Unhealthy cosmetics and dangerous toys. A record number of dangerous products in the EU

In 2024, EU Member States and Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein reported a record number of 4,137 dangerous products sold on their markets to the EU Safety Gate system – the European Commission said on Wednesday. Cosmetics, then toys, electrical equipment, motor vehicles and chemistry led the way.

The EU SYSTEM SAFETY Non -FREE SAFETY SYSTEM SAFITE SAFETY WORLD WAS LIMEDED IN 2003. The Platform enables the countries participating in the program – apart from the EU “27”, it is also used by it by Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) – which belongs to the European Economic Area (EEA) markets and exchange of information on the actions taken to stop their further distribution.

According to the annual report on the effectiveness of Safety Gate presented by the EC, the platform was used last year by record number of times because 4,137 warnings against harmful health and safety products came across it, which went to the European market; In Poland itself, there were 170 applications. It is about products that pose a threat to health and safety, because they can cause, among others

• allergies,
• choking,
• damage your eyes or hearing,
• dangerous for the environment or property.

In the latter case, for example, electronic devices that do not have any certificates, which can cause paralysis, short circuits and even fires.

The system includes non -food products; The issue of food safety is regulated by separate regulations.

As for the list itself, the most frequently reported products posing a threat to consumer health were:

• cosmetics (36 percent),
• toys (15 percent),
• electrical devices (10 percent),
• motor vehicles (9 %),
• chemical products (6 %).

Other 24 percent The products went to the “Other” category. 61 percent applications concerned products from Chin.

Half -reported articles were detected hazardous chemicals such as cadmium, nickel and lead, e.g. in jewelry. In body oils, fragrances that caused allergies were detected, and in the reported clothes synthetic chemicals used, e.g. to soften fabrics. 97 percent reported cosmetics contained BMHCA, i.e. a synthetic fragrance forbidden in the EU, which can cause skin irritation and even damage the reproductive system; BMHCA is also used in non -cosmetic products.

EU consumer consumer organizations that regularly carry out tests of this type of product have also been alerting European security standards for years. These proved, among others That children's toys imported from Asia several hundred times exceed the permissible norms of the content of chemicals and often contain elements that the child may choking.

Thanks to applications at Safety Gate, market supervision authorities in member states have undertaken over 4,200 interventions to suspend the sale of dangerous goods or withdraw them from the European market. “From year to year, we modernize the tools to ensure the safety of consumers. Safety Gate allows us to react quickly,” said EU Commissioner on Wednesday in Brussels for consumer protection Michael McGrath.

The EC announced on Wednesday that she is preparing in cooperation with Member States to carry out the first comprehensive control of the safety of products sold on internet platforms in the history of the EU.

From 2022, the catching of dangerous products appearing on the EU market is also facilitated by the Esurveillance application, which scans the internet every day to detect or the goods reported as part of Safety Gate did not appear on sale. If so, information about this is automatically transferred to law enforcement agencies in a given country, which allows for quick track of sellers and withdrawing harmful products. In 2024, Esurveillanka processed almost 4,000 applications, analyzed about 1.6 million websites and identified 5,300 online stores potentially offering dangerous goods.

From Brussels Jowita Kiwnik Pargan (PAP)

Jowi/ AP/