LATIN AMERICA:
Careful with the Toys
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, (IPS/IFEJ)
- Between one-quarter
and half of the toys in
the hands of girls and
boys in many Latin
American countries are
contraband items and
many contain substances
that are dangerous to
human health.
Government authorities
fight the health risks
of toys with regular --
but insufficient
--inspections, but the
problem is not limited
to smuggled items, as
became evident when the
world's top toy
manufacturer, Mattel,
recently recalled tens
of thousands of toys in
the region.
The regulating capacity
of authorities in Latin
America is limited.
Determining whether a
toy is safe, then, falls
to the consumers, who
usually are focused more
on the price tag than on
verifying the quality of
their purchases, say
observers.
The toys recalled by the
U.S.-based Mattel --
which reached nearly 20
million items worldwide
when the company found
they contained paint
with high lead content
and small, removable
pieces -- represent just
a portion of the Latin
American market.
Estimates by business
groups and some studies
indicate that in Mexico
more than half the toys
on the market are
contraband or illegal
copies, while in Brazil
these represent 25
percent of the toy
market. Other countries
in the region report
similar statistics.
In mid-August, Peruvian
police seized three
tonnes of toys that
reportedly emitted a
strong odour and showed
excessively bright
colouring. The official
report said that most of
the shipment was to be
distributed to
legitimate shops.
In Colombia, the value
of seized toy shipments
of dubious origin and
quality totalled seven
million dollars between
January and August,
while in Mexico an
estimated 3.5 million
tonnes of such toys were
confiscated in that
period.
The non-governmental
Institute for the
Private Protection of
Intellectual Property,
in Mexico, calculates
that in January alone,
when the traditional
Catholic holiday of the
Reyes Magos (Feast of
the Epiphany or Three
Kings Day) is
celebrated, legal toy
sales reached 1.8
billion dollars -- not
even half the estimated
total for illegal toys.
"Because the consumer
rights culture is new in
Latin America and due to
the lack of controls,
toys are pirated, but
even the legal toys --
not always free of
dangerous materials --
pose a serious threat to
children," Alejandro
Calvillo, director of
the Mexican
non-governmental
organisation El Poder
del Consumidor (Consumer
Power), said in an
interview.
Officials consulted for
this report in several
Latin American countries
acknowledged that
regulations fall short.
In Brazil, where toy
inspections are
conducted at random,
Mauro de Britto, head of
the anti-smuggling
customs agency unit,
said that 20 percent of
toys are inspected and
that it is one of the
highest rates in the
world.
But trade experts say
that just three percent
of the products Brazil
imports, toys among
them, are rigorously
documented or tested for
content.
De Britto noted that
100-percent monitoring
is impossible, "because
there is no way to
regulate everything
without compromising and
paralysing trade."
In Colombia, Gilberto
Alvarez, director of
public health at the
Ministry of Social
Protection, said that
regulating the toy
market falls under the
jurisdiction of the
ministries of trade and
industry. But they "deny
that responsibility"
because they have found
that "putting a face on
it" doesn't produce good
results, he said.
The authorities Alvarez
mentioned responded that
inaction on the matter
is a result of
inadequate legislation.
In Mexico there are toy
quality standards in
place since 1994, and
enforcement through
random testing by the
Federal Commission for
Protection Against
Health Risks.
Nevertheless, like
similar agencies in
other Latin American
countries, Mexico's does
little or nothing when
it comes to quality of
contraband and pirated
toys.
Nor is it able to detect
problems like those of
Mattel, which on Aug. 1
publicly acknowledged
that some of its
products, made in China,
contained lead and would
be recalled from the
market.
With this case, the
question of controls
also came to the fore in
the industrial sector.
In Colombia, the
Ministry of Social
Protection issued a
regulation on Aug. 15
whose purpose, it said,
is "to protect human
life, health and safety"
and "establish the
health requirements that
toys must meet that are
manufactured, imported
and sold in national
territory."
Under the new
regulation, similar to
rules existing in other
countries for years,
toys may not contain
certain levels of
substances like arsenic,
cadmium, lead or
mercury.
In Argentina the
government set new rules
this month as well,
including tariffs, in an
effort to put the brakes
on a broad list of
imports, including toys
from China, whose
reputation has plummeted
in the wake of the
Mattel case.
In the late 1990s,
Argentina banned the use
of phthalates,
substances that soften
plastic, in toys for
small children. Last
year, inspections found
several thousand
products, both
nationally made and
imported, that violated
the ban.
Meanwhile, the Peruvian
Association of Consumers
and Users asked the
government to
immediately enact a law
passed in 2004 that
prohibits the
importation and
manufacture of toys
containing toxic
substances.
The authorities in
several countries are
working with the Mattel
affiliates or importers
on product recall,
monitoring processes and
public warnings.
"Children, who are the
most vulnerable
consumers, are exposed
to serious threats due
to scant quality
controls for toys, but
especially because of
widespread contraband,"
said Mexican Consumer
Power's Calvillo.
*Helda Martínez
(Colombia) and Verónica
Rivas (Brazil)
contributed to this
report. This story is
part of a series of
features on sustainable
development by IPS-Inter
Press Service and IFEJ-
International Federation
of Environmental
Journalists. |
