Some slime-based toys pose health risks and can affect fertility in the long term, Hong Kong Consumer Council warns
- Twelve out of 17 products tested found to contain traces of chemical substance exceeding recommended benchmark
- Two types are also found to contain bacteria levels beyond safe limits
Hong Kong parents should think twice about letting their children play with slime-based toys as the products could pose health risks, the Consumer Council warned on Thursday.
After testing 17 slime samples and three putty toys, the city’s consumer watchdog reported that the migration of the chemical substance boron from 12 slime-based toys to a user’s hands had exceeded the recommended upper limit of 300 parts per million (ppm) set in European standards for toy safety, a market benchmark.
Clement Chan Kam-wing, the council’s publicity and community relations committee chairman, warned that children could accidentally ingest boron – a chemical commonly used to make such toys elastic – if they played with slime-based products with a high migration rate of the chemical, and then touch their mouths or food without washing their hands thoroughly.
He said absorbing a medium to high dosage of boron might induce nausea and vomiting in the short term, while long-term intake might result in adverse effects on fertility in adulthood.
One product had a boron migration rate of 3,970 ppm, exceeding by more than 12 times the suggested upper limit level.