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Contamination of potentially toxic metals in children’s toys marketed in Iran

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Abstract

Chemical exposure of heavy metals in children is of particular concern. However, using heavy metal-contaminated toys can threaten the life and well-being of children. Therefore, quality control of toys for avoiding children exposure to potentially toxic metals is important. The investigation of potentially toxic metals (arsenic, barium, antimony, cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, selenium) in toys was performed in present study. A total number of 150 popular cheap priced plastic toy samples were purchased from the eight metropolitan and most visited provinces in Iran and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer for arsenic, barium, antimony cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, and selenium. As results showed As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Sb, and Se respectively were in the range of 0–0.9 mg/kg, 0.3–5 mg/kg, 0–3.1 mg/kg, 0.04–4.8 mg/kg, 0–0.03 mg/kg, 0.22–11.7 mg/kg, 0–1.2 mg/kg, and 0.03–1.1 mg/kg. Cadmium was higher than the European standard in Kurdistan province. The highest amount of mercury was also observed in Tehran. The highest amount of lead, selenium, and antimony was detected in Qom province. The results showed that all the toxic elements in the collected toys were within the permissible limit. Furthermore, market monitoring is needed to control toys safety on a large scale in metropolitan cities like Qom province.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Iranian Institute of R&D in Chemical Industries (IRDCI) (ACECR), Tehran, Iran

    Najmeh Yazdanfar

  2. Department of Food Hygiene and Quality Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

    Naiema Vakili Saatloo

  3. Department of Environmental Health, Food Safety Division, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Parisa Sadighara

Authors
  1. Najmeh Yazdanfar
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  2. Naiema Vakili Saatloo
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  3. Parisa Sadighara
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Contributions

NY, PS: investigation, writing—original draft writing – review and editing- supervision. NVS: writing, methodology, investigation, review and editing.

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Correspondence to Parisa Sadighara.

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Yazdanfar, N., Vakili Saatloo, N. & Sadighara, P. Contamination of potentially toxic metals in children’s toys marketed in Iran. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 68441–68446 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20720-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20720-1

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