Asbestos in stretchy toy

[Scared80]

Hello
im spiraling and can’t cope. I’ve just found out that my two sons played with the exact same sand filled poop toy that has been recalled because it could contain asbestos.The make and bar code were the same.
It split years ago and I threw it in the bin, but because I didn’t know there was any risk of asbestos in this type of product I just hoovered it up, there was quite a lot of sand.
Im sat here in tears and can’t cope or see a way forward as my children now have the risk of an incurable disease hanging over them. I can’t see a way to get through the next few hours or days I’m so frightened.

If there was any asbestos contamination in the toy, it would've been a tiny bit of dust. Even if your children breathed it in, lungs have the ability to clear themselves of small amounts of asbestos. The cancer cases you hear of are related to workers who were repeatedly exposed to industrial-type long asbestos fibres that lodged in their lungs for good. It's a completely different type of exposure than a one-off with a tiny bit of dust from a toy. Those toys were recalled because asbestos is classed as a carcinogen so it's illegal to put it in toys, but this amount won't cause health issues in anyone. Asbestos is not a radioactive substance or a nerve agent, tiny bit of it (like the amounts released after drilling in popcorn ceilings) won't do any harm. Please don't worry, your children will be absolutely fine

A barcode is generic to the product. It’ll be smaller batches that’ll have been recalled.

Exactly, the product was recalled/banned because a trace amount was found, an no amount can legally be used, not because there is a huge danger.

And I'd reiterate from my previous post, the type of asbestos found is not one of the 3 that were commercially used, it is one of the 3 that have no practical use and as such have much less research and data on, but in many parts of the world co-exist with other minerals.

In China, where it came from, it would be a non issue.

The item number and barcode were the same as the recalled toys, so it’s part of the contaminated batch

@AsbestosExpert thank you so much for your posts. I’m worried because the product was splitting a little for a while and I didn’t throw it out until it split properly so that, along with hoovering, has increased the exposure.

I also read that the fibres in tremolite are less likely to be cleared from the lungs are they are more needle-like and sharper, so can potentially penetrate deeper. I was reading an article that said that even low levels of tremolite in the air can cause high concentrations of fibres in the lungs..

The vast majority of everyone has been exposed to absestos in some form across their lifetime. Building materials, talcum powder, unknown contamination, tiles, insulation, roofing, etc etc etc …

You are right that tremolite is in the amphibole group of asbestiform minerals, which is the nastier one, having as it dies smaller needle like fibres as you say.

However, if we assimilate it to crocidolite or amosite, both amphiboles that we know a lot about, they were used mainly as a binding product to give strength to something else, for example cement or rubber, so were added deliberately. If I snap a piece of AIB (asbestos insulating board) as I sometimes do (wearing the right PPE, then I see along the broken edge bunches of fibres very visible, put there on purpose.

In this case the sand has been extracted from a pit where there is also some tremolite, so the odd fibre ends up in the sand. by no means can all fibres be inhaled, they have to be tiny, those are generally produced when you snap bigger fibres and tiny bits break off, say in cutting, breaking, drilling a product containing asbestos, that's not going to be the case with this sand.

I really doubt even if the sand had been thrown around that the 0.1 f/ml would have even been approached, let alone crossed.

To put it in context, if say, we removed a ceiling containing amphibole in a school, so long as the test showed less than 0.1 f/ml when all cleanup was done, the school can open, that doesn't mean there is nothing in the air, just that it is within the level considered acceptable.

Sadly in the past asbestos was used so widely, with no precautions, even though the dangers were first identified by the ancient romans, that many deaths occurred - most, if not all from chronic exposure, I suspect that the teacher pinning pictures to a wall got their dose unwittingly elsewhere as hundreds of factories used it venting the air out over communities.

We are in a much safer place now - try not to worry about your DC, their likelihood of ill health due to this is vanishingly small, likely zero. There are many worse hazards out there.

Also worth adding that growing up in the UK your DC are far safer from asbestos than they would be in many other countries, we have robust laws and procedures for finding it, encapsulating and removing it, and it is fully prohibited in new products.

In quite a few countries it is still mined and used for all the things we used to use it for, with no restrictions at all.

Sometimes it is better left where it is however, its a great fire barrier, when 9-11 happened that had just finished removing the asbestos cladding from the steelwork in the world trade centre, some suggest if it had still been there it would have stood for longer, the steel protected from the heat. That's why sometimes in schools its better just to coat it to lock in the fibres yet retain the properties that it was intended for (often just that, slowing the spread of fire), one of the manufacturers logo's was a cat engulfed in flame with the strapline "As much chance as an paper dog chasing an asbestos cat through hell" different times!

So the entire toy was recalled, not just a specific batch?

Maybe you could show the photo as Indont understand what you’re describing. It may help others to check their toys too.

Yes, could you crop and share the photo?

So?

There is nothing you can do about it.

What you are doing right now, all this anxiety, worrying, catastrophising, will only harm you and your children.

You need to let go and move on.

This is the imagine with the barcode
and item number on, and it’s listed as being recalled on the government website

Here is a screenshot from the UK government site

Sorry, attached here

Where's your picture though?

I don’t have the toy anymore

But you have an image on your phone?

I know, but you have the photo that caused the anxiety. Could you post that? With child cropped out obviously?

You need to see a doctor for this reaction its bonkers !

if they had eaten the whole toy the risk would be still be v v v slight

men who died needed decades of PROVEN exposure to. Significance amount and even then some were ok

get a grip they MAY have touched a TINY amount of it briefly

Your out of control anxiety will harm your boys far more than any potential exposure

This is a screenshot of a photo taken from Facebook.

Yes it is, it’s from the website of the shop I purchased it on and matches my photo at home

But you said you had the photo of it with your dc? If you are convinced it is one and the same you need to find a way of dealing with this without projecting your anxiety on to them. Remember Trading Standards are not saying this has enough to make anyone ill, just that it breaches the CE standards for a child's toy.

I do have a photo with my child, but it’s not on my phone so it’s easier to share this one, which has the exact same details