[dsl]

Kinda. Kinder now has a line of chocolates that they sell in the US, but the "surprise eggs" are still banned.

The problem is the eggs contain a small toy inside the chocolate, and small children either don't see it or don't know not to eat it. The EU is considering banning them too because they have had children die.

[vidarh]

The EU rejected banning them in 2000 despite more than a decade of campaigning by parents of three children who died in the 80's from choking on parts of the toys [1]

No further action appears to have been taken by the EU since, and I've not found any mentions of further deaths since either.

Note that none of these three kids "did not see it". The toys in Kinder eggs are contained within large yellow containers, and none of the kids choked on the container, they choked on parts of the toy that they had taken out of the container.

The kids in question were 3 and 4 years old. 3 and 4 year olds regularly play with small toys, and most know better by then. If the child doesn't know better by 3-4 than to put tiny plastic toys in their mouth, then it's frankly the parents responsibility to supervise them better - they'll come into constant contact with small objects they can choke on in all kinds of places.

[1] http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Parents+hit+out+at+EU+over+tin...

[Luc]

"The EU" is not considering any such thing, where did you get that idea?

[billpg]

I heard they were going to make children wear goggles when playing conkers too!

[vidarh]

There was a campaign by a couple of parents, that culminated with the rejection of a ban back in 2000.

[redacted]

I am reminded of The Onion's take on such bans:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/fun-toy-banned-because-of-t...

[Xylakant]

I have yet to hear about a ban or about children dying from choking on surprise egg toys. It's totally possible and sadly happens that small kids choke on small items but in general Europeans regard it as the parents responsibility to keep their kids away from choking hazards.

[ivanca]

Only 3 children have died by choking on it in all its history. To put this in perspective cows kill 20 people per year in the US.

[thret]

Someone's probably managed to choke to death on every popular type of treat.

http://www.health-benefits-of-dark-chocolate.com/death-by-ch...

"In 1910 a young woman dies while trying to share her chocolate with her co-workers. She attempted to cut the bar in pieces and instead slipped and cut an artery in her leg."

[darklajid]

Nah. I really don't believe that this idea of a ban in the EU is supported by facts.

For me these things are rather uninteresting, but dangerous? The inside is quite huge and yellow (a capsule of sorts, containing the real toy). Inside of that you might have small stuff/a real choking hazard, depending on what you get (some things need to be assembled from parts).

My son is two. He wouldn't stuff that in his mouth. My daughter is 9 month old and stuffs everything in her mouth, so this is about as dangerous as ~everything~ in my household, including the toys of the 2 year old.

Plus .. I personally think that kids that still cannot distinguish between edible or inedible things shouldn't have chocolatey treats in the first place, but that's a different problem.

I mean, I guess the aluminum foil wrapping seems more dangerous to me then the toy inside, if we're talking about choke hazards.

[hvidgaard]

I really, really do not understand this at all. If a child dies because of what is inside that Kinder Egg, the adult that was supposed to look after the child would be responsible. Take them in for neglect or whatever, but don't ban some legitimite fun for children with responsible parents. Any child that is young enough to put everything in his/hers mouth, should be superwised by an adult and be in an environment where there is no such things anyway.

[MURICA11111]

No, the EU is not.