DC played with recalled asbestos sand

That’s awful. How are you now? I recall a poster doing an AMA a couple of years ago - was that you? If so, really glad you seem to be stable.

I know this is all so worrying but please try not to panic. We were gifted lots of posh sand pots at Christmas and I don’t know if they were made in China or not, so I’m going to throw them out and replace with proper kinetic sand (the brand) which is European and so is asbestos free, whereas Chinese regulators allow up to 5% tolerance for asbestos. But in all my reading about it, it seems to be especially low risk because the reason the play sand pours like it does is because it has silicon in it to make it ‘sticky’, and the silicon means the asbestos particles can’t easily become airborne, which is where the risk lies. Dispose of it and try not to worry, the risks are minuscule.

the risk to children who played with the sand is thought to be low.

This is where to focus. The world is full of things that can be harmful in the wrong quantity, time or place. Just being alive in this world as a human is inherantly a risk, there is no way to remove them all and you wouldn't want to. There are substances, and happenings at every turn which could harm, you have absolutely not failed your children.

Bin it, wash your hands, and book in a few appointments with whoever you're getting support from for your OCD and health anxiety.

I was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma at age 21, caused by small asbestos fibres and not repeatedly exposed to it. It's very rare, but it does happen!

Please try not to worry. I'm a teacher in Australia and we had to throw away all sand products last year. The advice was that we were doing so with an abundance of caution. My understanding is that the risk of a problem is when the sand is pulverised - as in by industrial machinery, not by playing with hands / plastic tools.

some batches showed trace amounts in testing - of some batches of some brands over some time scales, the world over. Many batches were tested and fine.

And even those with trace amounts could only be a problem if crushed by machinery and inhaled again and again over a long period.

I think Hobbycraft have been disgraceful. Their initial reaction was to say there was no evidence of anyone being harmed, which is nonsensical in the context of asbestos where any harm will take decades to emerge. It just seemed like they had no understanding of the issue at all.

I have phoned Hobbycraft today and their response was terrible - no information and shirty. She wouldn't say what type of asbestos, how much, or if they are doing further testing

Please don’t panic. Whilst certainly not good the reality is that asbestos is around us far more than you’d realise. A lot of schools and other public buildings.. lots of flats of a certain age. Garages of older houses. Etc Issues arise when it’s breathed in. Smoking is known to make risk miles higher but not sure anyone knows why. Some people can get massively exposed and never suffer. Others the opposite

Hi OP, we also had this box. I’m 70-80% sure I threw the sand out (we lived in a carpeted flat at the time so didn’t really allow sand or play doh etc) but that was a couple of years ago so I can’t specifically recall.

If it helps, I’ve established the following:

1. The asbestos content was very small - 0.1% at most. We know this because they describe ‘trace’ amounts - the limit for it to be deemed ‘trace’ in the UK is 0.1%. Trading standards have said if found we can throw it away in household waste - again, by law anything more than 0.1% asbestos has to be disposed of by specialists, so the test result must be below this threshold.
2. Australia and New Zealand recently had the same scare - play sand contaminated by trace amounts. They ran tests and established there were no respiratory fibres released during ordinary play with the sand (hopefully that would be the same with this).
3. Asbestos related illnesses are dose dependent - out of people who worked heavily and directly with it over many years, 90% did not go on to develop serious illness. While no exposure is ‘safe’ (like with cigarette smoke for example), the exposure here is considered to be very low.

I will also paste a quote from a leading consultant in asbestos related lung disease from one of the Australia articles:

Prof Fraser Brims, a consultant respiratory physician at Sir Charles Gairdner hospital and director at Curtin University Medical School, said the ACCC was correct in saying the risk to children was low.
“Any exposure to asbestos and all of its forms is definitely undesirable, but there is a really important message that the risk of developing asbestos-related diseases is dose-related, and so [with] very low exposures, which is what no doubt is the case with this sand, the risk is unmeasurably low,” Brims said.
Brims said the states’ decisions whether or not to close schools came down to “their own interpretations of safety and risk”.

The above is taken from the Guardian.

So while obviously any exposure should be avoided, please don’t worry yourself sick.

Half the mums on here will have had this stuff at some point, I know we have. I was a bit shocked to read it but realistically there's nothing to be done and it's probably fine. You'll drive yourself mad worrying about it for the next fifty years.

I honestly know nothing about any.of this, but I can tell you a story.

I am a child of the 60s. I had always wanted a fancy Wendy House like my friend had. When my Dad was renovating our living room and took out the fireplace and boiler there was a wonderful sheet of white, board like stuff with a hole, just the right size for a small child to use as a door. The was attached to Mum's 3 sided clothes horse and made a little play house for me. I loved it. I was in and out of the playhouse 100 times a day, brushing against the sides of the door and flaking off the fibres.

I am sure you realise this was asbestos.

I am now 64 and have had, as yet, no issues.

So.please try to keep.your anxiety at bay. I know it's difficult but as yet, nothing bad has happened.

Take care.

The advice says "If the sand has been used, clean-up sites where the product was used using wet cloths to avoid generating dust. Wear gloves and a mask. Double bag the sand, gloves, mask and cloths."

I'm the same. Do we throw out everything which was stored in the box touching the item we made? And we did it in the kitchen so it went everywhere and it was played with on different surfaces etc.

Our tubes of remaining sand are in the bin, but I had a look through the bin as I want to send mine off for testing. I might send the item we made for testing too.

Do we throw out everything? Or just wipe items which touched the sand?

I’m also freaking out having got one opened box with the matching serial code, but missing sand tubes. I THINK I threw them out because I hate the kids playing with sand or glitter, but can’t be sure. Then I have some vials from an old set with no box to check against that I’m freaking out about and have chucked.

but do I need to chuck the things the vials were touching?? Do I need to clean everything? What with?

health anxiety is well and truly back. A handful of articles saying risk is minimal….but how minimal?

Someone I know, her dad was down the mines decades ago, from about age 14-18. All his coworkers from then long ago died of mesiolthoma (spelling?).

The father is still alive & well at 88yo. HOW? you ask... he never smoked. Turns out that smoking magnifies the risk enormously. Like... who knew? Anyway, I don't think we even know if there actually is asbestos in the sand, do we? It's just one person raised alarm and not on certain evidence, and there's background levels we are all exposed to anyway.

Try not to worry. x

Try not to worry as the amounts are so tiny.

Those of us at school in the 70's & 80s will have been exposed to far higher amounts & for longer but the rate of problems is still negligible.

Children getting suntanned will carry a greater risk of cancer than the trace amounts of asbestos that they may not even have been exposed to in the play sand

We also have the same box and I've been absolutely floored by this. I cannot get it out of my mind. I don't think Hobbycraft are giving enough information - we need to know the amount etc. I also have health anxiety so understand how you feel.

I just can't relax in the house thinking that there could be fibres everywhere - Washing machine, carpets, kitchen etc. It is horrible

Unfortunately there is still asbestos being used in talc and makeup. Claires accessories had childrens make up with asbestos in it. You just cannot trust products blindly, but we are much better regulated in the UK than others.