Chinese toy story plays on fears

Consumer correspondent Paul Kelly asks if parents can buy with confidence this Christmas when so many toys are made in China.

ANOTHER day breaks, another safety scare erupts over Chinese-made toys.

Yesterday, parents were told to dump Bindeez beads in the bin after batches of the toys were found to contain a date-rape drug, GHB.

Last week Mattel ordered toy shops to clear their shelves of a play-kitchen with parts that pose a choking hazard.

And the week before that Fisher-Price recalled its Go Diego Go Animal Rescue Boat amid fears the toy was coated in leaded paint.

Any parent heading to the shops this weekend to buy Christmas toys for their children could well be forgiven for wondering if anything is safe to buy anymore, given a spate of safety scares going back to June.

Their concern is all the more valid when you consider all the above toys have the same thing in common: they were all manufactured in China to European safety standards.

As the Irish Examiner was able to verify yesterday afternoon, a brief walk around any toy store will show you’d be hard-pressed to find anything made outside the Far East this Christmas.

Any television, film or book character you can think of has character models, spin-off products and action vehicles all made in China’s vast network of western-approved factories.

Given that no toy can enter the European Union without complying with the common CE safety mark, how did toys like Bindeez come to contain date-rape drugs?

How did Mattel toys come to be coated with paint containing lead, a heavy metal so injurious to children’s health it has been banned in paint in the West for decades?

And who approved the Fisher-Price learning bunny when the nose was later found to detach and pose a choking hazard to children?

According to the National Consumer Agency (NCA), the problems over standards largely lie in the low-cost factories in China, which are the source of half of all this year’s recalled products.

“Toys are produced much cheaper in China and, business being business, nearly every firm has outsourced their manufacturing there,” says NCA assistant director Catherine Lenihan.

“They are supposed to check the toys on leaving the factories, taking samples and then testing them. That’s what the European CE safety mark is about.

“Producers are supposed to have an authorised representative from the EU who holds a technical file in relation to every product with a CE mark and makes) a declaration of conformity for each batch.”

So concerned are European consumer chiefs over safety scares, they have had to contact the Chinese authorities directly about the blunders.

“The Chinese authorities have given a commitment to the commission that there will be better quality checks and the requirements will be met,” says Ms Lenihan.

But the question on every shopper’s lips at this time of year is this: “Can we buy Chinese toys with confidence?”

Ms Lenihan’s response is: “I would say yes. Overall, products are safe.”

Though she concedes “slip-ups” can and do happen as has happened with Bindeez beads containing a chemical that turns into a doping drug inside the human body.

“Overall standards [of toys] are improving but you can’t say everything is 100% as there is always the human element where slip-ups occur like Bindeez where the wrong chemical got into the mix but action was taken straight away,” she said.

“The recalls show that [safety] procedures are working.”

Mattel’s steady stream of recalls during this year have been prompted by further checks on products made as long ago as 2002, she says.

Makers are adopting the precautionary principle — the “better safe than sorry” approach — to protect consumers and their name rather than wait for the authorities like the NCA to initiate a compulsory recall.

Today the EU has a rapid alert system so if a problem is discovered with toys on the shelves of German stores then the rest of Europe will hear about it quickly and be able to act.

She says problems like sharp edges and removable parts have largely been eradicated over the years, leaving the harder-to-spot safety issues such as chemicals contained in paint.

More stringent safety standards also mean more such problems are being identified today, she says.

But in the long-term the EU is looking to improve the standards surrounding CE mark, which signifies a product like a drill, a toy or electric razor complies with common European safety requirements.

But as Christmas is only a matter of weeks away, parents also need to know what they can do to ensure the toys they buy do not imperil their youngsters.

“Parents must read the labels on the toys and make sure the toys they buy are suitable for the age of their children and they must heed any warnings,” says Ms Lenihan. “With the Bindeez toys, two or three of the children who were poisoned were under three years of age but the product states the toy is unsuitable for under-threes.”

Cold comfort perhaps but, in all, she says children are protected as products are safe overall though parents need to play their part.

Yesterday Michael Kilcoyne, of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI), insisted parents should avoid Chinese toys.

Mr Kilcoyne, the CAI’s chairman, reckoned the EU ought to get tough with the Chinese authorities to ensure toys are of the highest standards. “If the European Union banned Chinese toys then standards would rise very quickly because the EU is their biggest market.

“At the end of the day the health of children is more important.”

Toy recall notices can be found at the NCA’s website www.consumerconnect.ie