Crayons Sold by Dollar Tree, Amazon Test Positive for Asbestos

A recent test from a consumer advocacy group found toxic levels of asbestos — a mineral that can lead to lung cancer and mesothelioma if inhaled or ingested — in a popular brand of crayons sold by Dollar Tree, Amazon.com and other retailers. The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) Education Fund tested 36 packs of Playskool crayons purchased from a Dollar Tree store in Chicago. All contained dangerous amounts of tremolite asbestos fibers, according to Kara Cook-Schultz, toxics director for U.S. PIRG. The results were part of U.S. PIRG’s “Safer School Supplies: Shopping Guide,” released Tuesday. “We were testing a variety of different back-to-school products so people could make some wise decisions on what to buy,” Cook-Schultz told Asbestos.com. “We weren’t really zeroed in on asbestos or crayons, we just knew that asbestos had turned up in crayons in the past.” Six other brands of crayons were tested from Houston, Denver, California and Chicago. Only the Playskool crayons tested positive for tremolite asbestos. The asbestos-free products included Crayola, Target’s Up & Up, Cra-Z-Art, Disney Junior Mickey and the Roadster Racers, and RoseArt. Playskool’s parent company, Hasbro, told The Washington Post it is conducting a “thorough investigation” into the claims. Leap Year Publishing, the Massachusetts-based manufacturer of the crayons, is also reviewing its lab tests. U.S. PIRG’s laboratory tests were conducted by Stat Analysis Co...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news