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Chemical Concerns and Car Seats
Should Parents Worry About Their Child's Car Seats?
By Teri Brown
According to Gearhart, the chemical compositions of the product are important. "Plastic components and fabrics contain chemicals that are added during the production process to impart specific properties, such as rigidity, durability or flame resistance," he says. "Many of these chemicals are not chemically bound to the plastic and are consequently released into the environment during the life of the product. This is often referred to as off-gassing. Heat and UV ray exposure can accelerate this process, and may also cause chemicals to break down into even more toxic compounds."
But do car seats with a high rating for these chemicals actually cause a concern? Critics of the study say absolutely not.
Jim Savage is an injury prevention and education coordinator for The Children's Hospital in Denver, Col. While he doesn't pretend to have a working knowledge of chemicals, he does see some problems with the way the information has been presented.
"While I cannot comment with familiarity on the chemicals that healthycar.org tested for on car seats, or the levels of these chemicals that could pose a danger, I can comment that the report compiled by healthycar.org does not mention what acceptable levels of these chemicals in the car seats might be, based on scientific testing," Savage says. "The report only compares chemical levels among different brands and models of car seats; it does not compare discovered levels with acceptable levels based on government regulations."
Savage goes on to point out that the report has been disputed on a scientific basis by organizations including the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, who stated that extensive testing performed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined that children are not at risk from vinyl plastics as used in children's products and that the total amount of phthaltes found in car dust is around 63 parts per million – a level that is actually about 10 times lower than is found in house dust.
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