Yvonne Shashoua, a preservation specialist with the National Museum of Denmark, said Wednesday some dolls manufactured in the 1950s with polyvinyl chloride, a type of plastic, are deteriorating rapidly - and dangerously.

In a presentation at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, Shashoua said about 15 years after manufacture, some PVC toys tend to ooze a chemical used in the plastic-molding process.

"The outside of toys, such as Barbie dolls, get sticky," she said.

The stickiness, said Shashoua, is from a chemical plasticizer that is added to make the PVC flexible.

"PVC is brittle," she said. "They must add (a) plasticizer to make it flexible and stabilized. It is mixed with the PVC and then molded."

The plasticizer in aged toys forms a tacky slime across the surface. It eventually crystalizes and turns to dust.

Shashoua said studies in Europe show the plasticizer chemical can mimic estrogen and disrupt development in the very young. Some studies have blamed estrogen mimics in the environment for malformation of male organs.

The use of the troublesome plasticizer has been generally banned and a new formula now used in PVC products does not pose a health risk, she said.

Officials of Mattel Inc., manufacturer of the Barbie doll, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

But old dolls, dug out of storage boxes, still weep plasticizer, posing a potential health risk for children who are curious about the toys of their parents.

Shashoua said young children, when they pick up a sticky doll, tend to poke their fingers into their mouths, transferring the chemical into their bodies.

She said old dolls can be made safer by wrapping them in kitchen plastic wrap and not touching the plastic bodies directly.

Preserving the dolls is a serious problem for museums, where archived Barbies and Kens are prime cultural treasures. Shashoua and other preservation scientists are scrambling to find ways to keep the PVC items from turning to dust. She said she hopes a plastic spray that will stabilize the plastic toys and permit them to be enjoyed by many generations of museum visitors.

In the meantime, she advised, Barbie and her old plastic friends need some tender loving care.

"Keep then out of light and store them in dark cool places," said Shashoua.

"They shouldn't be wrapped in plastic bags (like those from a grocery store) and they shouldn't be cleaned."

If the dolls do get sticky, she said, put them in a well-ventilated room - and be gentle.

Source: Associated Press

[Posted 8/24/2000]