Contamination of potentially toxic metals in children’s toys marketed in Iran

Chemical exposure of heavy metals in children is of particular concern. However, using heavy metal-contaminated toys can threaten the life and well-being of children. Therefore, quality control of toys for avoiding children exposure to potentially toxic metals is important. The investigation of potentially toxic metals (arsenic, barium, antimony, cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, selenium) in toys was performed in present study. A total number of 150 popular cheap priced plastic toy samples were purchased from the eight metropolitan and most visited provinces in Iran and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer for arsenic, barium, antimony cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, and selenium. As results showed As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Sb, and Se respectively were in the range of 0–0.9 mg/kg, 0.3–5 mg/kg, 0–3.1 mg/kg, 0.04–4.8 mg/kg, 0–0.03 mg/kg, 0.22–11.7 mg/kg, 0–1.2 mg/kg, and 0.03–1.1 mg/kg. Cadmium was higher than the European standard in Kurdistan province. The highest amount of mercury was also observed in Tehran. The highest amount of lead, selenium, and antimony was detected in Qom province. The results showed that all the toxic elements in the collected toys were within the permissible limit. Furthermore, market monitoring is needed to control toys safety on a large scale in metropolitan cities like Qom province.