Toy recalls spark fury as laws go unchanged
Wednesday August 29 2007
A CONSUMER watchdog has demanded an urgent review of European toy safety laws following recent recalls of millions of Mattel toys including over 100,000 items which were sold in Irish stores.
The European Consumers' Association BEUC wants checks on toys before they hit shop shelves instead of relying on companies' self-policing.
BEUC, to which the Consumers' Association of Ireland is allied, has written to EU Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen demanding an immediate review of safety procedures.
The call came in light of Mattel's recall of 4.4 million unsafe toys in November 2006, followed by another even larger recall of nearly 20 million toys earlier this month.
BEUC director Jim Murray said it was "incredible and unacceptable that the world's top toy company should withdraw millions of potentially dangerous toys carrying the CE mark last November and then repeat the exercise, but on a much wider scale nine months later.
"What were the national and EU authorities doing in the meantime? Did they simply rely on the fact that the company had voluntarily agreed to take dangerous toys off the market?" he asked. "European consumers will not have safe products from China or anywhere else without effective enforcement and market surveillance in Europe."
They were particularly concerned about the millions of Mattel toys, mainly in the Polly Pocket range, containing small magnets that could become detached as these were more immediately dangerous to children than other ones containing lead paint.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission had issued a number of recent warnings about the dangers of swallowing magnets, citing 33 cases where children required emergency surgery, and one where a toddler had died as a result -- although the toys in question were made by a number of companies, not necessarily Mattel.
They demanded to know what steps had been taken by national authorities in the EU to check if similar toys with magnets were on sale in Europe.
BEUC also called for the removal of the CE marking because consumers widely and wrongly believed these meant a product was made in Europe or had passed EU tests.
In fact, it simply marked a claim by manufacturers that the product complied with EU safety norms, but because of the widespread misunderstanding, it created a false impression. To correct this, BEUC said that the CE mark should only be used on technical documents accompanying toys in the distribution chain.
Consumers should also be entitled to refunds for recalled toys, and the authorities should make it clear how they could get their money back, as currently Mattel only seemed to be offering replacements.
The CAI has also backed up these calls with Chief Executive Dermott Jewell noting that the current system of vetting toys was completely flawed.
