are foam blocks non-toxic? (safety of EVA foam rubber)

[indigosky]

My MIL wants to buy a set of foam blocks for DD. Apparently they're made of EVA foam, which advertises itself as being non-toxic. I don't think this is the exact brand, but this is the kind of thing she's looking at: http://www.childtherapytoys.com/store/product4227.html .

I'm always the skeptic -- especially skeptical of a material called "ethylene vinyl acetate." I know vinyl off-gasses carcinogenic fumes, for example -- is this not vinyl even though the word vinyl is part of it? Does anyone know more?

[indigosky]

No one knows? :

[poppyseed]

EVA truely is non-toxic, toxic vinyl refers to PVC. The only thing that I would be weary about with blocks like those is the child biting chunks off and them being a chocking hazard.

[prometheamoth]

MSDS for EVA foam...

http://www.foamorder.com/material_sa...age=closedcell

Here is the Material Safety Data Sheet.
OSHA is very strict, so it looks like it is safe as long as your child doesn't bite some off and choke on it (unlikely...it's tough) or inhale some fumes while it is wildly burning. The material is stable in this form.

[Periwinkle]

bumping mostly because I'm cracking up that I just spent 20 minutes googling EVA foam when I should have just searched MDC first.

(and what I found online corroborates that it is very safe stuff from a toxicity perspective.)