To the Editor: The case reports presented by Gunja et al1 are a serious concern from many perspectives. The health authorities should be commended for their rapid risk assessment and alerting the community, which led to the immediate withdrawal and recall of the toy beads from the marketplace.

However, the question needs to be asked: Could this situation have been prevented, and if so, how? There are many toys in Australia that potentially pose risks to children. These can include physical dangers, such as the size of toys, with risk of choking, to toxicological dangers, as we have seen with Bindeez toy beads (containing 1,4-butanediol), and psychological and social concerns, such as the effects of sexually provocative toys on young girls and “aggressive” toys (which may encourage violence) on young boys. More research is required to test the psychological influence of such toys on children. The evidence should be used in the development of guidelines for safer toys.

At present, toy manufacturers in Australia must adhere to the Australian Toy Standard (AS/NZ 8124), established by Standards Australia.2 Toys are monitored and regulated mostly by the state governments. While the manufacturers are expected to adhere to these standards, they are in fact voluntary standards and self-regulated, and many toys can enter and be sold in Australia without meeting these standards.

When a consumer or state government inspector is concerned about the safety of a toy, or if it violates the regulation, they may contact one of the state offices of fair trading, which have the power to remove the toy from the marketplace. This is essentially a post-hoc auditing system and plays an important role in safety, but action is essentially taken after a problem is detected, such as is the case with the Bindeez toys.

In view of potential concerns, I believe what we need in Australia are stronger regulations and guidelines that we can provide to manufacturers to help produce safer toys. Our efforts should be towards preventing any potential harm by strengthening existing regulations, establishing consistent national and international standards for all imported toys, providing more resources for the verification and testing procedures and more expertise and wider consumer input into the safety and suitability of the types of toys permissible in Australia. We have a duty to protect and safeguard our children from both psychological and physical dangers.