18th December 2008 - New EU deal will mean safer toys

With Christmas just around the corner, many parents will have been busy buying the latest toys and gifts for children - and today the European Parliament has today backed new rules to make sure new toys are even safer in young hands in years to come.

95% of the toys sold in UK shops are manufactured in China and MEPs have been concerned that the existing 20-year-old laws on toy safety do not give consumers complete protection against possible health risks from low-quality products. Local Labour Euro-MP Linda McAvan has voted to give parents peace of mind by backing new rules today to close the loopholes.
 
Linda McAvan said;

“When parents are buying toys for their kids, the last thing they ought to be worrying about is whether the product is completely safe. But last year millions of Chinese-made toys had to be recalled from shops, mostly because of concerns that the paint used could be harmful to children. Today we have specifically closed loopholes on, for example, potential cancer-causing chemicals to make sure they do not end up in toys on the shelves in the first place. We have made importers of toys responsible for ensuring that the goods they bring into Europe are safe.”

The new law will:

• make importers responsible for ensuring toys that they bring into Europe are safe;
• Bring in a tough ban on dangerous elements like lead, mercury and chromium in toys;
• ban the use of dangerous CMRs (substances which are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction)
• enable Europe to quickly ban toys with new risks like the potentially fatal powerful magnets behind many recent recalls;
• toughen the rules dealing with choking and suffocation risks;
• ban the use of most allergenic fragrances in toys, and attach warnings to those that are still allowed.

The proposals have already been agreed by national governments and should come into force within a matter of months.