Warning on magnetic toys

A joint action group has been set up to ascertain that Malta follows the European Commission decision requiring member states to ensure that magnetic toys display a warning about the health and safety risks they pose.

The group is made up of the Malta Standards Authority, the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, the General Retailers and Traders Union - GRTU, the Federation of Industry and the Consumer Association.

Swallowing magnets happens with no sign of physical distress or discomfort for days. In most cases, ingestion of magnets is not observed easily and children often do not recall having ingested magnets.

The symptoms may include flu-like symptoms including vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain. This often results in a considerable delay in referring children to hospital.

Delay of treatment is sometimes caused because several magnets attaching across different sides of the intestinal wall are not recognised as separate objects. On X-rays they can often be mistaken for one object and medical staff would first wait for the object to pass out of the body in a natural way.

According to a study, in 20 per cent of the cases, a correct diagnosis was made two weeks after the onset of symptoms.

Medical complications recorded are perforations, ulcerations, bowel necrosis, fistula and obstruction. In most cases perforation of the intestines was observed.

People in charge of children who are aware that toys include magnets which can be detached from the toy and swallowed, should ensure that children do not come in contact with such toys, the group said.

Producers, distributors, importers and shops selling such toys are required to put a warning sign on the packaging or attached to the toy by virtue of Commission Decision 2008/329/EC of April 21, with the following wording.

"Warning! This toy contains magnets or magnetic components. Magnets sticking together or becoming attached to a metallic object inside the human body can cause serious or fatal injury. Seek immediate medical help if magnets are swallowed or inhaled."

The warning has to appear in a clearly visible and legible manner, conspicuously displayed on the packaging or otherwise attached to the magnetic toy in such a way as to be visible to the consumer at the point of purchase.

This warning shall be affixed to all magnetic toys as of July 21 until further notice.

Magnetic toys which do not display the warning cannot be placed on the market.

Toys that do not display the warning after July 21 will be removed from the market and legal action pursued by the Market Surveillance Directorate by virtue of the Product Safety Act.

For further information or queries on this matter contact the Malta Standards Authority on 2124 2420 or by dropping an e-mail to helpdesk.msa@msa.org.mt.

For further information on the Commission's Decision go to http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:114:0090:0093:EN:PDF .