EU says it's illegal for children to blow up balloons

jprf

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I guarantee, GUARANTEE, that this has been wildly exaggerated and overblown by my country's ridiculous press. Ignore anything said by any UK newspaper that isn't the Times, Guardian or the Independent (I have generally found these three to be the least likely to outright lie to their readers, and they cover the moderate parts of the political spectrum quite nicely).
 

Private Custard

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SenseOfTumour said:
Private Custard said:
I've just been browsing the EU website, reading through the EU Toy Safety press releases. I found this (bold bit is important)

Enhanced safety requirements to prevent choking risks

Rules on toys and their parts to prevent children from choking or suffocating are strengthened. Toys in or co-mingled with food always need to be in a separate packaging. Toys which require the food to be consumed before getting access to the toy are prohibited.

Right, the EU banned Kinder Eggs!!

Fuck them, what a waste of time, when they should be getting the very heart of their broken house in order.
Actually, it came up on QI, that the humble Kinder egg is one of the most confiscated items when entering the land of the free that is ... the USA.

I imagine it being the British anti EU press, the facts are all there, in that a balloon, a child and a policeman were seen somewhere in Europe, but that the actual connections between balloons, kids, and the law were perhaps slightly modified to fit :)

This days after the Mail was caught printed a piece on Amanda Knox being found guilty, after she was found innocent of murder, complete with lots of lovely fabricated quotes and reactions from people in the court etc.

Now I understand that sometimes, speed is of the essence, and perhaps you'd have a template article ready to go on both side of an important trial, but just making it all up, including quotes from people, is too far imo. You should fill in the facts, then check them, then publish.
Have you ever tried to use the EU website? Speed and efficiency are not part of their web designers remit!

Sums them up perfectly though. But I suppose I'm not the best person to be speaking about them, I can't wait for the day it all fails massively!

Europe, loads of great countries with vastly different economies, forced to carry the weak with no choice whatsoever. It's doomed to failure if you started the whole thing off as one of the strong economies!

EDIT: I fucking love QI!!
 

ShindoL Shill

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Jul 11, 2011
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*fwee* 1,000,000th retarded decision!
oh fuck, its the rozzers!
"uh no officer, it was a vuvuzela. a small one. yeah. oh, you wanna see my ID. um... here. see look, i'm 15. sure, you can have some of my vodka."[footnote]this is obviously untrue. i'm just mocking how the government makes a law, but if they enforce one stupid law then they'll be distracted from the real crimes.[/footnote]
theonecookie said:
yeah I'm not buying it our (british) news papers are always making shit like this up to give old people something to complain about I think that also said bananas couldn't be curvy or some other bull shit and even if it is true how would they enforce it
i remember hearing that on QI. it was a bar bet to see if we would believe the guy.
we lost.
when i read your first sentence, i thought of:
 

plugav

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ChromaticWolfen said:
The fucking Party Police?
That actually sounds quite awesome.

"Miss, I'm with the Party Police. *flashes badge* I'm gonna have to ask you to hit the dance floor."
 

SenseOfTumour

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Sandor [The Hound said:
Clegane]

WHOA WHOA WHOA! Lets slow down there my friend. as it's right up there above me
I'd be almost tempted to vote BNP in the EU elections, just to make one of those hateful twats spend all of every day in Europe, surrounded by foreigners talking funny at him. :D

I agree tho, it's amazing how much bullshit they can spout. UKIP are pretty much the BNP with a different dress on anyway.

I didn't realise there were people out there denying climate change for reasons other than God told them to, however.

Considering Britain's grudging acceptance of anyone in Europe however, maybe we should have just officially teamed up with the US, tho I can't say I enjoyed watching Blair pretty much roll over to be petted by Bush, and I don't see Cameron arguing about anything with Obama, either. I think most of the UK would sign up with Australia just so we didn't have to learn another language however.

EU phobia is mainly a fear of the unknown, I believe, spurred on by daily nonsense in the papers.
 

Boba Frag

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carlsberg export said:
the EU needs dismantaling.
its a rubbish idea and was never going to work, i feel sorry for france and germany for constantly having to bail out the smaller member states.

the uk needs to leave the union asap!
For Christ's sake, give your Irish neighbours a heads up before you do!
We've had enough nasty shocks over the last couple of years...

