The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment views about Toy Safety

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) discussed to safety during their seventh Consumer Protection Forum meeting last month.

"Children are not small adults", German risk assessment body warns

After the Forum, they conclude that children need to be treated as a separate consumer group and reiterates its criticisms of the revised EU toy safety Directive for failing to sufficiently protect children from exposure to potentially harmful chemicals (CW 6 January 2009).

One of the questions posed at its forum, BfR notes, is "whether manufacturers should really produce everything that sells – even if such toys could be dangerous for children under certain circumstances - and whether they can rely on parents constantly keeping an eye on their children when playing with the toys."

Dependence on quality marks such as the EU's CE mark is also said to be misguided.