The EU has agreed on new rules to tighten safety rules for toys including a ban on damaging chemicals that the body cannot break down. They include substances that can disrupt growth hormones and that harm fertility.
Brussels says the rules should better protect children from chemicals and online marketplace risksImage: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa/picture alliance
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EU negotiators and member states have hammered out an agreement on how to better protect children from dangerous chemicals and hazardous toys sold online.
While most hazardous substances are already banned, the bloc says action is still needed on certain chemicals that disrupt hormones and damage the nervous, respiratory, or immune systems.
What are the new rules on chemicals?
The new rules introduce a ban on PFAS — a group of synthetic chemicals known for their durability and health risks, except in electronic components in toys that are out of reach of children.
Repeated exposure to PFAS has been linked to liver damage, high cholesterol levels, reduced immune response, low birth weight, and various types of cancer.
The regulations also expand existing bans on carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic for reproduction chemicals (CMRs) to include other hazardous substances like hormone disruptors.
Such chemicals are linked to increasingly common hormone-related disorders, often later in life, such as impaired sperm quality.
Kids and their toys: A photo series
Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti traveled the world taking photos of children and their favorite toys from every continent.
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
A dinosaur as protector
Four-year-old Chiwa of Mchinji, Malawi, is the proud owner of a Triceratops dinosaur. It protects her from dangerous animals, she says. The dinosaur and two small stuffed animals are the little girl's only toys, given to her by staff from an NGO at her birth. She plays mostly outside with her toys and the 50 or so other children who live in her village.
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
Another dinosaur craze
Orly from Brownsville, Texas, USA, also loves dinosaurs, as becomes immediately evident when meeting the 6-year-old boy. He has a whole arsenal of them, knows their names, way of life, strengths and weaknesses. Spiderman (who also has his strengths and weaknesses) is another one of his heroes.
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
Passionate about superheroes
Julius (3) from Lausanne, Switzerland, is also very fond of superheroes, as his Spiderman costume and Batmobile suggest. If you look closely, you'll also see a preference for dinos. The toy arsenal is rounded off by cars, Lego bricks and a whole pile of books.
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
Riding a motorcycle like daddy
Watcharapon (3) from Bangkok, Thailand loves to play with his little colorful motorcycles. Every morning, his father rides a real motor scooter to work — with a helmet, of course. When dad is not on the road, Watcharapon plays with the helmet and imitates his father.
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
Keeping an eye on things
Maudy (3) lives in a small village near Kalulushi, Zambia. Few children there own any toys at all. They play in the streets with whatever can be found there. Maudy and her friends were thrilled to discover a box full of sunglasses. From then on, these were their favorite toys.
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
Everything is coming up roses
Three-year-old Julia lives in Albania's capital, Tirana. Her favorite color is clearly evident: the walls, shelves, curtains, bed, dolls, even the guitar on the wall — it should all be pretty in pink, please.
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
A sure bet
Virginia May (5) from American Fork, Utah, USA, bucks the "girl = pink + dolls" stereotypical equation, as she absolutely LOVES baseball. And she is excellent at the sport! But, she does have a place in her heart for the color pink: see her leggings and her pink-colored baseball bats on the floor...
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
The art of transformation
Lauren (6) of the Muskoka district in Canada has an absolute favorite doll. She likes her so much that she even dresses like her. Or is it the other way around? The two will probably keep this secret to themselves.
Image: Gabriele Galimberti
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"These chemicals are particularly harmful for children as they could interfere with their hormones, their cognitive development or more generally impact their health," the European Commission said.
German European Parliament member Marion Walsmann, who led the legislation through the bloc legislature, noted that one in five products pulled from the EU market for safety concerns is a toy.
"The new Toy Safety Regulation sends a clear message: we're protecting children, ensuring fair competition, and supporting Europe as a business hub," she said.
The regulations will kick in once they are formally approved by the European Parliament and EU governments.
"EU toy safety rules are among the world's strictest, but we must keep pace with emerging risks," said Krzysztof Paszyk, Poland's technology minister.
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What about toys sold online?
Under the new rules, importers will have to submit a digital product passport — a kind of safety fact sheet that contains safety compliance information and warnings — to customs at the EU borders.
"This will make it easier for national inspectors and customs officers to control them," the European Commission said.
As per the new rules, "importers will have to submit the digital product passport to customs at the EU borders which will be checked to prevent that unsafe toys enter the Union market, including those sold online," the commission added.
