Are Neoprene Lunch Boxes Safe
November 3, 2006, by Debra Lynn Dadd
Question from Becca
Hello,
There are some soft neoprene lunch boxes that lie flat (making them easy to store) for sale in our neighborhood and I'm not sure about wether they are "safe" or not to use for my children's school lunch. They are in bright colors and I'm not sure about the dyes used on them. With all of the recent news about toxic lead in lunch boxes I want to make sure my kids lunches are safely stored for school time.
Can I safely use neoprene lunch boxes for my children? Do you know anything about neoprene or what it is? If it's not safe, then are there other nontoxic options?
I really want to keep my little guys lunch food safe from toxic contamination. Please advise. Thank you so much.
Debra's Answer
Neoprene was the first mass-produced synthetic rubber, made from petrochemicals. It's chemical name is Styrene (as in Styrofoam) Butadiene Chloroprane Rubber Blend. It was developed and is manufactured by DuPont. It is used for a wide variety of applications, including wetsuits and hoses. It is considered to be "chemically inert". The MSDS does list hydrocarbons under "hazardous decomposition products" but says only "not applicable" under health hazards data, so apparently there are no health hazards.
Personally, I probably wouldn't use these lunchboxes for my kids, when there are other options available I know for sure to be safe. There are plain and decorated metal lunchboxes at lunchboxes.com
and see Lunch Bags on Debra's List for cotton lunch bags.
These are archives of Q&A asked by readers and answered by Debra Lynn Dadd (from 2005-2019) or Lisa Powers (from 2019-2020). Answers have been edited and updated as of December, 2020.