Mattel, the world s largest toymaker, announced in September that it would drop the use of the substance in toys for children under three. L il Tykes, Disney, and Gerber Childrenswear are also reportedly dropping the use of the chemical in their baby products. Greenpeace charges that DINP is toxic when fed in massive doses to laboratory animals, mainly rats and mice. However, an official of Aristech Chemicals Corporation, which conducted studies on DINP, was quoted in a November 13, New York Times article saying that rodent studies were not relevant to humans. DINP did not cause liver damage in guinea pigs or monkeys because those animals, compared to rodents, had only about one-tenth the cell receptors with which the chemical can bind.
Humans also have far fewer of that type of cell receptor.
Frequently using violent tactics, Greenpeace has been more successful in achieving its goals in European countries than it has in the United States. The European Commission consumer affairs commissioner Emma Bonino, an Italian, could not persuade the EC to impose an official ban on all European Union countries. Yet, frightened by the scare tactics, some European countries have already imposed restrictions on the use of DINP in children s toys. Austria, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway have done so. The Dutch have not yet been persuaded.