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Crayon asbestos: Parents cautioned

Wednesday, May 24, 2000

By ANDREW SCHNEIDER and CAROL SMITH
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS

The Consumer Product Safety Commission yesterday told concerned parents they might want to consider not allowing their children to play with crayons until the agency finishes tests to determine whether they are contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos.

Yesterday, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that in tests by two government-certified laboratories, crayons made by three leading companies were found to contain asbestos. (See the report)

"At this point, the facts aren't in and we don't want to alarm people, but if a parent wants to be cautious, they may not want to let their young kids play with crayons until we have some more definitive answer to give," said Russ Rader, CPSC's director of Public Affairs.

Rader said the commission is continuing its own testing of crayons, and it will be several days before results will be known.

"Our view is that if there is indeed asbestos in crayons, it shouldn't be there. Period. We want the companies to tell us what they know about the materials they're using that could have led to this. We are starting to examine where the talc (in the crayons) comes from, (and) what contaminants might be in it."

Asbestos sometimes occurs as a natural contaminant of talc.

The crayons found by the P-I's tests to contain asbestos were Crayola, Prang and Rose Art brands.

Late yesterday, Binney & Smith, makers of Crayola crayons, reported that it had tested four samples of talc used in its crayons. The lab the company used "found no (asbestos) in our talc," said Tracey Muldoon Moran, a spokesman for Binney & Smith. "We feel very encouraged by those findings, but we understand it's the first step in the process. We are having the full crayons tested as well.

"If a government agency comes to us and says we should modify our ingredients for safety, we will do so. We are still looking at alternative compounds for the talc should that become necessary."

"The talc comes from a mining company based in New York," said Debbie Fanning, the executive director of the Arts and Creative Materials Institute, a trade association that is the certifying agency for the "non-toxic" seal that must appear on art materials used by children.

"They supply a number of crayon manufacturers, including the three in the (P-I's) report."

Fanning insists that all the crayons are safe and children should continue being allowed to play with them.

"Of course," she said. "There is no asbestos in the crayons we certify as non-toxic."

Fanning and Dr. Woodhall Stopford, the institute's toxicologist, both said yesterday that the laboratories used by the P-I had misidentified the fibers they found. Stopford insisted they must be "a non-asbestos form of tremolite."

"That's not the case," said John Harris, director of Lab/Cor, a Seattle laboratory that performed many of the tests. "There is asbestos in the crayons we tested -- tremolite and anthophyllite."

Harris said that yesterday, at the request of the P-I, he re-examined some of the samples Lab/Cor had analyzed over the past four months. He said the concentrations of the fibers were slightly lower in some of the samples than originally detected, but confirmed the presence of the carcinogenic fibers in all of them.

Meanwhile, early childhood educators, parents, health officials and consumer advocates were shocked and concerned yesterday about the test results reported by the P-I.

Many said they had already thrown their children's crayons away. Others said they were awaiting further tests and recommendations by public health officials.

"Certainly, the most precious thing is the health of children," said Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association, which represents about 70,000 teachers. "We want to make sure they have a safe learning environment.

"There should be no tolerance at all for even a slight risk of a problem. I think you'll see schools pulling it in the next week or so. It's the prudent thing to do, just to be on the safe side."

Dr. Sidney Wolfe, medical director of Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, criticized the Consumer Product Safety Commission for not taking action to keep asbestos out of crayons.

"What is the purpose of a governmental regulatory agency if it can't get rid of lead in candle wicks or asbestos in crayons?" Wolfe said.

"Maybe it's time to replace those at the Consumer Product Safety Commission with people who are more vigilant," he added.

(For more information, see the P-I's ongoing coverage of Asbestos, the Forgotten Killer)

Others said they would wait and see before taking action.

"Anything that has a possible negative impact on the health and welfare of students, we're concerned about," said Kent Matheson, director of the Washington State Parent Teacher Association. "We're watching the situation."

Similarly, the Seattle school district is moving cautiously.

"We're in the business of education so we rely on health experts to tell us what to do," said district spokeswoman Lynn Steinberg. "We were very concerned. We've been advised by the poison control center there's no need to pull crayons. They need some further clarification. But at this point, they're not saying we should pull them off school shelves. We're going with their recommendations."

Still others urged manufacturers to move quickly to solve the problem.

"Certainly asbestos needs to be removed from all crayons," said Marty Jacobs, executive director of the Washington Association of Early Childhood Educators, which has about 2,400 members. "It sounds like a danger and there's no reason to have a product like asbestos in items children use so often in so many different ways."

Meanwhile, Wally Swofford, supervisor of the chemical and physical hazards programs of Public Health Seattle & King County, said health officials were awaiting results of testing by the Consumer Product Safety Commission before advising consumers and schools about a course of action.

"This is an important finding," said Dr. Drew Brodkin, co-director of the University of Washington's Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit. "I think the important issue to sort out will be . . . the physical state of the fibers in the crayons -- are they likely to be aerosolized (so they can be inhaled)?"

In the meantime, he urged parents to be careful.

"I would be cautious as a parent in terms of exposure of my child to a product. I would not use them actively until we know more."

Brodkin added: "Parents are going to need to listen, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission needs to be involved. Asbestos is bad and there's no safe level, but these are likely to be lower-level exposures," he said. "They may not result in types of risks people get occupationally."

P-I Senior National Correspondent Andrew Schneider can be reached at 206-448-8218 or andrewschneider@seattle-pi.com

P-I reporter Carol Smith can be reached at 206-448-8070 or carolsmith@seattle-pi.com

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