Government Reaffirms Safety of Vinyl Lunchboxes

It’s a reaffirmation by Consumer Product Safety Commission that vinyl lunchboxes pose no health to children

February 22, 2007 ARLINGTON, VA, – The Vinyl Institute today welcomed a statement by the Consumer Product Safety Commission reaffirming the safety of vinyl lunchboxes.

“The Commission should be commended for firmly setting the record straight on this important issue,” said Tim Burns, president of the Vinyl Institute, who noted that a recent erroneous story in the Associated Press had caused considerable confusion and unnecessary worry for parents.

The Commission issued a statement late Tuesday reaffirming its original decision that vinyl lunchboxes are safe for children. At the same time, it rebuked the media and “special interest groups” for misrepresenting its findings in an apparent effort to “needlessly unnerve parents.”

Noting the Commission’s longstanding commitment to protecting children from exposure to lead, the statement said its staff scientists tested the inside and outside surfaces of 60 soft vinyl lunchboxes and “found no instances of hazardous levels (of lead).”

The scientists’ risk assessment took into account real world children’s behaviors, such as hand-to-mouth activity, the Commission noted. “No matter how the data are analyzed, the staff risk assessment would still conclude that the lead exposure from vinyl lunchboxes does not present a risk to health for action under CPSC’s law.”

The Commission rebuked “recent news reports and postings on special interest group web sites” for incorrectly interpreting its findings on vinyl lunchboxes” and “building a story about dangerous lunchboxes around the notion that the political leadership intervened in this matter.” The allegation resulted from a misreading of notations on Commission documents, it said.

About Vinyl News Service
Vinyl News Service is a service of the Vinyl Institute, a U.S. trade association representing the leading manufacturers of vinyl and vinyl products. On the web at http://vinylnewsservice.net/


For more information contact John Brown of Vinyl News Service  (http://vinylnewsservice.net/)
1-877-234-9749

Keywords: vinyl, lunchbox, health

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