From the very ideas of having them produced in some larger quantities to doing every other things possible just to be the number one in the markets, made in China goods has made it to the very top of EU list of unsafe products in the world.
From toy-shapped cigarette lighters to phones that could perform wonders together with a short-circuiting plus rabbit that catches fire, an European safety watchdog warned on Monday of a growing number of dangerous products for sale, with greater number of them coming from China.
The watchdog maintained that it had issued over 2,400 notifcations of unsafe products in 2014, which ranges from clothing and household appliances to children’s playing things, which was some three percent increement from 2013.
Sixty-four percent of the dangerous goods were made in China, including Hong Kong, the same figure as 2013, said the Rapid Alert System (RAPEX), which includes the 28 EU states as well as Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
“For me, as a mother and already a grandmother, the high number of harmful products among toys is alarming, so please beware of what you give your children to play with,” said Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for consumer affairs.
“It was also surprising how high a number of harmful products comes to the European market from China,” she told a press conference in Brussels.
The list of the unsafe products were topped by toys at 28 percent, followed by clothing at 23 percent, electrical appliances, 9 percent, and motor vehicles at 8 percent.
They included soft toys with stuffing that could come loose and choke a child or those with detachable pieces that could be swallowed by them. In particular there were lighters that resembled toys such as model bicycles and basketballs.
Some of the products like shoe leather articles, may be tainted with allergenic Chromium VI, while fashion jewellery may come with harmful metals too.
Just 14 percent of the dangerous products came from European countries, seven percent from unknown origins and two percent from Turkey, according to the watchdog.
Concern remains over the proportion coming to Europe from manufacturing giant China, which has huge market penetration in the 28-nation EU, Jourova said.
“The numbers and the situation is not improving,” she added.
Jourova said the EU was working bilaterally with Chinese producers to help them better understand EU safety standards