High Performance Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) Method for Comparison of Levels of some Phthalate Esters in Children’s Toys and Their Health Implications

The phthalate esters contents of children toys were analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Understanding the distribution of ubiquitous phthalate esters in plastic products were necessary because of their subtle toxicity to humans. The phthalate esters were obtained using liquid-liquid extraction procedure, after which the extracts were cleaned up using solid phase clean up technique, and finally analyzed by HPLC. Results revealed that the toy samples contained high concentrations of phthalate esters. For dimethyl-, diethyl-, diphenyl, and dibutyl-phthalates, baby suckers toy mean values (μg/g) of 44.56 ± 1.14, 3.29 ± 0.03, 225.73 ± 3.16, and 47.94 ± 0.62 were recorded while truck toys have mean values (μg/g) of 278.81 ± 2.84, 175.32 ± 2.00, 41.01 ± 1.23, and 89.20 ± 1.21, respectively. A soft colorful rabbit with carrot toy showed mean values (μg/g) of ND, 217.79 ± 1.39, 60.86 ± 1.38, and 1625.25 ± 25.3. Mean values (μg/g) of ND, 387.50 ± 3.54, 7.84 ± 0.06, ND and 1.19 ± 0.01, 0.32 ± 0.03, 48.18 ± 0.23, 82.47 ± 3.71 were recorded for a Barbie-type girl doll toy and teether and rattle toy, respectively. On percentage basis, the amounts of these phthalate esters as determined in these toys were much higher than the stipulated EU limit of 0.1% (w/w) in toys. The percentage concentration for dibutyl-phthalate ranges between 0.1 – 14.17% and between 0.1 – 1.00% for diphenyl-phthalate. Conversely, diethyl-phthalate percentage concentrations ranged between 0.1 – 5.06 %, and that of dimethyl-phthalate ranges between 0.1 – 63.34%, respectively. The study is noteworthy and significant because most toys used by children (0 – 3 years) are usually intended to be placed in the mouth which could lead to the leaching of these chemicals into their blood stream, which in turn, poses a health risk to infants. (