Monitoring and risk assessment of hazardous chemicals in toy-slime and putty in the Netherlands

In 2019, the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority performed a market surveillance for toy-slime (23 samples) and putty (16 samples). For 35% of the toy-slimes and 13% of the putties, the migration of boron exceeded the European legal limit of 300 and 1200 mg/kg respectively. In 36% of the toy samples, methylisothiazolinone (MI) and chloromethylisothiazolinone (CMI) were detected in levels up to 25 and 38 mg/kg, respectively, much higher than the European legal limit for aqueous toys intended for children younger than three. 59% of the toys contained other preservatives such as 2-phenoxyethanol, p-hydroxybenzoic acid and parabens. In 2 toy-slimes and 2 putties N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA) was found in amounts up to 2.3 mg/kg. A risk assessment was performed for boron and NDELA. The estimated exposure to boron did not exceed the health based guidance value. The estimated exposure to NDELA from 2 toy-slimes may pose a health risk. For 2 putties the estimated exposure to NDELA was somewhat lower, but health risks could not be excluded. The presence of isothiazolinones may lead to skin sensitisation. It is recommended to extend the legal limit for NDELA, MI and CMI in finger-paint and labelling requirements to other aqueous toys.