Press Release
November 30, 2006

VILLAR MOVES TO INSTITUTIONALIZE SAFE TOYS POLICY IN RP
Senate President says toy safety labeling has become a
universal practice to protect children

Senate President Manny Villar, President of Nacionalista Party asked officials of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to ensure that toys, which are in everybodys Christmas shopping list, carry safety labels especially for those made of small components that can choke or suffocate children.

Villar pushed for toy safety labeling as this has become a universal practice aimed at protecting the health of children.

Gifts intended to make children happy should not end up making them sick. Villar said.

While no local data is available, hospital emergency rooms in the United States, where safety labeling is mandatory treat about 190,000 toy-related injuries a year, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission reported in 2000.

Villar said the attachment of easy-to-read-cautionary warnings on toys and their packaging is allowed under Republic Act 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines.

To make this practice mandatory, Villar revived his proposed Toy Safety Labeling Act, which seeks to institutionalize the attachment of actual warning labels in toys.

In Senate Bill 658, Villar said toys that do not carry safety labels should be pulled out of store shelves and be deemed banned or hazardous substances.

The measure requires that plastic covering and other packaging of a toy or a game intended for use by children 10 years old and under should bear the cautionary statement Warning: Choking Hazard.

Marbles, small balls, and latex balloon, or toys that contain marbles and tiny balls, shall also sport such warning sign on their packaging, bin box or covering in order to prevent their ingestion by children. Villar said.

The bill also makes it mandatory for toy makers to indicate in the product information if any of the materials used in manufacturing the toys is toxic, corrosive, irritant, flammable, or combustible.

We do not want our child, grandchild or godchild to play with toxic or hazardous toys. Toys should bring joy, and not kill-joy, to kids. he said.

Under Villars bill, the warning sign shall also be in Filipino.

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