Environmental group EcoWaste Coalition on Saturday, Aug. 28, welcomed the move made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to warn the public against the purchase of children bicycle brands Good Boy and FANHX.
Thony Dizon, chemical safety campaigner for the group, lauded FDA's action "to protect children from being exposed to preventable health risks from unauthorized toys, including health-harming exposure to lead" as they can be exposed to lead "if they pick up and eat flaking paint chips from a lead coated bike, or ingest or breathe in lead dust" of the said brands.
FDA's move came after the group reported the brands, which are being marketed for children aged 1.5 to six years old, to the agency in June.
In separate advisories posted by FDA on its website on August 27, it confirmed that the toy bicycles have not gone through the required notification process and that the use of such products may pose health risks to consumers.
The agency also warned business establishment not to sell the violative products, while directing its field regional offices and enforcement units to ensure that such products are not sold in areas under their jurisdiction.
The said brands, according to the group's report to FDA, violate the ban on lead paint as per Environment Department's Administrative Order No. 2013-24, or the Chemical Control Order (CCO) for lead and lead compounds.
Based on the laboratory tests commissioned by the EcoWaste Coalition, the Ateneo-based Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry found the yellow paint on Good Boy bicycle laden with 6,850 ppm of lead, while that of FANHX bicycle with 6,950 ppm. The World Health Organization previously said, there is no level of exposure to lead that is known to be without harmful effects.