Violent Toys: SOS!
(Baonghean)Most noticeably, children's toys today are no longer simple spinning tops, hopscotch, marbles, or playing cards, but instead a plethora of violent toys like guns, swords, daggers, or toys copied from horror movies. During holidays like Tet, Mid-Autumn Festival, and International Children's Day, these harmful toys flood toy stores, corrupting children's minds.
According to data from the Market Management Department, in the first six months of 2012, they inspected, detected, and handled two cases of illegal toy transportation, confiscating 430 plastic pellet guns of various types (submachine guns, handguns - which can cause injury at close range).
In 2011, the Market Management Department seized, processed, and destroyed numerous cases of smuggled, substandard, and unmarked children's toys, including 409 toy cars, 3,410 sexy dolls, and 1,950 spiked rubber balls. Notably, 1,152 bottles of bubble solution manufactured in China were confiscated. This solution contains many chemicals that are dangerous to the respiratory system and can cause skin irritation if it comes into contact with hands or feet, especially for children with allergies. During a crackdown on toys during the 2011 Mid-Autumn Festival, the Administrative Management Team for Social Order of the Vinh City Police inspected three kiosks in the Vinh market area, discovering and confiscating 961 toy guns and swords, and 1,200 plastic bullets.
Mr. Tran Van Dien, Head of the Planning and Synthesis Department (Nghe An Market Management Sub-Department), affirmed: “The amount of smuggled toys discovered and seized by authorities is only the tip of the iceberg. Even in toy stores, they only display a small number, while large warehouses are usually hidden, making them very difficult to detect.” Mr. Dien added: “Most children's toys currently on the market are smuggled goods, mainly originating from China, and 100% seriously violate regulations on safety, quality, and labeling…”
These mobile toy stalls also conceal a large number of violent toys that are readily available.
Posing as potential suppliers of toys to sell in the districts during the Mid-Autumn Festival, we conducted an investigation at Vinh Market, the province's largest wholesale toy market. The first floor of the market had around 10 toy stalls scattered among others. The toys displayed were generally harmless, such as battery-operated trains, remote-controlled cars, and dolls. However, when we asked Mr. Ng., the owner of the Yen Ng. shop, if he had plastic guns or swords, he looked suspicious and asked, "Who are you buying them for? Flamethrowers or toy guns?" "I want to buy a lot for my wife to sell in the districts during the Mid-Autumn Festival," we replied. Hearing this, he changed his attitude, quickly went inside, and brought out a large selection of impressive guns, from Colt pistols and K54s to rifles, machine guns, and grenades. In particular, there are pistols that look exactly like AK47s, complete with metal casings, trigger, barrel, sights, and even a 30-round magazine of bright gold, capable of shooting hundreds of meters. In terms of price, plastic pellet pistols cost between 50,000 and 200,000 VND per gun. That's not including the cost of additional items like a light-up bayonet, batteries, plastic pellets, or steel BBs...
Not only at Vinh Market, but nowadays, at many shops along Dang Thai Than and Nguyen Van Cu streets, and at entertainment and recreational areas in Vinh City such as in front of Ho Chi Minh Square, the Central Park, the Labor Cultural Center, etc., it's not difficult to buy violent toys for children. Even in most markets throughout the city, buying a laser gun, a sword, etc., is very easy. From the main Vinh Market or directly from smuggled goods sources, street vendors have been very effective in instilling a culture of violence in young people and children.
Exposure to violent toys has been a breeding ground for aggression in children. Numerous cases of children being rushed to hospitals due to toy-related injuries demonstrate this. Most recently, in May 2012, a third-grade student at Hung Dung School was shot in the eye with a plastic gun by a classmate, resulting in a punctured cornea and severed tear ducts, requiring emergency treatment in Hanoi.
According to a doctor at Nghe An Psychiatric Hospital, children's fondness for violent toys can lead to complex psychological changes, delusions, the belief that they are characters in the games, and the easy development of aggressive personalities.
Discussing this issue, Mr. Tran Van Dien, Head of the Planning and Synthesis Department (Nghe An Market Management Sub-Department), said: The appearance of violent toys (mainly from China) on the market is due to the principle of "supply follows demand." Many parents are still willing to buy harmful toys to indulge their children. Some families, seeing their children addicted to video games, buy toy guns and swords for them to play with to quit games, only to find that their children become addicted to both. In addition, the market management force is "too small." Currently, the provincial Market Management Department has less than 100 staff members spread across 7 inter-district teams throughout the province, but their duties are not limited to inspecting violent toys; we also have to combat smuggling, counterfeit goods, and other unexpected tasks.” Mr. Dien added: “Every year, as the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the authorities intensify inspections of stores selling children's toys, especially those suspected of selling plastic guns and firearms that pose a danger to life, but it's like a drop in the ocean.”
Violent toys, regardless of their form, are a cause for concern. The decline in character and the increase in school violence are partly due to them. It's time for authorities to make efforts to inspect and crack down on the sale of these items. Furthermore, parents should not indulge their children with "toy guns and bullets," even if they know they are just plastic toys, because the consequences are unpredictable.
From April 15, 2010, Circular No. 18/2009/TT-BKHCN issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology on the implementation of the national technical standard on the safety of children's toys - QCVN 3: 2009/BKHCN - came into effect. Accordingly, all types of children's toys must undergo quality control and bear a conformity mark (CR stamp). Businesses are only allowed to sell children's toys that have the quality stamp from the Ministry of Science and Technology. All types of children's toys must be tested for pollutants, pH levels, solutions, and formaldehyde in materials such as wood, fabric, and plastic. Children's toys without a CR stamp will be fined 10-15 million VND.
Tran Hai
