Cancer inducing toys seized from market stall
‘Fruit-head’ dolls which can also cause deformities in unborn babies and infertility in men have been found at a market in Kent
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Toxic toys containing a chemical that can cause cancer, infertility in men and deformities in unborn babies have been seized from a Kent market stall.
The brightly coloured ‘fruit head’ dolls contain a poisonous chemical and have been banned by the European Union, along with other toys that include the plasticising phthalate agent.
The dolls - which come with apple, strawberry, blackberry, pineapple or tomato shaped heads - have however been discovered by trading standards at a market in the Medway area.
Tests on four the dolls all came back positive for the chemical, Medway Council Trading Standards’ Ian Gilmore said.
Earlier this year, the toys were confiscated from a shop in Gillingham, one of the towns in Medway.
The market the dolls were found at this time round cannot be identified while the investigation is ongoing.
Mr Gilmore told the BBC that the dolls keep re-emerging at discount shops and markets in the area despite the ban and seizure.
“They're a continual problem, especially at Christmas, because the dolls represent quite an attractive gift,” he said.
Trading standards has urged anyone currently stocking the dolls to remove them from sale and shoppers to not buy them.
“I would urge anyone who has bought one of the dolls to keep it away from their children and tell our trading standards service immediately,” Medway Council’s community safety head, councillor Peter Hicks told Kent News.
“At the same time, any Medway business that may still have them should return them to their suppliers, citing the Europe-wide recall.”