I don't mind the EU before this global meltdown thing and all its glaring weaknesses came to light, but what boggles my mind is the time wasting on retarded and wasteful nanny state crap like this when there are far, far more pressing concerns to attend to.
 

Kadoodle

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So we're in the middle of an overpopulation crisis and they're worrying about a few kids dying because of their inability to exhale into an elastic bubble?

:/
 

SenseOfTumour

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jprf said:
I guarantee, GUARANTEE, that this has been wildly exaggerated and overblown by my country's ridiculous press. Ignore anything said by any UK newspaper that isn't the Times, Guardian or the Independent (I have generally found these three to be the least likely to outright lie to their readers, and they cover the moderate parts of the political spectrum quite nicely).
A lot of people buy out of habit, and also, out of price, that's why the Sun is one of the biggest sellers, it's only 30p. The Mail is a huge seller because it's cheap and looks a bit like a respectable paper, so they can look down on Sun readers.

THIS, a million times this, and I'd also suggest, if you're picking up the Sun, just because it's there and it's the cheapest option, it's not any more, the Independant launched their own tabloid, i, which is actual news from around the world, and hardly a single mention of Eastenders, X Factor, or the Only way is Essex. I admit it's lacking in tits, but come on, you've got the internet, you don't need to pay to see those any more.

I'm not saying it's the best paper out there, but it's actually got some news in it, not just reprints from this week's Heat Magazine. It's amazing to think there's more going on that just someone shagged someone else who's been on telly. 20p, cheaper than the Sun, too, and a third of the price of the Mail.


this should explain a lot, even tho it's about 30 years old, it still applies.
 

MrRetroSpectacles

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U.K gets the vote on if we want to stay soon I believe, it's interesting how times change, one minute we're the sick man of Europe, next minute there's a rather full looking hospital of national debt crisis and we're outside with a cough. It's a rather severe and nasty cough, but only a cough, whereas inside there's a Eurocrisis virus spreading.

I don't feel particularly good for any of these countries, they don't deserve this, bankers deserve this crap but they profit from it instead. When the last stone of civilisation falls the bankers will be there complaining about the state the World got to, disregarding the greed and stupidity they showed in getting us here.

In the words of Captain Blackadder "Good luck everyone" *blows whistle*
 

newwiseman

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I'm of the opinion if someone dies then Darwinism is doing it's job and culling out the stupidest of the species before they have a chance to breed.
 

JoJo

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Kadoodle said:
So we're in the middle of an overpopulation crisis and they're worrying about a few kids dying because of their inability to exhale into an elastic bubble?

:/
Are you kidding? In Europe there's no overpopulation crisis, we have the opposite, not enough babies are being born in most countries to replace those dying. As a result the old people with all their pensions and free-goodies are putting an increasing strain on the decreasing percentage of healthy workers. We need every child we can get unless we want to work until we're 85.

newwiseman said:
I'm of the opinion if someone dies then Darwinism is doing it's job and culling out the stupidest of the species before they have a chance to breed.
There's a flaw in your logic there, all children are naturally stupid (compared to adults). Let the little buggers do whatever they want without any adult supervision and I'd be surprised if even half of them make it to adulthood alive.
 

NinjaDeathSlap

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Sandor [The Hound said:
Clegane]
NinjaDeathSlap said:
I've tried my hardest not to be a Euro-skeptic and I am in no way prejudiced towards other Europeans, but if I see one more example of the EU wasting time and money bossing us around over pointless things like this rather than actually solving real problems I may well join UKIP. Surely an organisation that operates above the authority of our own government telling us how we should and shouldn't look after our children is the sort of thing we should have a referendum on.
WHOA WHOA WHOA! Lets slow down there my friend. Yes sure, the EU is publicly a bunch of douches who spend their time (and tax payer money) arguing about how round bananas should be and how long carrots have to be... but thats just what they do in public.

