A consumer advocacy group testing school supplies for toxins says it discovered asbestos in Playskool crayons.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund tested six brands of crayons it bought at Dollar Tree and discovered tremoline inside a green Playskool crayon. Tremoline is a type of asbestos, which can lead to serious health conditions such as lung cancer and mesothelioma if ingested or inhaled.
Playskool parent company Hasbro and Dollar Tree did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
US PIRG called on retailers such as Dollar Tree, Amazon, and eBay to pull Playskool crayons from their items for sale. Hasbro, Playskool’s parent, told the Washington Post it was investigating the claims, while Dollar Store said independent tests showed the crayons contained no asbestos.
That wasn’t all. US PIRG tested other supplies and found toxins such as lead and phthalates in them.
“Among the school supplies surveyed, we found Playskool crayons from Dollar Tree that contained asbestos, a 3-ring binder from Dollar Tree that contained high levels of phthalates, a dry-erase markers containing benzene, and we highlight two water bottles that have been recalled due to high levels of lead,” USPIRG said in a shopping guide it prepared for back to school supplies.
Despite the dangers those substances pose, most news stories focused on the asbestos found in crayons.
In June, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a framework that will allow for the approval for “new uses” of asbestos. That proposal has drawn an increasing amount of criticism among groups concerned that such a move would lead to a resurgence of asbestos-related illnesses.