Children can breathe easy with Toymark

NEW DELHI: ‘Toymark’ will soon be the standard for toys sold in the Indian market, whether made here or imported.

This is part of the initiative by the Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry to address critical issues like safety or toxicity of children’s products. The idea, therefore, is to standardise quality of toys sold here for which a communiqué has been sent to the commerce ministry.

The toys will be certified after clearing key tests. ‘Toymark’ will be mandatory as is the case with other standard marks like Hallmark (for gold and silver), Woolmark (for wool products) or ISI.

Once approved, manufacturers will be obligated to declare “Safe for children” and “No toxic content or material used” on their products. “This will ensure quality,” said an official.  

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has clear cut norms for toy production. The focus is on their mechanical and physical properties, flammability and safety of electric toys.

Since it is not mandatory for manufacturers to follow these standards (except in exports), the norms are confined to paper and seldom implemented.

BIS officials say that in the absence of an act that makes compliance with standards mandatory, the toy market will continue to remain unorganised and unchecked.

“There are regular cases of kids choking or complaining of stomach and skin infections because of colouring agents and poor plastic quality,” the official said.

A health ministry study carried out last year on toys in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai reported high levels of cadmium and lead (which are also used as pigments in plastics) in the PVC used in soft toys. This can pose a high risk to infants and young children who tend to chew or suck plastic toys.

The toy industry has reacted positively to the move but is concerned about testing facilities since the four labs today cannot cope with the load of toys that churn out every year.

“We are not opposed to the move to standardise toys products but need more labs and machines,” said Rajesh Arora, representative of the Toy Association of India.

The WCD ministry has also asked the finance ministry to reduce VAT on toys and make them less expensive.