 年期间，由于邻苯二甲酸酯的非法存在，登记了 1192 份与不合规玩具相关的警报。其中，DEHP 存在于 94.79%的玩具样本中，而在 58.4%的玩具样本中仅存在一种邻苯二甲酸酯。此外，DEHP 的浓度最高，约为 18.5%（w/w），最高检出浓度高达 55%（w/w）。本文所呈现的结果表明，即使在禁止和限制玩具中使用邻苯二甲酸酯十多年后，玩具仍然是儿童接触邻苯二甲酸酯的重要来源。
