Certain plastic food containers have gotten a bad wrap for
leaching toxic chemicals into food and water. And now it appears
dog toys made of certain materials are along for the ride.
According to Discovery News, The worst offenders appear to be
plastic fetching batons, called "bumpers," which are used to
teach dogs how to retrieve. The news was released on the heels
of a conference held by the Society of Environmental Toxicology
and Chemistry. To test for the chemicals, the researchers
created simulated dog saliva, then simulated chewing by
squeezing purchased bumpers and dog toys with stainless steel
salad tongs. Some bumpers and toys were also weathered outside
to determine if older toys gave off more chemicals. "We found
that the aging or weathering the toys increased concentrations
of BPA and phthalates," Smith said. "The toys had lower
concentrations of phthalates than the bumpers, so that’s good
news. But they also had some other chemicals that mimicked
estrogen. We need to find out what those are." Sci