king and importing hazardous, substandard toys to Taiwan and reiterated its resolve to crack down on these toys. In a public demonstration of the government's commitment to drive out unsafe Chinese-made toys, Steve R. L. Chen, MOEA minister, destroyed some examples of them during a news conference.
Chen pointed out that unsafe toys made in China add to a list of substandard products it exports to the rest of the world, such as food and toothpaste.
"Many nations have voiced their concerns over products of inferior quality imported from China, and they have stepped up inspections of these imports," Chen said.
He added the government has already in August formed an inter-ministerial taskforce to inspect and monitor imports from different parts of the world, including China.
To more effectively block unsafe Chinese products from entering Taiwan, MOEA has set up another inspection and monitoring taskforce headed by the ministry's Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI), Chen said.
BSMI cited reports by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission as suggesting of the 21 China-made magnetic toys with paints recalled by Mattel Inc., nine failed safety inspections -- five for poor labeling and four for containing excessive heavy metals in their paint.
"People should be aware of the fact that toys made locally or imported from another country must pass safety inspections before they can be sold in Taiwan," BSMI said. "Consumers should purchase those that have passed safety tests."
The bureau cited statistics as saying from January to July, some 3,215 China toy imports were inspected. Of those, 109 failed the inspection.
Most of the toys that failed either contained more heavy metals than allowed by Taiwan's national standards, or contained sharp edges that may cause injury to children, BSMI said.
