Toxic elements in children’s crayons and colored pencils: Bioaccessibility assessment

Abstract

Crayons and colored pencils for children may contain toxic elements (TEs) exhibiting potential risk for children?s health including cognitive development, after their ingestion, through mouthing and chewing and eventually, their accumulation. The aim of this study was to determine total content of As, Pb, Cr, Cd, Ni, and Sb and estimate their bioaccessibility conducting artificial saliva extraction. Sixty samples of colored pencils and crayons from 10 manufacturers were analyzed. Microwave acid assisted digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma optical spectroscopy (ICP-OES) was performed for determination of total content of TE. Simulation of extraction by artificial saliva was applied to get more reliable data when bioavailability is concerned. The total concentrations of TE were higher in colored pencils than in crayons and their maximum levels were: 5.78, 9.36, 9.97, 0.615, and 6.63 mg kg-1 for As, Pb, Cr, Cd, and Ni respectively. Concentration of Sb was below the detection limit for all investigated samples. This study showed that concentration of As and Pb in several samples did not comply with European Union regulative. Bioaccessibility study showed the high degree of leaching of Cr and As from pencils, but regardless of extracted portions, concentrations of selected investigated TE were below allowed levels.

Experimental study for inorganic and organic profiling of toy makeup products: Estimating the potential threat to child health

“…Studies have been conducted on children’s toys (D. e. S. Gul et al 2022 ; Kang & Zhu 2015 ; Karas & Frankowski 2018 ; Negev et al 2018 ; Yazdanfar et al 2022 ), jewelry (A. Gul et al 2023 ; Hillyer et al 2014 ; Yost & Weidenhamer 2008 ), finger paints, watercolors, acrylic paints, crayons, (M. R. Khan et al 2021 ; Mračević et al 2022 ), and face paints (Rebelo et al 2015 ; Salles et al 2023 ). There are also studies on allergens (Lv et al 2013 ; Masuck et al 2010 , 2011 ; Rastogi et al 1999 ; Wang et al 2018 ), as well as organic chemicals (Guo et al 2018 ; Szczepańska et al 2018 ) used in toys.…”