Be careful with children's toys that do not guarantee quality

Toys play an important role in the physical, mental and emotional development of children; they have a special, regular attachment to children. Therefore, the requirements for toy safety in terms of design, style and material factors need to be given special attention. However, currently, on the market, there are many products with unclear information about origin, materials... Worryingly, there are even types of toys that are banned or subject to warnings for children when used.

Authorities check toy circulation conditions in Nam Dinh city.

In the Nam Dinh market, toy products are very diverse, from traditional to modern, with diverse designs, many styles, and prices ranging from affordable to high-end. At the MyKingDom toy store, products are displayed with information about the product, age of use and full price list for customers to choose easily. A representative of the MyKingDom toy store said: "The store belongs to the MyKingDom system nationwide, specializing in providing high-end toys from prestigious toy brands from many countries around the world. The store currently has more than 1,000educational toys that help develop creativity for children of all ages that have been tested according to international standards, ensuring quality and absolute safety before being put on the market." Here, along with imported toys, there are also toys from many famous domestic brands such as: Duc Thanh Wood, Lien Hiep Thanh, Hung Phat, Veesano, Cho Lon Plastic... trusted by many people.

However, besides high-quality toys, the toy market also has many low-quality products with unknown origins. Most of the toys sold at small toy stores in traditional markets, school gates, tourist areas, public entertainment areas, and historical sites during festivals are cheap, have no labels, or have foreign words printed on the packaging but do not have the required secondary labels... Ms. Lan, a street vendor in the Tran Hung Dao monument area, Nam Dinh city, said: I mainly sell ice cream, but in the afternoon and evening, many children come to this area to play, so I also buy some cheap toys such as pinwheels, trumpets, whistles, plastic balls, glow sticks, plastic swords, superheroes, dolls... to sell to earn extra income. The toys I choose to sell all have eye-catching designs and are cheap, ranging from a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of dong, which parents are willing to spend when bringing their children here to play. Children only play with it for a few days before it breaks or gets bored and throws it away, so parents don't care too much about the quality of the product when buying it.

This is also one of the reasons why poor quality and unsafe toys still exist on the market despite many propaganda and warnings, and authorities organizing inspections and confiscating violating products. Since the beginning of 2025, the Market Management force has seized a large number of toys that do not meet the conditions for circulation on the market; including smuggled toys, toys without QR labels and toys that violate the law on national territorial sovereignty. On April 27, Market Management Team No. 1 (Market Management Department of Nam Dinh province) coordinated with the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-tech Crime Prevention (Provincial Police) to conduct a surprise inspection of a children's toy business on Vu Dinh Lieu Street, Loc Ha Ward (Nam Dinh City) owned by Mr. Tran Huu Nam, residing in Goi Town, Vu Ban District. At the time of inspection, the authorities discovered and temporarily seized about 3,000 children's toy products of various types including (1,128 toy car sets, 708 children's toy trays, 1,203 puzzle sets with original labels in foreign languages, no Vietnamese sub-labels, no place of manufacture or general place of manufacture stated as Made in China) with a total value of more than 70 million VND, not qualified for circulation on the market. The owner of the establishment has not presented invoices or legal documents for the above goods and has not registered to establish a business household according to regulations. The authorities have temporarily seized and sealed all goods showing signs of smuggled goods, goods of unknown origin and origin to continue to verify and handle according to the provisions of law.

According to warnings from health experts, unsafe toys of unknown origin have a great impact on children's health when in direct contact. Harmful substances will enter the body when children suck, through the skin when holding for a long time or through the respiratory tract. Using poor quality toys for a long time can cause poisoning, dysfunction of organs in the body, and can even cause cancer. Children in particular often have the habit of sucking on toys. If they use poor quality, unsafe toys for a long time, it will affect the brain and cause intestinal diseases, pneumonia, asthma, allergies or plastic poisoning... To choose safe toys, parents should buy at reputable establishments, products with clear barcodes, anti-counterfeit stamps, manufacturer's address, distributor, importer, and CR certification stamp. It is necessary to change awareness and shopping habits, not to buy cheap toys that ignore children's health and safety issues as well as help fake and smuggled goods circulate on the market.

Article and photos: Nguyen Huong

Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/xa-hoi/202506/can-trong-voido-choi-tre-em-khong-dam-bao-chat-luong-3894598/