During my last visit to India I was staying with my niece at Karaikudi, Sivagangai District, Tamil Nadu. In the morning I was sitting on the compound wall and her son was playing there. After ten minutes I noticed that he was taking something which was pink in colour from his pocket, smelling it and putting it back in his pocket. At first it did not draw my attention. Since he was repeating this several times, I asked him to show it. It was a broad tree shaped synthetic toy, very soft and smelt heavily on some organic solvent. I called my niece and advised her to throw it immediately and not to buy any cheap toy made in China. Her son can become easily addicted to organic solvent without knowing it.

It is the duty of the parents to learn and know more about these kinds of dangers which could be avoided completely. Do our parents have enough knowledge? To know more about the adverse effects of abusing solvents or inhalants read my article in http://drkpadmanaban.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-are-effects-of-inhalants-abuse.html

The important message is that poisons are everywhere in the environment. If we know this we can avoid much hidden poisons. When you confront with these poisons, if possible, it is better to remove it. Be happy to have this chance to do this as many environmental contaminations could not be traced or it is impossible to remove them.

Are you against Chinese toys or other products? I hear this very often. My clear answer is no, certainly not.

The German market is also full of Chinese products, from toys to electronic goods. But there is a big difference in the method of procuring the products from China by Germany and India. We, in Germany stipulate all the technical specifications to the Chinese companies and they produce accordingly products for us. This means which raw materials they must use or which they must not use since they are banned by German laws. For example, 200 standard companies are producing toys to the Western markets according to specifications, but, at the same time, 2000 companies are producing cheap and dangerous toys for the rest of the world. We all want to cheap things and this is the biggest mistake. If the consumers look at the good quality these cheap toys have no chance in the market.

It could also be done in India and in other countries too; it is the duty of the concerned authorities to enforce the right guidelines or laws. It is the duty of the consumers till then to avoid buying such poisonous toys or other products.