wary! These small toys hide big hidden dangers

Source: Workers Daily

Lawyers said that parents should perform their guardian duties well, and toy operators should continuously improve product quality and safety

Reporter of this newspaper Shi Binna

Workers Daily (2021-07-08 04 edition)

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In recent years, safety accidents caused by children's toys have occurred repeatedly, seriously damaging children's safety and health. Problems such as falling off parts, illegal addition of prohibited substances, and excessive element content make children's toys hide many safety hazards.

"If you look at these beads, it's like wearing an earring." Recently, Zhang Chao, director of the gastroenterology department of a hospital in Xi'an, looked at a 4-year-old boy with a foreign body in his stomach. Through surgery, the beads in the boy's stomach were successfully removed, and these beads are a common toy - magnetic beads.

Magnetic beads, also known as magnetic balls, buck balls, rely on magnetic force can be spliced into a variety of different shapes, with a diameter of 3mm, 5mm, 8mm and other specifications. It is this kind of low-priced, small size, brightly colored toys that bring safety risks to children's health, and it is not uncommon for children to be rushed to the hospital for treatment due to accidental swallowing of magnetic beads.

In this regard, experts suggest that the summer vacation is approaching, parents should look for the CCC certification mark when buying toys for children, can not covet cheap and buy inferior children's toys, and choose suitable toys according to the age of children. At the same time, carefully read the product manual, ingredient list and other content, as far as possible to prevent problems before they occur. At the same time, pay attention to retaining shopping invoices to facilitate the protection of rights after problems.

The number of complaints about children's toys nearly tripled last year

In recent years, the domestic toy market is very hot. According to enterprise investigation data, at present, there are 4.467 million toy-related enterprises in China, of which 1.2967 million are registered in 2020, and 563,400 are newly registered in the first five months of this year, an increase of 32% year-on-year. According to data from the China Toys and Baby Products Association, China's domestic toy market increased from 55.6 billion yuan in 2016 to 77.97 billion yuan in 2020.

However, behind the huge toy consumer market, cases of production and sales of inferior children's toys occur frequently, and some even endanger children's health and life safety.

In addition to magnetic beads, some other toys pose a threat to children's health and safety. The "fake water" boron element with smooth feel and aromatic smell exceeds the standard, and excessive intake of boron element will cause poisoning; the "water spirit" that becomes larger and more colorful in the face of water will have a choking hazard if swallowed, and the fragments will accidentally scratch the eyeball; the fingertip gyroscope can crush the egg when rotating at high speed; the instantaneous voltage of the electric man toy far exceeds the rated voltage of the toy power supply; the laser directly into the eye may cause visual impairment or even blindness...

According to the "Analysis of Complaints Accepted by the National Consumer Association in 2020" released by the China Consumer Association, in 2020, the National Consumer Association accepted a total of 4847 complaints about children's toys, an increase of nearly twice the number of complaints in 2019.

It is reported that children's toy complaints involving safety issues mainly include: mechanical physical injuries, such as small parts of toys falling off, toys have dangerous sharp edges; chemical injuries, such as illegal addition of prohibited substances, the content of a certain element exceeds the national standard; the applicable age of the toy does not match the actual use and the injury caused by misplaying non-toy products.

The cost of consumer rights protection is relatively high

In May 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the second batch of typical cases of the "Iron Fist" action of the year. Among them, after the supervision and random inspection of the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau, a BB bath toy in the plasticizer does not meet the national standards, after long-term contact with children, the plasticizer may enter the body through the skin, esophagus and respiratory tract, causing health damage; the Market Supervision Bureau of Dongshan County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, found that a bell ball toy is not marked with the applicable age range and explanatory age mark, does not meet the national mandatory standards, and has a certain danger.

Previously, the Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision Bureau conducted a quality supervision and random inspection of 1035 children's toy products of 651 enterprises and found that 214 products produced by 184 enterprises were unqualified.

In addition to product quality problems, misleading false publicity by merchants may also lead to damage to the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. In the case of wang shuai and the product seller's liability dispute between Wang Shuaishuai and Huangpu Company's product sellers heard by the Binhu District People's Court of Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, Huangpu Company was found by the court to return the goods and compensate three times the price of the product because the applicable age and load-bearing capacity of the children's four-wheeled electric car were inconsistent with the instructions, resulting in Wang Shuai's inability to use it normally after purchase.

Wang Weikun, a lawyer at Beijing Dongwei Law Firm, said that there are many categories of children's toys and complex components of processed materials. Compared with general products, the time and money cost of children's toys with low prices are relatively high, and some consumers have to give up their rights protection.

Polish your eyes and choose the right toy for children

"There are many counterfeit children's toy products on the market now, and it is difficult for ordinary consumers to distinguish them." Wang Weikun suggested that when buying children's toys, we should polish our eyes, choose carefully, buy children's toys from regular shopping malls or reputable online stores, resolutely do not buy "three noes" products without production dates, manufacturers and quality certificates, carefully read the product manuals, ingredient lists and other contents, and pay attention to retaining shopping vouchers.

For the phenomenon that there are still unqualified products on the market that do not meet the relevant national toy safety standards, the China Consumer Association reminds that inferior children's toys cannot be purchased cheaply, and the CCC certification mark should be looked for when buying children's toys.

"Magnetic spheres are small particle balls and are not suitable for use by children under 14 years of age. Magnetic spheres are strong magnetic substances, it is strictly forbidden to swallow, if you accidentally swallow, please seek medical attention immediately. On the product detail page of an online store selling magnetic spheres, the merchant prompted. However, there is no shortage of product reviews such as "the child is only 5 years old, quite like to play" and "the child is a little young and can't play, and lost a lot in a few days".

In order to reduce the safety hazards caused by the inconsistency between the applicable age of the toy and the actual use, the China Consumer Association pointed out that when buying toys, parents must pay attention to the appropriate age marked on the toy packaging and choose toys that match the age of the child. At the same time, parents should also supervise and guide children to use toys correctly, and it is best for younger children to accompany them throughout the game when playing.

"From the source, toy operators should continuously improve the quality and safety of products, standardize production operations, fulfill the duty of care, and create a safer consumer environment for children's toys from the whole process of production and sales." Wang Weikun suggested.