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" Here at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute (GHRI), we follow state and federal government mandates very closely. That&amp;#039;s why when California (under Proposition 65) banned the use of seven specific phthalates (chemicals that are potential developmental toxins ingested) in products for children aged 12 and under, and the Consumer Product Safety Information Act (CPSIA) (a federal law policed by the Consumer Products Safety Commission) only banned them in products for kids 3 and under, we wanted to know why. According to the CPSC, the CPSIA ban was based on the fact that toddlers are likely to put lots of things in their mouths. Well, as the mother of 3 boys, I can tell you that many children older than 3 are prone to chewing on their clothing, particularly when they&amp;#039;re waiting in the rain for the school bus. It&amp;#039;s well known that phthalates are added to children&amp;#039;s raincoats to keep them soft, and comfortable to wear. If phthalates can affect development negatively if ingested, chewing on a slicker could cause as much harm as sucking on a pacifier. GHRI tested 12 boys&amp;#039; and girls&amp;#039; slickers to see if they contained phthalates, and if so how much, and found two vinyl slickers had high levels of specific phthalates. We also tested for lead and much to our surprise, found levels of lead in painted zipper pulls that were 13 times the CPSIA limit for products for children 12 and under. What can you do? Looks for slickers made of polyurethane or polyester coated with polyurethane. You can find this information on the label. The rest assured that your kids are protected from both the rain and ingesting harmful chemicals. To find out which raincoats to buy and which to avoid, see our story, GHRI Investigates: Kid&amp;#039;s Slickers. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a21409/safety-of-kids-raincoats/>