They do work that way. It isn’t that unusual for them to show up unannounced to go over a complaint and ask the manufacturer to change an aspect of a product. In the case of this product there are only 4 or 5 companies handling it. The three manufacturers I know of make them in the same factory in China. Getting to the source wasn’t particularly difficult.
Generally the goal is to come to a reasonable agreement for everyone involved without having to force anyone by means of law.
The only thing truly unusual about this is they made effort to stop by at least three offices on the same day. This is extrapolated because three companies contacted the Chinese company to postpone production on the same day.
An upcoming ban isn’t beyond bounds of reason as people in this thread have covered issues with the product and how it posses a unique health threat.
My friends position based on the interaction is he would have complied with a voluntary ban if he didn’t have so much inventory. He expects they will follow through with an actual ban but that is likely more then a year away, so unless he hears new information he’ll continue to sell of what he has and will not go back to production as getting stuck with inventory he may not be able to sell within the US is costly and inconvenient.
How does what your friend claim square with the press release given above? Your friend’s claim makes no sense in that it is claiming that the CPA (sic) is going to ban all magnetic toys, where as the press release talks about redesigning toys for children to ensure that the magnetic parts cannot be detached. The later is within reason for the CPSC to do, and fits within their guidelines. They frequently ban toys or have restrictions for toys for children. What I’ve never heard of before is a complete ban on all products for adults.
Has anyone? If there is one, then it becomes a legitimate debate on the overreach of government. Otherwise, it’s simply one FOAF on the internet, and should be taken as such.
My cousin said that the “government” is going to disband our constitution and submit ourselves to the the UN. Debate:
As far as there only being one factor is China which produces this product, that may be true for today, but given Chinese manufacturing, it is not necessarily true for tomorrow. I content with Chinese manufacturers of knock off products quite frequently.
If the story in the OP is correct, where are the “children dying?” If that fails to exist, it creates doubts on the rest. Which is more likely? That a government agency which doesn’t exist is making up easily disprovable stories about children dying or that an anonymous person is making extraordinary, unprovable claims? Let the reader decide.
I never said anything about them banning all magnetic toys they are looking at a very specific novelty toy and determining it needs to be removed from the American market. They can not be redesigned to ensure the magnetic parts can’t be removed as that is a basic concept of the item.
So you’ve never heard about them banning lawn darts despite them being mentioned in this very thread?
bleah. I was thinking of them as sports stuff, but I guess they could be considered toys. They did, however, actually cause some deaths, rather than simply have the potential to cause death, which becomes an important point.
We can’t prove or disprove what your friend is claiming he heard. However, we can prove that the “children dying” is not valid.
From the press release referenced above:
The sole death reported does not specifically mention the ball-bearing type of magnet. The type of injuries related specifically to this are:
The reason they found this dangerous is
,They have taken steps short of a ban by asking parents to be careful. This begs the question of why they didn’t show the press release to your friend, and use it as the basis of the discussion.
And what reason is for them to need to visit all the companies, in person, on the same day. They have faxes available. If they decide to ban the products, they’re going to have to have a paper trail.
I don’t know feel free to ask them. I have no idea why they felt the need to operate in that manner. They haven’t in the past, my friends experience previously with them has been different. They say ‘we’d like you to change this product or labeling’ and he’s generally compliant.
They’ve yet to ban them, if the product goes away with them asking companies not to carry them and that actually happens they wouldn’t have any reason to go through the effort of banning them. Time will tell.
I don’t know that’s one of my reasons for starting this thread I want to know if there are any deaths attributed to this product as the agency claimed.
A friend’s two-year-old died in 2005 after swallowing several tiny, strong magnets. I think they should only be banned for use in toys made for very young children, which I think is already the case.
Most of the product has already been pulled from the US market now as the CPSC did let the makers know what direction this was heading. They’ll be among the growing list of things those ‘big brother’ Europeans can have that us ‘free’ Americans can’t.
Personally however it us fun to watch Craig Zucker stake his flag on his one product and fail. The man is an incredible ass and deserves nothing less.
I have to thank you for *not * quoting me when this story broke. You would have been well within your rights as I was overly snarky on something which I obviously knew nothing about.
We work with regulators in a different field and they don’t act like that. I read in one of the articles that said that the commission typically handles it this way.
My store sells them. Over my objections, the display was taken down this morning until we had more info about the recall. About an hour later I had to lug the display back up, not sure why (I assume somebody called a rep).
The Buckyballs guy is well and truly an asshole, but his rambling and unnecessarily political letter posted on their site eventually makes a good point: why did the agency that oversees warning labels decide that warning labels were not good enough for this one product, yet OK for every other thing that could kill children if swallowed?