Bottles of children’s play sand have been withdrawn from shelves by the craft retailer Hobbycraft after a parent discovered they were contaminated with asbestos.
The parent, who did not wish to be named, raised the alarm after her children played with the sand at a party.
She sent samples off to a testing lab, which found traces of asbestos fibres in the bottles of yellow, green and pink sand sold in Hobbycraft’s Giant Box of Craft arts kit.
Asbestos can cause cancer in later life if inhaled, although the risk to children who played with the sand is thought to be low.
The discovery came two months after asbestos traces found in similar play sand products in Australia prompted a government recall and the closure of schools and nurseries across the country and in New Zealand.
All the affected products are manufactured in China, where items containing less than 5% of asbestos can be labelled asbestos-free. UK law says that there is no safe limit for exposure to the mineral.
The parent said: “The bottles of coloured sand looked extremely similar to ones I had seen on a news report of play sand recalled in Australia.
“I was concerned enough to buy a set at Hobbycraft and send it to an accredited lab for testing. Three of the five colours came back positive for fibrous tremolite asbestos.”
She alerted Hobbycraft, which withdrew the product from sale but declined to issue a recall notice. “I am getting increasingly upset thinking that kids are being exposed unnecessarily,” she said.
Hobbycraft said that no UK authority had warned of a risk and that there was no evidence of harm to customers.
However, a spokesperson said: “As a precaution, we have voluntarily removed the product from sale while we carry out independent testing … We will update customers as soon as we are in a position to do so.”
A government source criticised Hobbycraft’s response. “Parents are right to be concerned by this,” the source said. “Officials are investigating, but there’s no good reason why Hobbycraft shouldn’t recall this themselves, given the evidence.”
The issue highlights post-Brexit gaps in health and safety law, which leave authorities unable to issue recalls without hard evidence of harm to health.
The so-called “precautionary principle”, abolished when product safety legislation was redrafted after Brexit, allowed the government to restrict products thought to pose a serious threat to health, without having to acquire scientific evidence.
Campaigners, including the British Occupational Hygiene Society, have criticised the government for refusing to reinstate powers to withdraw potentially hazardous goods when product safety laws were redrafted last year. Current rules rely on exporting countries to alert authorities to problem products.
“We know that there is no way that every product landing on British doorsteps can be tested individually for safety and the labels can’t be made to tell the truth, so, it was a missed opportunity for the government,” said Prof Kevin Bampton, CEO of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.
“We do have the precautionary principle for the environment, which means that bats and newts in some ways have better protection than people working in Britain and, potentially, our children.”
The Department for Business and Trade rejected the claims.
“We have some of the most robust product safety laws in the world and any product being put on the UK market by businesses must meet our strict criteria,” said a spokesperson.
According to the British Occupational Hygiene Society, the health risk to children who played with the contaminated sand is likely to be low, as there were only small quantities in the bottles.
However, Bampton warned that the long-term risks of exposure to asbestos remain little understood. He said: “This issue should be a wake-up call for regulatory change, so governments can be proactive, act fast and protect human health from risks before they protect profit.”
