Is China still poisoning your child?

Containers loaded with lakhs of 'Made in China' toy mobile phones offloaded in Mumbai regularly

Is China still poisoning your child?

Containers loaded with lakhs of 'Made in China' toy mobile phones offloaded in Mumbai regularly

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has launched a massive hunt for huge consignments of toy mobile phones from China in the wake of India's ban onu00a0Chinese toys.

The consignment also includes wheeled vehicles, dolls, stuffed toys, toy guns, wooden and metal toys, musical instruments, electric trains, puzzles and also toy components.

Senior DRI officers across the country were alarmed after a test report, available with MiD DAY, from Guangdong in China indicated that 10 different styles of plastic mobile phones, all part of the consignment, could prove hazardous to the health of kids.

The counterfeit AA size batteries in the phones were also unsuitable for children.

Sources added that DRI has already seized four containers at Tuglakhabad near New Delhi and at JNPT near Mumbai, and the Mundra and Kandla ports in Gujarat and more than 10 lakh pieces of the lead-tainted plastic mobile phones were seized.

On an average, three containers of Chinese toys are offloaded to feed the grey market in Mumbai. Huge consignments also find their way to Burma Bazaar in Chennai and Daman, about 198 kilometers north of Mumbai.

Did you Know?

In 2007, the health ministry confirmed that several Chinese toys sold in the market were highly toxic, as they contain high levels of heavy metals such as cadmium and lead, and were, therefore, health hazards.

Lead is a known neuro and haematological toxin, which can lead to delayed development and lower IQ in children, while cadmium effects kidneys.

Rs 1,686 Crore
The size of the Chinese toy market in India before the ban

The Truth About Lead Poison

After toy giant Mattel withdrew 1.90 croreu00a0 'Made in China' products in 2007, an expert toxicologist in Canada pointed out that holding a toy in one's hands or pushing a toy truck contaminated with lead poses no risk.

Apparently it is 'continuous sucking on such toys and putting them in the mouth for days at a stretch that is hazardous'. Children often suck on toys, but not for 'days at a stretch'.

A guide to 'dangerous toys' in Time magazine pointed out that 'lead can't be inhaled or absorbed through the skin, so a child would have to chew the paint off a toy and eat a significant amount of it before getting sick'. Whew!

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