Last month, the Senators called for removal of children’s toys after products were found to contain toxic chemical

Washington (August 7, 2015) – Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) today applauded four companies for voluntarily removing from their shelves children’s products found to be contaminated with asbestos. Last month, after an Environmental Working Group report detailed the presence of asbestos due to contaminated talc in children’s products, including crayon sets and toy fingerprint kits, Senators Markey and Durbin called on Amazon, DollarTree, ToysRUs and Party City to immediately stop the sale of these products. All four companies responded to the request from the Senators and several took additional steps to retest the products themselves and call on their suppliers to reformulate products without substances that could cause asbestos contamination. Party Tree also urged Congress to work with Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to develop a federal standard on asbestos levels in crayons.

“We commend these four companies for their good corporate citizenship and commitment to protecting children and families from contaminated products. In order to ensure toxic products never again reach the hands of America’s children, the CPSC should ban talc from children’s products and issue a rule on asbestos modeled on the existing rules for lead or phthalates in toys. We need greater access to information about where asbestos is present in everyday products, and we will continue to work to pass legislation to increase the amount of information available to the public about where this toxic chemical is found.”

In March, Senators Durbin and Markey introduced The Reducing Exposure to Asbestos Database (READ) Act, legislation that will help Americans avoid exposure to the potentially deadly substance by increasing the amount of information available to the public about where it is found. At a June 17 Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing, Senator Markey asked CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye about the possible presence of asbestos in crayons.