Kinder Surprise and other idiotic US bans

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Darth Jello
So here's something that baffles me about this country. We have a really shoddy safety record when it comes to a lot of domestic products or even imports from China. Yet we have some really idiotic bans on innocuous products, mainly foreign imports that have either been proven safe or have a safety record better than most products. Some examples of this are sheep lungs (for human consumption), all legal forms of absinthe and absinth, fugu that's either farm raised or has been certified butchered (you can currently only legally import fugu if you have a license and are employed in cooking it) and others.

To me, the ban and draconian enforcement on kinder surprise seems the most idiotic. For those who don't know, kinder surprise is a chocolate candy made by Ferraro consisting of either a chocolate shell with a plastic egg and toy inside or a plastic egg with one half chocolate and one half sealed toy. Now there may be some issues with choking as safety but the counter argument to that would be that
1. There's a big label saying that the candy isn't for children under 3.
2. Ferraro's been around for quite a few decades, they make a lot of popular products including Nutella and for all their sales, there have only reportedly been 7 child deaths in their entire history. Compare that to Happy Meals or US toys that are still on the market. Maybe I'm being insensitive but considering that it's a cheap children's candy that's been on the market for around 35 years, 7 out of something like 1 billion seems like a pretty damn good safety record.
The most stunning thing is that though you can find it in some US stores, the police and courts have been going outside of their jurisdiction with some cases being reported of people being fined $300 FOR POSSESSION. This isn't a controlled substance or serious contraband. It's a ****ing chocolate.
And just as a double standard, Nestle Wonderballs were a similar concept that were allowed until someone pointed it out. So Nestle changed the design to instead incorporate no plastic egg and no toy, but irregularly shaped, sweet tart-typed candies inside which are easy to choke on.

Thoughts?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/%C3%9Cberaschungs-Ei.jpg/800px-%C3%9Cberaschungs-Ei.jpg

http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/infobank_images/7913Fugu1.jpg

jaden101
7 CHILD DEATHS??? MURDERING BASTARDS SHOULD BE OUTLAWED.

Or at least pay more taxes.

Omega Vision
It might have made some sense at one point when Kinder Surprise toys were actually a bit complex and had small parts. Now though they have at most three parts which are rather large and come packed with a disclaimer about how they present a choking hazard in many languages.

Darth Jello
Originally posted by jaden101
7 CHILD DEATHS??? MURDERING BASTARDS SHOULD BE OUTLAWED.

Or at least pay more taxes. Statistically speaking, that's a better safety record than almost any US company.

-Pr-
Are you seriously telling me Kinder Surprise is banned in America?

The Dark Cloud
I think the ban on Absinthe has been lifted.

dadudemon
Originally posted by -Pr-
Are you seriously telling me Kinder Surprise is banned in America?

I know, right? I remember eating those as a very small child. So small, I may have be 2. Those were the bomb.


Guess what? I ate them with the mighty curse words: "ADULT SUPERVISION."

-Pr-
I'm amazed. Maybe it's just an Irish thing, but as nice as the chocolate was, kids wanted it for the toy in the first place, and it always came in a big plastic casing that you'd have to be pretty stupid to swallow.

Of course nowadays, you appreciate the chocolate more, but still...

Mindset
Originally posted by dadudemon
I know, right? I remember eating those as a very small child. So small, I may have be 2. Those were the bomb.


Guess what? I ate them with the mighty curse words: "ADULT SUPERVISION." And look how you turned out!

They should have been banned years ago.

dadudemon
Originally posted by Mindset
And look how you turned out!

They should have been banned years ago.

laughing laughing laughing

Lord Lucien
I really, really love being not American sometimes.

Darth Jello
Originally posted by The Dark Cloud
I think the ban on Absinthe has been lifted. You can't get Absinth here (the czech dreck) or the more potent and flavorful bleau absinthes or Spanish Absentas for the most part. So far only the fairly humdrum green verite stuff has been approved.

Sadako of Girth
The way the banners are crying on, youd expect T-Shirts saying "I Survived Kinder Surprises" to carry some impressive weight with them.....

Man I Feel bad for those seven kids, but I'd bet choking on boiled sweets and nuts is way more common.

I wonder if the real reason for the ban was the trend in fool proof dope stashing offered up by the airtight plastic egg....
Well...foolproof except for this guy:
http://cannazine.co.uk/cannabis-news/united-kingdom/cannabis-egg-man-escapes-jail.html

RE: Blaxican
My question is...

If the chocolates are that insignificant... and if they're available in many stores anyway... why do people give a shit if they're banned?

Sadako of Girth
Cause things like this are happening over said chocolate:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/border-guards-crack-kinder-egg-case/article1865884/

And to some its like Concorde being recalled, the end of Space Shuttle Orbitors, like when the Amiga was ran into the ground before its potential could ever be fully realised by incompetent and stupid, profiteering management by one man..

Unique iconic things that are stamped out, often for seemingly silly reasons.

But mostly its the dope smuggling thing, methinks.

