WASHINGTON, Jun 12 (Reuters) - The nation's top three crayon manufacturers
have agreed to reformulate their product to eliminate small amounts of an
ingredient that may contain cancer-causing asbestos or asbestos-like fibers, the
Washington Post reported Tuesday, quoting US government officials.
But it said the companies did not plan to recall crayons already on the
market given government findings that they posed an extremely low health risk to
children because the fibers were embedded in wax. The newspaper said the
Consumer Product Safety Commission would formally announce the companies'
decision on Tuesday.
It quoted CPSC officials as saying the agency had urged crayon makers to
quickly come up with a substitute for talc, which is used to strengthen the
crayon and considered to be the source of the asbestos and asbestos-like fibers.
Talc has also been used in some chalk and modeling clay.
CPSC Chairman Ann Brown said in an interview that the agency would now
review the composition of chalk and modeling clay, which also contain talc, to
see if these products also need to be reformulated. "The bottom line is, when
children are involved, you have to be extra cautious," the Post quoted Brown as
saying. "Crayons are made specifically for kids, and we don't think any of these
fibers should be in children's crayons."
Until reformulated crayons are widely available, in about a year, Brown
urged parents and teachers to continue to use the crayons they have already
purchased.
The government's crayon probe came after the Seattle Post-Intellingencer
reported in late May that two government-certified labs had analyzed crayons, at
the paper's request, and found asbestos in 32 of 40 crayons. All three brands
were found to have asbestos, but in varying levels.
The crayon manufacturers immediately denounced the newspapers findings as
completely wrong, adding that their talc supplier, R. T. Vanderbilt Co. Inc.,
had certified that the talc it was shipping from its New York mine was free of
asbestos. Vanderbilt officials did not return calls on Monday. But a subsequent
test conducted by the CPSC also found trace amounts of asbestos in 3 of 25
crayons examined, and larger amounts of asbestos-like fibers in 21 crayons,
prompting the CPSC to push for a change in the way crayons are made.
Asbestos has been found to cause cancer and a wide variety of lung diseases,
and a growing number of scientists also believe that asbestos-like fibers in
talc also cause cancer.
Binney & Smith, which makes popular Crayola crayons, said it plans to have a
newly formulated crayon within a year. "Our crayons are safe," Mark Schwab,
president of Binney & Smith, told the Post in an interview. But he added that
the CPSC tests "could lead to potential concern on the part of some parents" and
said, "I want to make sure parents can trust the same product they've trusted
for over 100 years."
Rose Art, the nation's second-largest crayon maker, said it stopped using
talc 15 months ago. Richard Joyce, president of Dixon Ticonderoga, which makes
Prang crayons, said his company will reformulate "so there will be no confusion
concerning the safety of our product components."
