A JOINT action group has been set up between the Malta Standards Authority (MSA), the Chamber of Commerce (COC), the General Retailers and Traders Union (GRTU), the Federation of Industry (FOI) and the Consumer Association (CA) to ascertain that Malta follows the requirements of the Commission decision requiring Member States to ensure that magnetic toys placed or made available on the market display a warning about the health and safety risks they pose.
Swallowing magnets happens quietly with no signs of physical distress or discomfort for many days. In most cases ingestion of magnets is not observed by care-takers and children can often not recall that they have ingested magnets.
The symptoms may include flu-like symptoms: vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain. This often results in a considerable delay of referring children to the hospital.
Delay of treatment is sometimes also caused because several magnets attaching across different sides of the intestinal wall are not recognized as separate objects. On X-rays they often can be mistaken for one object and medical staff would first wait for the object to pass the body in a natural way.
According to a study, in 20% of the cases, a correct diagnosis has been made two
weeks after symptoms onset.
Medical complications recorded are perforations, ulcerations, bowel necrosis, fistula and obstruction. In most cases perforation of the intestines was observed.
Care-takers who are aware that toys used by children include magnets which can be detached from the toy and be swallowed by children, should remove these toys and ensure that children do not come in contact with them.
Producers, distributors, importers and shops selling these toys are required to affix a warning sign on the packaging or otherwise attached to the magnetic toy by virtue of the Commission Decision 2008/329/EC with the following wording: ‘Warning! This toy contains magnets or magnetic components. Magnets sticking together or becoming attached to a metallic object inside the human body can cause serious or fatal injury. Seek immediate medical help if magnets are swallowed or inhaled.’
The warning has to appear in a clearly visible and legible manner, conspicuously displayed on the packaging or otherwise attached to the magnetic toy in such a way as to be visible to the consumer at the point of purchase.
This warning shall be affixed as above to all magnetic toys as of 21 July 2008 until further notice.
Magnetic toys which do not display the required warning are prohibited from being placed or made available on the market. Any toys which do not display the required warning after 21 July 2008 will be removed from the market and legal action may be pursued by the Market Surveillance Directorate by virtue of the Product Safety Act.