Loopholes in EU toy law could endanger children

NEW legislation to make toys safer will still allow manufacturers to put goods on the market that could be lethal to children, consumer groups have warned.

Millions of toys manufactured in China had to be recalled last year and 750 export licences were withdrawn when a range of dangerous substances and parts were discovered in them.

As a result of the recent deluge of dangerous toys, the European Union is updating its 20-year-old toy safety rules. However, consumer groups believe the major overhaul contains too many loopholes that will allow unscrupulous manufacturers to continue to make dangerous playthings.

They will still be able to use materials that are cancer-causing, interfere with hormones and could damage a child’s future reproductive ability.

BEUC, the Europe-wide consumer body, claims the new legislation deals mainly with what is used on the outside of toys, leaving what’s inside the toys practically untouched.

“Unfortunately, what it covers is just the tip of the iceberg as far as dangerous materials in toys are concerned,” says Laura Degallaix, a biochemist who works with BEUC.

CMR — carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic — chemicals could continue to be used in the inside of toys on the basis that this will not be accessible to children.

“Children put things in their mouths to chew and suck them. Some of their toys get a lot of use and with time these dangerous substances can migrate to the surface,” warned Stephen Russell, Secretary-General of ANEC, another consumer body.