Many Toys Sold in Davao Improperly Labeled (Group Pushes Proper Toy Labeling to Ensure Children’s Safety)
Inadequately labeled toys bought in Davao City
Toy samples with high lead content
Davao City/Quezon City. As the observance of the Consumer Welfare Month gets underway, a non-profit watch group drew attention to toys sold in Davao City that lack the required product labeling information.
“We have bought assorted toys from various retail outlets in Davao City to check on their compliance with the required labeling information, which is very important to guide consumers on picking the right toy for a child that will not pose risk to her or his health and safety,” said Thony Dizon, Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect.
The toy products, costing P15 to P265 each, were obtained by the group from various retail stores in Uyanguren, Davao City on September 22 to 24, 2017.
The toys were brought to the office of the EcoWaste Coalition in Quezon City for product label examination and for heavy metal screening using an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) chemical analyzer.
Out of 71 toy samples, only three were found to be compliant with the mandatory toy labeling information required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency that oversees the product notification scheme for toy and childcare articles (TCCAs).
As per FDA Circular 2014-023, duly notified TCCAs should contain the following product labeling labeling information: license to operate (LTO) number, age grade, cautionary statements/ warnings, instructional literature, item/ model/ stock keeping unit (SKU) number, and manufacturer’s marking, including the complete name and address of the manufacturer or distributor.
Five of the toy samples indicated valid LTO numbers on the labels as verified through the FDA website, the group noted.
Of the 71 toy samples, 18 were found to contain lead, a toxic chemical that can have serious effects for the health of children, above the regulatory limit of 90 parts per million (ppm).
High lead concentrations up to 8,105 ppm were detected on the paint coatings of five turumpo, a popular outdoor game among boys. The wooden whipping tops have zero labeling information.
“The use of lead-containing paints to decorate turumpo and other toys is a brazen violation of the country’s lead paint regulation,” Dizon said.
DENR Administrative Order 2013-24, or the Chemical Control Order for Lead and Lead Compounds, strictly prohibits the use of lead paint in the production of toys, among other things.
Improperly labeled toys should not be offered for sale in the market if only Republic Act 10620, or the Toy and Game Safety Labeling Act of 2013, is enforced, the EcoWaste Coalition said.
Under the said law, toy products “not in compliance with the requirements of this Act shall be considered a misbranded or banned hazardous substance… and withdrawn from the market.”
R.A. 10620 states that non-compliant toys and games “shall be withdrawn from the market at the expense of the manufacturer or importer and shall not be allowed to be distributed, sold or offered for sale in the Philippines.”
Approved in September 2013, R.A. 10620 requires the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to “regularly publish every six months the list of all manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers who failed to comply with the requirements” of this law.
It further requires the Department of Health (DOH) to “publish every six months the list of all misbranded or banned hazardous substances the sale, offer for sale and distribution of which shall not be allowed” under R.A. 10620.
To date, the DTI and DOH have yet to promulgate the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of R.A. 10620.
“We hope concerned groups in Davao and elsewhere will join us in demanding the promulgation of R.A. 10620’s IRR for the health and safety of our children as toy consumers,” Dizon said.
The EcoWaste Coalition and Laban Konsyumer, Inc., a consumer protection group, have been asking the authorities to release the much-delayed IRR toward the full enforcement of R.A. 10620.
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Reference:
http://www.lawphil.net/statute s/repacts/ra2013/ra_10620_ 2013.html
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