Toxic chemicals threatening Kenya's children, women

Plastic threaten your health.[Courtesy]

From children's toys and baby feeding bottles to kitchen utensils and food containers, plastic products used daily in millions of Kenyan households may be exposing consumers to hazardous chemicals linked to cancer, hormonal disorders, infertility and developmental problems, a new report warns.

An analysis of 55 plastic consumer products sold in Kenya found traces of banned flame retardants, hormone-disrupting bisphenols and toxic heavy metals in several commonly used items. The findings, contained in the report Unsafe by Design: Banned and Hazardous Chemicals in Plastic Consumer Products in Kenya, have renewed concerns about the safety of plastics that come into direct contact with food, drinking water and young children.

The study, released by the Centre for Environment, Justice and Development (CEJAD), examined products purchased from supermarkets, retail outlets and second-hand markets across Nairobi, including children's toys, infant feeding bottles, sports bottles, lunch boxes and kitchen utensils.

Speaking during the launch, CEJAD Programme Officer Dorothy Otieno said the research sought to establish whether  chemicals banned or restricted internationally were finding their way into everyday products used by Kenyan consumers.

"We analysed 55 plastic consumer products purchased from supermarkets, retail outlets and second-hand markets across Nairobi. The samples were then shipped to accredited laboratories in the Czech Republic for chemical analysis," she said.

Researchers detected brominated flame retardant chemicals used in electronic equipment in all black plastic products tested, including children's toys and a kitchen utensil. Their presence suggests that electronic waste is being recycled into consumer products, despite the chemicals being unsuitable for toys or food-contact materials.

"Our findings strongly suggest that plastics from discarded electronic waste are being recycled into new consumer products," Otieno said, noting that every black plastic product tested contained flame retardants associated with electronics.

The study also identified Dechlorane Plus, a flame retardant added to the Stockholm Convention for global elimination in 2023, in every black plastic sample tested. Researchers believe these are among the first documented detections of the chemical in this category of consumer products worldwide.

Perhaps the most alarming findings involved Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical increasingly restricted across the world because of its ability to interfere with the body's hormone system.

Of the 27 food-contact plastic products analysed, BPA was detected in every sample. Bisphenol S (BPS), commonly marketed as a safer replacement, was found in 22 products, while Bisphenol F (BPF) was detected in one sports bottle, suggesting manufacturers are increasingly substituting one bisphenol with another.

All nine infant feeding bottles tested contained BPA, despite being marketed for newborns and infants. Concentrations ranged from 3.9 to 19.1 nanograms per gram. Four bottles labelled "BPA-free" also tested positive for BPA, with concentrations ranging between 6.2 and 19.1 nanograms per gram,  including the highest level recorded among all infant bottles analysed.

Sports bottles recorded the highest contamination levels in the study. Every bottle tested contained BPA, while four had exceptionally high concentrations ranging from 13,812 to 48,764 nanograms per gram. Researchers say the levels strongly suggest the bottles were manufactured using BPA-based polycarbonate plastics despite growing international efforts to phase out the chemical.

Besides BPA in infant bottles, researchers detected cadmium in the silicone teat of a baby bottle. A children's pencil case contained cadmium levels of 766 milligrams per kilogram, almost eight times the European Union's recommended limit of 100 milligrams per kilogram.

X-ray screening also found toys carried the highest concentrations of hazardous metals overall, with elevated levels of lead, zinc and iron detected in several products. Exposure to these substances has been linked to impaired brain development, behavioural disorders, endocrine disruption, reproductive problems and certain cancers.

Beyond children, scientists warn that women may face unique health risks because many of the chemicals found in plastics interfere with the endocrine system, which regulates hormones essential for reproduction, pregnancy and normal body function.

A 2024 meta-analysis involving more than 83,000 women found that exposure to BPA, phthalates, cadmium and lead was associated with a higher risk of estrogen-dependent diseases, including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis and endometrial cancer. Researchers concluded that plastic-related endocrine-disrupting chemicals are significantly associated with hormone-related reproductive disorders.

Another systematic review published in 2026, analysing 38 human studies, found that phthalate exposure was linked to altered reproductive hormone levels and poorer egg quality, while bisphenol exposure was associated with hormonal imbalances and PCOS. Persistent environmental pollutants were also linked to reduced ovarian function, reinforcing concerns that long-term exposure to plastic-associated chemicals may compromise female fertility.

CEJAD Project Assistant Kipchirchir Bernard said women could be disproportionately affected because many of the chemicals mimic oestrogen and bind to hormone receptors.

"Women are also exposed through multiple pathways, including food preparation, childcare and frequent contact with plastic consumer products such as food containers and infant feeding equipment," he said.

Otieno said hormone disruption affects women differently, making its health impacts difficult to predict.

"For one woman it may contribute to preterm birth, while for another it could affect foetal development," she said.

She noted that studies conducted in the United States have detected BPA in human urine, demonstrating that exposure extends beyond the environment into the human body. Kenya, however, has yet to undertake similar biomonitoring studies.

The report also questions the growing shift towards BPA substitutes such as BPS.

Although many products are marketed as "BPA-free", emerging evidence suggests BPS may interfere with estrogen and thyroid hormone signalling in much the same way as BPA. Researchers describe this as a "regrettable substitution", where one hazardous chemical is replaced with another that carries similar health risks.

The widespread detection of both BPA and BPS suggests Kenyan consumers may be exposed to multiple endocrine-disrupting chemicals with little regulatory oversight.

The findings come amid growing global concern over chemicals used in plastics. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), more than 350,000 chemicals are currently on the global market, with over 16,000 used in plastics. Of these, an estimated 4,200 are considered chemicals of concern because they persist in the environment, accumulate in living organisms and pose risks to human health.

Kenya's National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) acknowledged that the country's Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework is based largely on the volume and type of plastic rather than its chemical composition. As a result, manufacturers are not currently required to disclose or restrict hazardous chemical additives in plastic products.

NEMA said it is developing a hazardous product packaging category alongside a national chemicals inventory to strengthen oversight. The authority also acknowledged that Kenya lacks accredited laboratories capable of independently testing plastic products for hazardous chemicals, although it did not dispute the credibility of the international laboratories used in the CEJAD study.

According to CEJAD, the findings expose significant gaps in Kenya's chemical safety oversight. While the country is party to international treaties regulating persistent organic pollutants, researchers argue that weak market surveillance and the absence of enforceable national limits for many hazardous chemicals allow unsafe products to reach consumers undetected.

The organisation is calling for three key reforms: recycling guidelines that prohibit hazardous chemicals in toys and food-contact materials; enforceable national limits on hazardous substances in both virgin and recycled plastic products through the Kenya Bureau of Standards; and stronger provisions in the ongoing Global Plastics Treaty negotiations to improve traceability of recycled plastics and tighten controls on endocrine-disrupting chemicals, flame retardants and heavy metals.

"Toxic plastics cannot become safe through recycling alone," the report concludes, urging stricter regulation of chemicals used in plastic manufacturing, improved monitoring of recycled plastics and stronger protection for products intended for babies and children.