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SOUTHPORT MEP’S EXPLODING CHARGER MAKES EU DANGER LIST
AN exploding
mobile phone charger reported by Southport Euro-MP Chris Davies has
made its way onto an EU-wide list of dangerous products.
RAPEX is a rapid response system that allows EU countries to share
information about products posing a health and safety risk. The
system alerts countries to products that pose a risk so they can be
quickly removed from sale and customers alerted to the dangers.
A record number dangerous toys and electrical products have been
banned from sale in local shops thanks to the scheme. Over
1600 dangerous products were reported last year and 100 of these
were found in British shops. Toys were the most common offenders
with electric shock and risk of injury or choking the main reason
for reporting. The majority of problems came from imported
goods, with China the country of origin in around half the cases.
Southport Euro-MP Chris Davies has first hand experience of the
system when he bought a mobile phone charger at the end of last
year. The device exploded scattering pieces of plastic across his
living room. He said:- “There was a massive bang and
smoke started coming out from the charger. I was concerned and
reported the device to trading standards."
The charger, which had been manufactured in China, failed electrical
tests and was added to the EU blacklist.
Mr Davies claims the RAPEX system is an example of the EU working at
its best. He said:- “If a toy in Spain is found to have
the potential to seriously injure or even kill a child then the
sooner we can ensure it is taken off British shelves the better.”
So far this year Britain has reported a variety of dangerous goods
to the register. These range from a wooden train set with a risk of
lead poisoning to hair straighteners that posed danger of an
electric shock.
The system also protects British holidaymakers abroad. For example,
a toy cow in Spain was withdrawn from sale as it was found to pose a
choking hazard, while joke cigarettes in Cyprus may lead to
respiratory tract inflammation. |
Southport man urges residents to Help a Heart and save lives this
June
IN the UK,
nearly 600 people lose their lives to heart and circulatory disease
every day.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is committed to
preventing lives being devastated by the disease but urgently needs
ongoing support to invest in groundbreaking heart research.
Throughout June 2008, the Charity is running its Help a Heart campaign
and needs your help to raise its target of £1.5 million to fund
essential heart research that could save friends and family from the
pain of losing a loved one.
Steve White (59), of Southport, is a heart patient who has benefited
from the vital research funded by the BHF.
He had suffered ongoing pains and breathlessness but had put it down
to his busy and stressful lifestyle. Then in March 2003, at the age
of 55, Steve had a heart attack and discovered he had angina. An
angiogram showed he needed a quadruple bypass which he had that
December.
He said:- “To discover I had to have the quadruple bypass was
a strange sense of relief. I felt like a walking time bomb and the
diagnosis was a step forward after a very eventful year. When
I sat up in intensive care and saw my family, I realised that it was
not just me who had suffered from the heart problems, it was the
whole family.”
Show your support for the nation’s heart charity by getting involved
with events in Southport or buying a Heart Button from your local
BHF Shop. You can also get involved with the campaign this year by
visiting the BHF’s Help a Heart,
website, and
explore all the other ways you can make a difference.
Steve, who raised almost £3,000 by organising a charity night,
added:- “I feel great now, I have a new life and I am healthy
and happy. I would encourage as many people as possible to support
the BHF as heart disease is the UK’s biggest killer and so many
people don’t even know they have a problem.”
For more information on all the ways to support the campaign this
year and events in Southport contact Ken Fretwell, BHF Fundraising
Volunteer Manager on 0151 678 2646 or by emaiing them via:-
fretwellk@bhf.org.uk. |