Bicnarok
Maybe they want more US goods sold, so they find ways of blocking foriegn stuff.

It is hypocritical when you consider how much poison like Aspartame and Flouride ridden goods they allowed to be sold, they even flouride in tap water for fooks sake.

Darth Jello
God, you people just don't understand. An egg with a big, had plastic egg in it is dangerous. An egg with no plastic egg but lots of small, hard, irregularly shaped sour candies in it, like wonderball, is safe. Also boba tea is safe. Hot dog on a stick is safe. Cereal with toys in it is safe. popcorn with unpopped kernals is safe...

ADarksideJedi
Originally posted by jaden101
7 CHILD DEATHS??? MURDERING BASTARDS SHOULD BE OUTLAWED.

Or at least pay more taxes.

I argee.

Darth Jello
Originally posted by ADarksideJedi
I argee. Well then we should outlaw every single food and toy on the market other than gluten-free non-dairy gruel, shouldn't we. Can't have any foods that have reported any kinds of deaths so anything containing saturated or transfats, milk, wheat, bones, foil wrappings, meat, honey, nuts, peanuts, eggs, shells, that needs to be chewed, or is of a consistency thicker than ketchup is out of the question because all of those products kill thousands individually every year through spoilage, food borne illness, choking, allergic reactions, atherosclerosis, and celiac disease, right?

Lord Lucien
Originally posted by Darth Jello
Well then we should outlaw every single food and toy on the market other than gluten-free non-dairy gruel, shouldn't we. Can't have any foods that have reported any kinds of deaths so anything containing saturated or transfats, milk, wheat, bones, foil wrappings, meat, honey, nuts, peanuts, eggs, shells, that needs to be chewed, or is of a consistency thicker than ketchup is out of the question because all of those products kill thousands individually every year through spoilage, food borne illness, choking, allergic reactions, atherosclerosis, and celiac disease, right? Didn't you get her joke? She said that she "argee(s)". Clearly she's being ironic.

Darth Jello
Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Didn't you get her joke? She said that she "argee(s)". Clearly she's being ironic. based on some of her posts, i doubt it.

Lord Lucien
Originally posted by Darth Jello
based on some of her posts, i doubt it. Didn't you get my joke? I was crediting ADarksideJedi with using irony. Clearly I was being ironic.

Darth Jello
If I posted more on this board, perhaps. But I really drift in and out these days.

GCG
ILLEGAL!!

http://www.newfunnypictures.net/data/media/12/Rasta%20Surprise.jpg

skekUng
Originally posted by Darth Jello
You can't get Absinth here (the czech dreck) or the more potent and flavorful bleau absinthes or Spanish Absentas for the most part. So far only the fairly humdrum green verite stuff has been approved.

Yeah, and it sucks.

I'm not sure it's enforced all that much, though. I just order it from Europe and they slap an "unsolicited gift' label on it. The federal employee of the United States Postal Service brings it right to our door.

So many people talk about how bright they are and how they should make descisions for themselves, instead of the government, then they join some special interest group to force their personal opinion down other's throats. Pot should be illegal because it's illegal and a drug, but the government is getting uppity for making chocolate covered toys illegal.

I will agree with you, though, that a lot of products from Wal-Mart are more dangerous than these egg/toy/chocolate things. But, you have to remember that in this country, if it's covered in chocolate, few people stop to read the warning label and just pop it in their mouths. Or, they hand it to their kid, without paying attention, to shut them up. When they come back an hour later and their kid is blue on the floor with a matchbox car hanging out of their chocolate covered face, they blame the Germans and call them socialists. Our kids aren't very bright because our parents aren't very bright. We'd put bug spray in absinth and sell it outside Sunday schools if it meant we could sell it for ten cents less than the competitor. Then, we'd call it the free market regulating itself when the more expensive competitor had to start dumping bug spray in their absinth, too, to stay competitive.

Darth Jello
Well yeah. It was easy to get when it was still illegal but that encouraged price gouging.

skekUng
Originally posted by Darth Jello
price gouging.

S-E-L-F C-O-R-R-E-C-T-I-N-G F-R-E-E M-A-R-K-E-T

GET IT STRAIGHT, OR GTHO

Robtard
I find the band on the M82 Barret .50 caliber rifle to be lame.

MildPossession
Every child knows you get one of these eggs for the ****ing toy, the chocolate is of no importance compared... so really, it's a few less stupid children in the world to grow up into morons, or they have extremely idiotic parents who leave a child too young to know with a kinder egg.

smile

Thank god, they still sell them here in Britain! Had lots out on the shelves for Easter in the supermarket near me. And Absinthe, very strong in the same supermarket.

Isn't Germany in the middle of banning the things, or have banned Kinder eggs.

ASH70N
If these toys were sold without the chocolate, then they will be banned as they fail every choking test on the planet. Incidentally, the 7 deaths were all children aged over 3 and the warning on the egg is often crumpled due to the nature of the wrapper itself. I say good on ya U.S. for banning this dangerous product. Safety record or not, 7 child deaths is not acceptable!!!

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