Soothers and cots top list of dangerous goods taken off market

TOYS and products designed for children, such as baby walkers, cots and soothers, accounted for by far the largest number of dangerous items withdrawn from sale last year in EU member states.

More than half all the dangerous articles removed came from China, but a worrying one in five were made in Europe, according to the latest EU report.

The list included cigarette lighters that look like toys, mini-motor bikes that burn the legs, hairdryers that melt while being used — and a growing number of clothes with chemicals that could kill.

These were followed by electrical products such as coffee machines and motor vehicles and children’s clothing where items had hoods that were so large they could smother a baby, or lacing that could trip or strangle a child.

EU countries tipped off one another through the rapid alert system (RAPEX) about almost 2,000 items on sale that were discovered to be dangerous. Of the 1,866 items, just 106 were found in Ireland and were removed from sale or recalled.

Just less than 60% of the goods were made in China, an increase from 52% in 2007, while one in five of the dangerous items were manufactured in Europe.

Of these, a quarter were of German origin, followed by those manufactured in Italy, France and Britain.

European Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said these fairly high numbers showed that national enforcement authorities should focus their activities not only on products coming from third countries, but also monitor closely those made in the EU.

“It also shows that further attention needs to be given to the education of the European manufacturers and distributors on the safety requirements applying to consumer products,” she said.

The number of dangerous goods notified increased by 16%, but Ms Kuneva said this did not necessarily mean that there are more dangerous goods on the market than in previous years.

Instead, it showed that the RAPEX system of countries notifying one another was working better and more attention was being paid to product safety.

A new system set up with China following the wholescale withdrawal of toys two years ago was working well and the Chinese authorities had withdrawn hundreds of product types over the past year.

The National Consumer Agency that feeds into the RAPEX system for Ireland said it was proving very useful. The agency’s chief executive, Ann Fitzgerald, said 95% of the notifications related to products not found on the Irish market.

Over the past year, Ireland made 23 notifications of dangerous products of which 22 were voluntarily recalled by businesses. An additional 83 items were also removed following alerts from other EU countries.