It is soft and sticky: Play dough is used in many households and kindergartens. Reason enough for Ökotest to take a closer look at 20 brands – with shocking results: only five products were rated “very good”.
The ingredients of 20 different products, classic children’s clay such as soft and bouncy clay, were tested in the laboratory. The latter is characterized by special features – such as increased elasticity, glitter particles or bouncy properties. According to the Ökotest, harmful mineral oil was detected in twelve products, and seven were even rated “poor” or “insufficient”. In the end, only five modeling clays received the overall grade “very good”. These contained no aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons or other questionable ingredients. You can see what these are from the following list.
Ökotest: Five products perform “very well”.
1. Art
2. Ökonorm Nawaro Soft Putty (A-Set):
3. Stylex 4 soft putty:
4. Feuchtmann My favorite dough:
5. Smiki Dough 4 Pots:
These pollutants were found in the test
In addition to classic children’s playdough, of which Ökotest sent 15 products to the laboratory, five different bouncy playdoughs were also examined for harmful substances. The following ingredients were specifically researched:
MOAHMineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons, MOAH for short, are aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons. Ökotest was able to verify these in twelve products. The worrying thing is: they contain carcinogenic substances and are therefore harmful to health. According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), even small amounts are sufficient to pose a danger to children. They like to put the modeling clay or their fingers with which they kneaded in their mouths – this way the MOAH gets into their bodies. For this reason, the hydrocarbon compounds have no place in children’s clay, which is why the overall grades “poor” or “inadequate” are justified.
Formaldehyde/formaldehyde releaserFormaldehyde/formaldehyde releaser (a type of preservative) was detected in five products. Although certain limit values were not exceeded, the substance should not be included in children’s playdough. The reason for this: It can irritate the mucous membranes and cause allergic reactions – even if you take in small amounts. If, according to the Ökotest, which is very strict in the evaluation, too much free or splittable formaldehyde was found in a product, it automatically got a worse rating.
BorOekotest was able to detect the element boron (for consistency) in particular in the tested dough. It belongs to the group of semi-metals and is not dangerous to humans in small amounts – but in higher doses it can be a health hazard, especially with regard to fertility. Although the test values are said to have all been below the legally prescribed amount, the BfR warns that the tolerable daily dose when playing with children’s playdough could be almost exhausted. Reason enough for Ökotest to devalue the products in which boron has been detected.
Source: Ökotest
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