So lets hit you with some facts, I'm guessing your english? Well with the exception of corn and dairy the entire British farming industry is wholly dependant on subsidies and trading management from the EU. Leaving the EU would cripple our agriculture. We also have the issue of three huge steel mills that our virtually useless in our country and depend on t EU to remain a profitable supplier. Furthermore we source 30% of our electricity from France thank to EU connectivity regulations. ON TOP OF THAT EU visa laws insure that we have amongst the best health care in Europe as all the top French, German, Russian and Italian doctors come here.

So yeah, leaving the EU could conceivably beggar the country. But that isn't the reason I'm anti-EU, oh no, my problem with the EU is their representatives. Case in point, we were having a multi party debate in my local constituency about issues hat will face Britain in the future and these are some issues the hag of a UKIP MP candidate threw up. (And these are 100% true quotes).

"The EU have a special police force that can imprison any EU citizen anywhere without trial and we as a country do not want to be part of that."

"The EU are stealing our farmers profits and using it to bolster incomes on the continent." (That was especially funny as exactly the opposite is true.)

"Climate Change is a big lie invented by the EU as a scam to force us to pay more taxes." When asked if she was denying climate change she responded. "Yes Climate change is a myth, we do not believe in it." Oh my fucking god, I nearly cried.

- So ye, if it was a sketch show it would have been hilarious, but sadly she was a real MP candidate. Suffice to say the only person who earnt themselves more loathing that day was the BNP candidate, and only just. - Yeah I completely respect your right to vote for whoever you want, but do some research first, don't believe the bullshit propaganda parties feed you.
Well, ok. You make good points. To be honest my comment about joining UKIP was more than a little facetious. I'm fully aware of how pants on head retarded they are. I still think we should have a referendum on the EU (for one thing we were promised one and people should keep their promises) but if we actually got one I'd probably end up voting for staying in it. It just gets frustrating to see an entire tier of government, that I never got a say over whether we should even have or not, trying to tell me what to do over the most petty of things when they can't even make the important stuff work right now. I'm sure they really are as crucial as you say, I just wish they'd do a better job of showing it.
 

Griff

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Its, from the telegraph whats likely happened is that an EU commission whilst discussing children's rights probably made an addendum to look at changes to toys that might cause choking, which if taken to its most ridiculous extreme would "ban" balloons. Then stupid people who like to believe in a little England just lap it up, citing it as ridiculous European bureaucratic evil. Lets be honest no one is going to create a balloon police.
 

Rafael Dera

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PunchedBarbecue said:
I'm not one for drawn out paragraphs so I'll be brief.

The EU has passed a law banning children under the age of 8 to blow up balloons without supervision in case they choke. They also placed an identical law for under-14s using party blowers. Apparently toys which infants have used happily for decades now pose an "unacceptable" risk *shrug*

We have an entire continent in economic collapse and our leaders are worried about balloons?! Do we have children in charge of our countries?
That's the guardian for you. British press, out to slander europe some more. I went and pulled the Directive 2009/48/EC explanatory guidance document which states, in all its magnificence (and i quote):

"According to article 18 of the TSD a Risk/Hazard assessment shall be carried out to
determine the risks/hazards of a toy. The toy should be designed in such a way that as
many hazards as possible are eliminated or that residual risk is minimized to an
acceptable level. The residual risks should be described through adequate warnings
and/or instructions for use. E.g. the risk of drowning presented by aquatic toys can not be
100% eliminated by the design of the toy. Therefore supervisors should be informed that
the toy shall be used in shallow water and under supervision of an adult. For latex
balloons there must be a warning that children under 8 years must be supervised and
broken balloons should be discarded. Activity toys shall be provided with a warning that
they are for domestic use only."

So all it says is: don't leave latex balloon bits lying about, so the little s***s don't get a chance to try eating them.
There will always be risks involved when dealing with children, but given adequate warning a supervising adult can minimize these by being prepared. That's all. See also: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5087.html
 

Deadlock Radium

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dark-mortality said:
I live in Norway so, HAH! TAKE THAT EU Xp
^This. Fucking EU ruining it all for every single of our neighbours. The scary shit is if we join them, we will lose our pension fund, also known as the MASSIVE Norwegian oil resources.