How safe are your children's toys? And who polices the safety measures? And why are EU directives inconsistent? Sylvia Thompson reports.
A seven-month old boy "almost choked to death" when he put a broken piece of a baby's mobile into his mouth, the Circuit Civil Court in Dublin heard on Monday. The court also heard that Daniel McEvoy, who is now aged seven, was rushed to hospital, where surgery had to be carried out to remove the hook.
Last week, Marks & Spencer placed advertisements in Irish newspapers notifying the public about the safety recall of a wooden toy in the current year's stock. The store said there was a possibility that the wooden pegs in the hut on the Noah's Ark shape-sorter may become detached in use, presenting a risk of choking. It advised customers who had purchased or received this toy to return it immediately to any Marks & Spencer store.
Both incidents highlight the often unforeseen dangers of children's toys.
Since the early 1990s, all toys sold in Europe have to carry the CE mark. This quality assurance mark is given to toys that comply with the safety requirements of the relevant EU directives.
In Ireland, the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (ODCA) is responsible for enforcing the 1990 Toy Safety Regulations linked to the 1988 EU Toy Safety Directive.
"Every year our inspectors are conscious of the potential problems of toy safety and they visit shops from October onwards. Generally, there is widespread compliance with the EU Toy Safety Directive," says Colin Bird of the ODCA.
However, Charlotte de Roo, the environmental safety and health officer of the Brussels-based European Consumers' Organisation (ECO), is not so reassuring about toy safety.
"The CE mark is placed on toys by the manufacturers themselves, saying that they are complying with the directive, but the enforcement of the Toy Safety Directive is ridiculous," she says. "The national authorities don't have the resources to check all toys and only react when there is an accident with a product."
De Roo also points out that the EU Toy Safety Directive is under revision and that the first draft of the new version is currently being circulated among stakeholders. The biggest concern of ECO is the number of chemicals - particularly phthylates - used in the production of toys.
"There is a temporary ban on the use of such chemicals in toys intended for sucking for children under three," she says. "But the dangers [we perceive] are concerning the long-term ingestion of these chemicals. We would prefer if heavy metals and other chemicals are not used in toy manufacture at all."
Another problem with the EU directive is what it leaves out. For example, it does not refer to model or miniature steam engines, fashion jewellery for children or folk dolls. Unsurprisingly, it also ignores Christmas decorations, a genuine area of risk for crawling babies at this time of year.
Another problem which no safety regulation can deal with is young children getting their hands on toys belonging to their older sisters and brothers. This problem reaches its peak at Christmas time when families are opening presents for which even the packaging can represent a potential danger for babies.
A spokesperson for St John's Ambulance in Dublin says that ways of dealing with choking are now part of the life-saving procedures learnt on their first-aid courses. "Previously choking was dealt with under 'airway problems', but it is now regarded with the same importance as dealing with a patient who has collapsed."
There is a standard test to ensure that children can't swallow certain sizes of component parts of toys. Such tests also check the durability of parts. However, problems can arise when the lines are blurred in areas where certain "playthings" are not classified as toys.
There is a case currently pending involving a well-known brand of chocolate eggs which have toys inside them.
"There is a long history of children eating chocolate and swallowing something else small by accident and becoming suffocated," says de Roo. "The question remains whether such products belong to the General Product Safety Directive or the Toy Safety Directive."
As in all matters relating to children, parental vigilance is the first safeguard against accidents. And with Christmas tree lights and decorations going up in homes throughout the country from this weekend on, care and caution is needed when infants and small children are close at hand. They certainly won't be checking whether a chosen plaything is defined as a children's toy or not.