Project: Development of products for rapid testing of toxic compounds in consumer products
Consumer society demands huge amounts of quality products which implies that safety of users using them should be assured by the fulfilment of the requirements imposed by legislation. Injuries caused by physical aspects can be easily avoided having in mind some aspects during the design of the product. However, chemical part is not always as simple as avoiding a substance in the formulation, for example. Use of solvents somewhere during the process, incorporation of additives, degradation substances generation, residues of reactions, undesirable reaction products and so on, causes the presence of uncontrolled substances in a product. Not always is it a problem of a presence of the substances, most of the cases the phenomena of migration is implied because only the biodisponibility of the toxic is relevant in legislation as is the case of food contact materials and toys._x000D_Chemical analysis is time and money consuming for the manufacturer/importer and also for the laboratory which performs the analysis. Demonstration of the fulfilment with the legislative limits implies the use of several analytical techniques which requires individual calibration for quantification purposes. This calibration is almost always the neck bottle of the analysis, especially when the quantification is performed at a low analyte concentration and in trace amounts as it is usual. COly problems with the stability of diluted solutions and the time needed during the analysis of those solutions causes such delay._x000D_In order to overcome such difficulties, the project aim is the preparation of polymeric material to be further used as reference for testing child care articles and toys according to standards dealing with organic compounds, especially those focused on EN 71-9: "Safety of toys Organic Chemical Compounds. Requirements". Plastic reference materials can be found in fields of food contact materials (plastic sheets with certified global migration), RoHS (Restriction in the use of hazardous substances in electronic products directive, reference materials with certified amounts of Cd, Pb, Hg, Cr and PBBs-PCBs) and for the evaluation of cleaning processes in the use of recycled PET intended to be in contact with foodstuffs, but not at this moment for validation process in child care articles or toys testing._x000D__x000D_There is a growing demand of reference materials certified and non-certified up to a point that European Commission has granted several projects on this topic. However, reference standards are very expensive and its purpose is focused on methodology validation and therefore on the quality control of the analytical results in the laboratory. Such materials have a certified value (for both, migration under specific conditions or total content) obtained through validation exercises among suitable competent laboratories in the area of interest. Generally reference materials are not used for calibration, which is the best option, because of its price and its availability._x000D__x000D_When analysing a plastic material intended for children under EN 71-9 which falls into several categories of analytes (monomers, solvents and plasticizers are usual for polymeric materials) the high cost of the analysis causes that a manufacturer prefers paying the fine in case the product was checked by authorities to passing the standard through analysis in a certified laboratory. This is not good for industry in general and consumers in particular. As standards provide the basis of design and testing products among others, they encourage positive implications for our health and the environment. Therefore actions focused on improvement of the application of standards is a work whose success affects us all. Market applications are initially focused on control of organic compounds in child care articles, however, procedure is easily spread to products where the analysis of the biodisponibility of a specific compounds is needed due to legislative limits._x000D__x000D_The CO result of the project is the production of a reference product doped with analytes of interest that will be analysed at the same time of the product and which is used for comparative purposes without the need of making more specific analysis if the preliminary result indicates it. Therefore, the general objective of the project is the achievement of a reduction in time, energy and analysis costs related organic compounds in child care articles and toys according to existing standards/legislation. This optimization will contribute to increase the efficiency of the control of the product, therefore also safety and quality. This will be done through the planning into the consortium which is composed by COLORTEC (ES) which its CO activity is to produce masterbatches for child care and food contact industry, they will take the leadership of the team also composed by, IISG (IT), an SME specialised in child care articles and AIJU (ES), research centre highly specialised in product control._x000D_
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Acronym
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RapidTest
(Reference Number: 4660)
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Duration
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01/01/2009 - 30/06/2012
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Project Topic
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The project is focused on the preparation and evaluation of polymeric products for the verification of the quick analysis of materials in child care articles and toys with the objective of reducing costs in the chemical certification process.
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Network
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Eurostars
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Call
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Eurostars Cut-Off 2
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Project partner
