DC played with recalled asbestos sand

[AsbestosWorriez]

Just got an email from Hobbycraft and we purchased a box with the exact product code that has been recalled. The sand is the first thing the kids played with, we made some artwork and it went everywhere.

I have health anxiety at the best of times and am in complete bits. I feel I have failed my children.

If anyone has some more level headed information please let me know, there is really little information given but it says to dispose of with gloves and a mask which is so worrying.

I seem to be getting daily marketing emails from Hobbycraft this week, to add insult to injury!!

I'm never shopping there again

That’s really bad that it’s in the sand. However I wouldn’t worry over it too much, there is trace asbestos fibres in the air you breathe every single day. The risk of exposure is low especially at the quantities it says in the article are trace

I’ve just heard about this and yes we have the box and yes one of the tubes of sand has been used. I don’t have health anxiety but I was equally upset when I found out- I felt like I’d let DD down and felt panicky about it. Lots of level headed people being reassuring but it’s just emphasised that feeling of not being able to protect the DCs from everything

We also had the wormery, probably 4-5 years ago and both my children played with it and we had it in their bedroom for months with worms in.
I've spoken to customer services at Hobbycraft today as there just isn't enough information about what to do it you have been exposed. The chap I spoke to was probably much more forthcoming than I suspect he's supposed to be. He told me a customer had done the initial test themselves, after reading about the Australia recall, and the test had come back positive for trace amounts. Hence the recall. Hobbycraft don't know which batches specifically or if all.of them are affected, they are doing a massive investigation and will then release more information.
The advisor told me to email [email protected]
As they plan to contact all those customers whenever they have an update. So I sent this, if anyone wants to just copy it:

Good afternoon,
I am one of the customers who bought a living wormery for my children. This product has been used, and was handled by myself and both my children and lived in their bedroom for several months. I am not really concerned about getting a refund, I am extremely concerned about whether my children potentially have been exposed to asbestos that may cause them future problems!
I was advised by your customer service line to email you so that I would be kept updated with your investigation into these products and await advice on how to proceed. Obviously I do not intend to put my children through CT scans or any other tests until I know for sure that they have been exposed.
I will await your response.
Regards,
[Personal details redacted by MNHQ]

@LoveHartnett sorry you're in the same situation. That's exactly it, a reminder of how we just can't always protect them :(

@Pagen that's very helpful thanks, I will email too so I can get the update when available.

I finally got the box out and into a bag at the weekend. I was glad to find a few full tubes of sand in there as I thought we had used it all, but we had only used the yellow and half of the pink, hopefully it reduces our exposure somewhat.

I will take it back for a refund (as that's the least they can do) but will take pictures and keep hold of the sand in case it is needed for proof or testing or whatever down the line. I feel like if we hand it all back they can wash their hands off it all in future!

We had the giant box of craft and had used some of the sand. We paid for our own test on the remainder stil in the box and it came back negative. This was quite expensive (about £100) but did provide some peace of mind, though not total because a couple of the tubes were finished so not tested and also I assume there could still have been asbestos in the sand we actually used even if not in the remainder. I also appreciate not helpful for anyone with no sample remaining to test. But my post is really to say not all of the sand may have contained it even if some did. And also I got a lot of comfort from pp saying even if there was it was very very low levels. General
nightmare situation though.

The advice to double bag etc sounds really scary but there are strict rules about disposing asbestos containing materials so thsts why that advise is there.

Trace amounts of asbestos have been found but they obviously have not tested every single batch - the sand you bought could be completly asbestos free for example and exposure to asbestos doesn't mean you will get an asbestos-related disease. That damp texture of kinetic sand would really hold onto any fibres, its not like the risk of it in powdery talc.

We had the worm farm which has been recalled (came with kinetic sand to layer with the soil).

I've been considering testing it too but it's a double edge sword. I'll get even more worried if positive, and a negative may not reassure me fully anyway. But then by not knowing I tend to imagine the worst case scenarios. Good to hear yours was clear though, there is hope!

Testing won’t tell you whether anyone actually exposed to anything or whether if you did it could cause an issue as no way to predict. Asbestos in trace amounts is all over the place. Loads of buildings have it Inc schools

Ive worked in the asbestos industry for over 15 years, I test it in labs, I test the air and I survey buildings for it. The risk from this sand is absolutely miniscule and likely no higher than any risk you face from asbestos day to day. We classify materials as ‘no asbestos detected’ rather than ‘present’ because no one can determine that something contains 0.000000% asbestos, if that makes sense. When we run air tests there is still a threshold of airborne fibres that determines the air sampled to be of satisfactory fibre levels rather than ‘nothing’. It is a naturally occurring mineral that has background levels within the environment. These levels are of course incredibly low.

You realise you can dismantle your own asbestos cement shed roof and take it to the tip, perfectly legally? Even that done with basic precautions is safe and that will contain VAST amounts more asbestos than this sand. Wet it down, double bag it, and chuck it out for your own peace of mind.

The sand was regular coloured sand, not kinetic. Worms can't wiggle though that!

I bought the worm kit from Amazon and I just got the notification this morning. I'm furious that I wasn't informed earlier as judging by this thread the issue has been known about for a few weeks.

OP, like you I have health anxiety and this is very upsetting. Quite teary thinking about DCs playing innocently with the poison sand when all I wanted was for them to be happy and learn about nature.

Anyone had success getting a refund? I'm going around in circles following links from Amazon to Hobbycraft and back. Obviously, don't want to send it back - I'll just bin it, but I want my money back and an explanation as to how this could have happened.

Thanks for sharing - that is reassuring to hear. Do you have the batch number of your box?

Asbestos is really a problem for workers who are exposed to it all day every day, and it's only a problem if you breathe it in. A tiny bit of exposure that might have happened when the package was opened etc is going to be absolutely miniscule, and extremely unlikely to cause any harm. Sand would also not be a good thing to get into your lungs and so I think the chances of DC getting asbestos exposure from kinetic sand are rather small.

The advice to dispose of it with gloves and a bag etc is an overabundance of caution - it's just to absolutely minimise any further exposure, reduce it breaking up in landfill etc.

It makes sense to get rid of any sand that you have but there is nothing you can do about exposure which has already happened and it is also extremely unlikely to cause any problems.

I did read that the main worry is that it gets vacuumed up - which reassured me somewhat when I thought about the quantities that we have vacuumed (a few grains here and there) vs the quantities they have actually played with. But you might want to change your hoover bag or filter if this is something which would worry you.

It is very good that the companies are recalling the products but the fact that they are does not mean that children have been at huge risk.