Regulations requiring safety stamps for children's toys are about to beenforced, despite the fact about 85 percent of toys are smuggled fromChina and most sellers don't know where to get the stamps.
Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Ministry's standards andquality department Ngo Quy Viet said the safety stamps were required tominimise the risks to children.
The new regulations were applied five months ago with a September 15 deadline, he said.
Viet said examination of all types of toys would be carried outbetween August 23 and September 20 with a focus on technicalrequirements of the regulations and limits for toxic organic chemicalcompounds.
Compounds like formal dehyde in plastic toys could cause respiratory and skin disease.
Violent toys would be banned, he said.
Nevertheless, many toy retailers in Hanoi's Luong Van Can, Dong Xuan,Hang Ma streets, where most of toys are sold, said they had no ideawhere or how to get the stamps.
"I usually purchasetoys from a trader who says she knows nothing about quality stamps,"said Hang Ma street toy seller Nguyen Thi Oanh.
Most of her toys were imported from China , Oanh said.
Customer Nguyen Hoang Ha said she never asked retailers about quality stamps.
"I haven't seen any stamps and I bet none of the sellers know about them.
"I have no choice but to choose toys for my kids with my experience and feeling," Ha said.
Department co-deputy director Tran Van Vinh conceded that 85 percentof toys sold in the market were smuggled and it could take years tochange the habits of sellers and consumers.
However,Vinh said, the department had urged toy producers to have theirproducts tested and attach stamps, and a programme to change consumers'buying habits would be carried out in due course./.
Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Ministry's standards andquality department Ngo Quy Viet said the safety stamps were required tominimise the risks to children.
The new regulations were applied five months ago with a September 15 deadline, he said.
Viet said examination of all types of toys would be carried outbetween August 23 and September 20 with a focus on technicalrequirements of the regulations and limits for toxic organic chemicalcompounds.
Compounds like formal dehyde in plastic toys could cause respiratory and skin disease.
Violent toys would be banned, he said.
Nevertheless, many toy retailers in Hanoi's Luong Van Can, Dong Xuan,Hang Ma streets, where most of toys are sold, said they had no ideawhere or how to get the stamps.
"I usually purchasetoys from a trader who says she knows nothing about quality stamps,"said Hang Ma street toy seller Nguyen Thi Oanh.
Most of her toys were imported from China , Oanh said.
Customer Nguyen Hoang Ha said she never asked retailers about quality stamps.
"I haven't seen any stamps and I bet none of the sellers know about them.
"I have no choice but to choose toys for my kids with my experience and feeling," Ha said.
Department co-deputy director Tran Van Vinh conceded that 85 percentof toys sold in the market were smuggled and it could take years tochange the habits of sellers and consumers.
However,Vinh said, the department had urged toy producers to have theirproducts tested and attach stamps, and a programme to change consumers'buying habits would be carried out in due course./.
