Now all the Thanksgiving washing up is done, we’re firmly into Christmas season.
To kick things off with a bang, here’s some terrible news on that front: your plans of cheaping-out on presents for the children in your life are ruined, by a serious health risk. Teresa Murray from the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) warns that people shouldn’t buy cheap-ass toys online from overseas sellers, because many don’t follow US safety standards. In fact, they fall dangerously short. Like, really dangerously short.
These cheap toys – hold your breath – can pose choking risks, are highly flammable, may contain lead, and may contain phthalates, chemicals used to make plastics, which have been shown to have effects on our hormones. There’s almost no oversight over these toys, since a many bypass inspections thanks to a legal loophole called “de minimis”.
Introduced in 2016, the de minimis rule allows shipments under $800 to enter the US without incurring taxes or import duties. It allows for more goods from sites like, say, Temu that sell horrible, extremely shitty products that break before you get to use them, to enter the country. These rules have been exploited by foreign retailers as a duty-free warp tunnel directly into the US, and there’s now so much of this horrible shit coming in that customs agents can’t possibly keep up with any of it, so most doesn’t get checked.
The de minimis loophole has led to all sorts of flagrantly unscrupulous behavior from foreign companies, like one case from 2023 where a disassembled helicopter was shipped from Venezuela to Fort Lauderdale because de minimis allowed the shipper to classify a fucking helicopter as a small low-value personal shipment.
The lesson here is to be careful about where you’re buying your children’s Christmas gifts from. Just because you see the knockoff version on some shady site selling for a fraction of the cost, doesn’t mean it’s the great value purchase you think it is. It might poison your kid. Or choke them. Or simply fall apart minutes after they unwrap it on Christmas morning, thus breaking their tiny little heart.
The post The Super Cheap Kids’ Toys You’re Buying This Christmas May Be Toxic appeared first on VICE.
The post The Super Cheap Kids’ Toys You’re Buying This Christmas May Be Toxic appeared first on VICE.
