Article on CPSIA and phthalates

[Birdartist]

I came across this and thought it might be of interest. I don't know if this has been posted before.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122472242723860917.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

I also recently learned that the brand of polymer clay, Cernit, no longer contains phthalates. Does anyone know if the other major brands like Sculpey, Kato, Du-kit, and Modelene still do?

[meredithdillman]

You should ask....is there a polymer clay team here? I remember something last year about most of the major brands changing their formulas and that might have something to do with it. Some of the brands reformulated to make the clay work the same without the ingredient removed and some didn't.

http://www.garieinternational.com.sg/clay/shop/fimo_new_formula.htm

[Birdartist]

Thank you, Meredith, for the article. Although we can all appreciate the removal of phthalates from a possible toxicity point of view, it is concerning that it may have adversely altered the working properties of the clay--at least for Fimo.

I posted something in the materials thread, also, about properties of Cernit clay, but have a feeling I won't get a response.

[meredithdillman]

Does this help? They have a listing a brands and properties with info on different formulations.
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/Characteristics.htm

I think Kato was the one that reformulated to get the same workablity artist wanted and they raised the prices instead.

[Former_Member]

i was reading about this a few weeks ago- i believe most of them have reformulated, because it was found that they were really heavy on the phthalates, and releasing them into the air during baking.

i know sculpey premo was mentioned as reformulated, but this was from a blog post, so i'd verify.

[Birdartist]

What a wealth of information, Meredith. I read a lot of it, but will have to go back later for the rest. I'll have to look into Premo and see if it's been reformulated. I'm going to have to give this quite a bit of thought, and maybe buy a few sample blocks of different brands and play around with them.