ECB exposed children to harmful chemicals in cricket balls

Bosses admit giving out equipment that contains toxins linked to illnesses

TOXIC cricket balls containing banned chemicals were used by up to 100,000 primary school children in the England & Wales Cricket Board’s youth programmes.

The ECB has admitted providing those enrolled with All Stars Cricket, for five to eight-year-olds, and Dynamos Cricket, for eight to 11-year-olds, last year with equipment found to contain compounds called phthalates that were “at levels in excess of those permitted by relevant regulations”.

Phthalates, which aid flexibility in plastics used in household cleaners, food packaging and cosmetics, have been linked to asthma, breast cancer, obesity, Type 2 diabetes and male fertility issues. Last year, 100,000 children were signed up to the two schemes.

The ECB is now recommending hundreds of thousands of balls supplied as part of programmes that began eight years ago are no longer used and that children enrolled on the schemes play with tennis balls instead.

Those to have signed up to eight-week All Stars courses have previously received a backpack, bat, ball and personalised T-shirt. But in an email sent to parents and guardians of affected children yesterday, the ECB’S Head of National Programmes, Cordelia Brown, said: “The safety of participants, volunteers and staff is our priority, and out of an abundance of caution, would advise that the balls should no longer be used.

The tests also found that the Dynamos Cricket batting tee and PVC banners used in our National Programmes had levels of phthalates in excess of those permitted by relevant regulations.

“We are currently conducting further risk assessments in relation to these items. We are advising clubs and centres providing the programmes that the Dynamos Cricket batting tee and the National Programme PVC banners should no longer be used. We are very sorry that the affected products haven’t met the standards we’d expect, and for any concern this may cause you.”

Both Trading Standards and the Office for Product Safety and Standards were informed of the issue but there were no plans to recall balls already in circulation from previous years’ programmes. It added bats and stumps provided had met the necessary standards and could continue to be used.

It also announced it would not provide any gear this year to All Stars participants amid a cost-cutting drive and was therefore reducing the price of the programme by £10. It said anyone who had already paid the original £40 fee would receive a partial refund and were able to claim a full refund if they wished to cancel altogether.

According to the ECB, more than 2,200 clubs and centres are registered to run All Stars courses, which its website describes as “a perfect first experience of cricket for all children aged 5-8 years-old”.