Unsafe toy alerts double

SAFETY alerts about toys more than doubled last year, recent figures show.

EU safety chiefs, including Ireland’s National Consumer Agency, put out warnings about 386 toys.

The year before watchdogs put out 188 public alerts about toys containing toxic lead or with parts that could choke a child.

The number of warnings about rogue toys rose by 198 alerts or 105% during 2007.

Last year’s alerts about Chinese-made toys caused safety chiefs to meet their Chinese counterparts to seek assurances over quality standards.

Yesterday NCA bosses said the alerts, made through the EU’s Rapex system, showed the importance of EU cooperation to protect consumers.

EU figures reveal 1,485 safety alerts were put out in 2007 between January and November — up 56.8% on the same period in 2006.

The warnings are issued by safety watchdogs nationally and then shared among the other 26 EU-member states as part of a system called Rapex.

Of the 1,485 EU-wide alerts put out about products, Ireland’s NCA made 33 while officials in Britain and the North issued 91.