Khoo Bee Kim
CNA – It is a treat to find a toy from your childhood that is still being sold today.
Like the little tube of gel that you squeeze onto the end of a straw and blow into a balloon.
There was always a competition to see who could create the largest and earn extra bragging rights if yours lasted the longest.
All manner of tricks were employed to that effect: Use a bigger blob of gel to get a bigger balloon.
Created a whopper but it’s now collapsing? Suck the balloon’s surface to make a hole and blow in more air.
To salvage leaky ones, you knew to carefully pinch together the sides of a hole to seal it.
The more curious kids in your time might have wondered what went into the making of this marvellous goo.
Each tube simply had the words “Bestman Balloon” printed on its paper cummerbund. No ingredient list. No instruction even.
If yours came in a box of 32 tubes, you might find a bundle of straws.
But that was it. What goes into each tube of Bestman Balloon? And why does it have such a strong odour?
WHAT CHEMICALS IS THE BALLOON GEL MADE OF?
While we couldn’t ascertain the exact chemical make-up of the product, we managed to get Associate Professor Ang Wee Han from National University of Singapore’s Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, to give his take.
And the likely combo is: polyvinyl acetate, acetone and ethyl acetate. “Some colouring agent may be used to give the balloon some colour. Other than that, no other chemicals would be needed,” he said.
“The balloon gel is made from polyvinyl acetate, a polymer that has some elastic and sticky properties, therefore amenable to be inflated,” explained Ang.
“Ethyl acetate may have been used to strengthen or fortify the plastic,” he added.
As for acetone, it is used to dissolve the polyvinyl acetate and make it malleable.
“Acetone evaporates at room temperature, which explains the strong odour,” said Ang. “That is why after forming the ‘balloon’, it is not possible to squish it back into its original form because the acetone has already evaporated.”
HOW SAFE ARE THESE CHEMICALS?
Among the three chemicals used, the one that would be the “most concerning” is probably acetone, according to Ang. “Acetone easily evaporates and will be readily inhaled and absorbed into the body.”
When exposed to very high levels of the fumes, neurotoxicity and its associated signs such as headaches, confusion and nausea can occur.
“As a fortifier, ethyl acetate would not be at high concentrations,” he continued.
“Furthermore, it has a higher boiling point (78 degrees Celsius), so it is less amenable for evaporation.”
He is also less concerned with the possibility of inhaling polyvinyl acetate. “Based on the Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), polyvinyl acetate is not known to be highly toxic either.”
On the whole, the amount of chemicals in each tube is unlikely to “reach critical thresholds”, said Ang. “But considering that this toy is targetted at young kids and that kids may need to breathe deeply to inflate the balloon, the chances of inhaling the acetone fumes are high.
Repeated usage will led to chronic exposure of acetone vapours, and eventually toxicity on the central nervous system.”
In some countries such as Canada, Australia and the United States, products similar to Bestman Balloon have been recalled or discontinued.
