Child chewing on toy made of acrylic yarn - same as chewing on plastic?

[mustangtbn]

I am in the middle of excitedly crocheting play food for my 2 year old DD for Christmas. I'm using a stash of yarn I inherited from my grandmother, which is mostly acrylic (partially because I already have all the colors I need in it, for free, and partially because I have a super-shedder dog and don't know how long these toys will last before they are destroyed by dog hair). It just occurred to me that acrylic is plastic, and the play food will likely be chewed on by DD or my other LO due this winter. So, does anyone know, how "safe" is it for children to chew acrylic yarn, in regards the chemicals? Are there BPA/phthalate concerns or anything else similar?

[MamaWolfe]

I've been wondering this as well. I just started a farmyard play mat, I have tons of acrylic that my mom gave me but i broke down and bought some sugar and cream cotton yarn for very cheap to use instead. I doubt anyone has done any studies but I would rather be safe than sorry. That said, I would probably not be so careful for my 3 yo because he no longer shoves everything in his mouth ;-)

[mustangtbn]

I'm tempted to just do that, but then on the other hand, really, I have NO idea how these are going to hold up - they could last less than a week! Maybe I'll consider them my "first draft" and if they hold up pretty well start working on replacing them with cotton or wool. DD is pretty good about not putting as much in her mouth these days anyway, and DH and I have already agreed that once LO starts crawling the plastic toys are going away anyway. Anyone else know?