Toys panel to study jewelry
\nMagnets in products also regarded as risk
\nChicago Tribune, United State
\nBy Maurice Possley | Tribune staff reporter
\n9:46 AM CST, January 12, 2008<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A panel of consumer and toy industry officials working to tighten controls over deadly magnets in toys agreed Friday to examine regulations for magnetic jewelry.<\/p>\n
“It’s a hazard that needs to be addressed,” said Arthur Kazianis, vice president of quality assurance for Hasbro Inc. and the head of the private panel that is focusing on standards for magnets in toys.<\/p>\n
The panel is a subcommittee of ASTM International, an organization that sets voluntary standards for industry.<\/p>\n
Nancy Cowles, executive director of the non-profit Kids In Danger, asked the panel to study magnetic jewelry. “It is a problem,” she said. “These are no different from the hazards of magnetic toys. These things are marketed to children and we have no way of keeping them safe.”<\/p>\n
Last month, the Tribune disclosed that numerous children have been injured by magnetic jewelry, particularly magnetic earrings that come in loose shapes as backings. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has not taken steps to regulate magnetic jewelry because the products are not considered toys and because there have been an insufficient number of injuries for the items to be deemed a hazard.<\/p>\n
The committee working on magnetic toys agreed to consider including magnetic jewelry marketed to children in its regulations or to possibly establish separate regulations.<\/p>\n
Another committee member agreed that the jewelry required regulation, saying that a serious injury is “bound to happen if we don’t do something. It’s a matter of time.”<\/p>\n
Independent tests of more than a dozen magnetic earrings conducted for the Tribune showed the items all were at least as powerful as magnets found in toys, which have caused the death of one child and injuries for others. Some magnetic earrings were more than five times more powerful.<\/p>\n
———-<\/p>\n
mpossley@tribune.com<\/p>\n
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Toys panel to study jewelry Magnets in products also regarded as risk Chicago Tribune, United State By Maurice Possley | Tribune staff reporter 9:46 AM CST, January 12, 2008 A panel of consumer and toy industry officials working to tighten controls over deadly magnets in toys agreed Friday to examine regulations for magnetic jewelry. “It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[411],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n