Says making them mandatory will lead to loss of livelihood for smaller toy manufacturers.
The Toys Society of India (TSI) on Thursday told the Bombay high court that if the norms laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) are made mandatory, it will lead to loss of livelihood for many smaller toy manufacturers across India.
In a PIL filed by Consumer Welfare Association urging the court to order action against the sale of toxic toys manufactured in India and those imported from China, the court had asked the Centre to explain why the norms should not be made mandatory. The 600-member TSI has replied by contending that these norms alone will not serve the purpose.
Their advocate, Siddharth Thakker, told the court that the toy manufacturing sector is not a scheduled industry. Thakker also told the court that not all toys are made of plastic, which can be tested for the presence of cadmium or other toxic substances.
“Toys are made of wood, cardboard and cloth. Making these norms mandatory will result in unemployment of a large number of people,” Thakker said.
He added that only Mumbai and Delhi have labs to test toys for toxicity, and of which only the Mumbai one is functional. “For manufacturers elsewhere, it may not be possible to come to Delhi or Mumbai to test their toys before selling them,” Thakker said.
A letter written by the Union ministry of commerce and industry states that the existing standards do not include phthalates — a highly toxic material recently detected in toys being sold in India — as a toxic substance. The letter adds that making the norms mandatory will require at least six months.
Chief justice Mohit Shah and justice DY Chandrachud asked the BIS to file a reply on the inclusion of phthalates among toxic substances in three weeks.
Earlier, petitioners’ advocates Rajiv Chavan and Rutuja Ambekar had told the court that the metal content in toys available in India is the highest in the world.
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