Ban It?

[Virgil Showlion]

First, some food for thought:

Why is 'Kinder Surprise' banned in the US? - A tale of corporate warfare and regulatory woe: why the 'Kinder Surprise' confection, beloved worldwide, is banned in the United States.

Top doctor: Ban deadly blades from our kitchens - A UK's doctor's case for a ban on kitchen knives with pointed blades.

The Assault Weapons Ban Is A Stupid Idea Pushed By Stupid People - The Federalist makes a case for why an assault weapons ban is not only unnecessary but counterproductive. (Apologies for the title.)

Why Are Baby Walkers Banned In Canada? - HuffPo explores why baby walkers are banned in Canada.

Game Changer: FDA Rules No Wooden Boards in Cheese Aging - The FDA bans wooden boards in the production of artisanal cheeses. This stirred a debate here on YMAM. (Note this particular ban was overturned shortly after it was introduced.)

www.dumblaws.com/ - A compendium of so-called "dumb laws"--most of them bans--in the United States and internationally.


Now that the mental juices are flowing: What process do you use to draw the line between what should be banned and what should not be banned?

Are there any hard and fast rules? When should bans be decided by "experts" in your opinion? Have you ever rigorously contemplated a fair and consistent standard for bans, or do you go by gut feel on a case-by-case basis? Which of the specific bans in the OP do you support?

Can you defend your support or opposition to various bans on a consistent basis, using consistent principles?

Anyone willing to step into the arena to prove it in a peer-reviewed trial by fire?

[Green Eyed Lady]

I just wait for a bunch of kids to tell me what to do.  I can't ask right now because they are currently deciding the fate of Kim Jong Un.

[Tennesseer]

Apr 10, 2018 10:42:06 GMT -5 Green Eyed Lady said:

I just wait for a bunch of kids to tell me what to do.  I can't ask right now because they are currently deciding the fate of Kim Jong Un.

Be nice. Those same kids will decide the quality of the nursing home you will eventually inhabit.

[Green Eyed Lady]

Apr 10, 2018 10:58:05 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Apr 10, 2018 10:42:06 GMT -5 Green Eyed Lady said:

I just wait for a bunch of kids to tell me what to do.  I can't ask right now because they are currently deciding the fate of Kim Jong Un.

Be nice. Those same kids will decide the quality of the nursing home you will eventually inhabit.

No worries there.  Unfortunately, they will be yesterday's news in no time at all.  Plus, it was sort of a joke.  There are some things I really admire about some of these kids - as with all kids today who do something other than eat Tide Pods and snort condoms.   Kids seem more aware of things other than themselves than I did as a kid.  I admire that.

 

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Not smart to put small chocking toys inside a kids candy.

Technically, Kinder Surprise eggs are banned in the U.S. by the FDA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Surprise eggs consist of a milk chocolate shell with a capsule inside that contains a toy -- but that's considered a choking hazard.

[Virgil Showlion]

Apr 10, 2018 10:42:06 GMT -5 Green Eyed Lady said:

I just wait for a bunch of kids to tell me what to do.  I can't ask right now because they are currently deciding the fate of Kim Jong Un.

Not sure what you're talking about and pretty sure I don't want to know.

[Virgil Showlion]

Apr 10, 2018 12:25:06 GMT -5 ken a.k.a OMK said:

Not smart to put small chocking toys inside a kids candy.

Technically, Kinder Surprise eggs are banned in the U.S. by the FDA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Surprise eggs consist of a milk chocolate shell with a capsule inside that contains a toy -- but that's considered a choking hazard.

If you watch the video, they comment on the fact that kids actually have choked to death on the Kinder Surprise toy in the UK.

Still, there's no great movement there (or in Canada, ISFAIW) to ban them. At least for now.

Maybe next week the media giants will take a short position in Ferrero and we'll see a tot army mobilized to ban Kinder Surprise.

[weltschmerz]

Kinder Surprise is not banned in the USA.  The ban was lifted. Do try to keep up.

[chiver78]

Apr 10, 2018 15:40:46 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Kinder Surprise is not banned in the USA.  The ban was lifted. Do try to keep up.

the decades-long ban was only just lifted at the end of last year.... 

[weltschmerz]

But it HAS been lifted. They're no longer banned.
It never made a whole lot of sense to me. If gumballs are legal in the US, why not KE?
Kids have choked on gumballs.

[chiver78]

the ban didn't make sense to most of us, either. especially those that have been outside the US and have seen/enjoyed them. 

[Spellbound454]

Because even though it says "not suitable for under 36 months" on the label..... They have been given to younger kids

The tot has eaten the chocolate then eaten the plastic toy........ and died.

It has broken laws about toys having small parts.

[swamp]

grapes are hazardous to young children.

Ban them. 

[Virgil Showlion]

Apr 13, 2018 16:50:23 GMT -5 Spellbound454 said:

Because even though it says "not suitable for under 36 months" on the label..... They have been given to younger kids

The tot has eaten the chocolate then eaten the plastic toy........ and died.

It has broken laws about toys having small parts.

That's actually not why it was banned.

The reason is more technical and obscure. US law doesn't allow sale of edible products containing embedded, non-edible items, even if the embedded item is too large to be swallowed (such as the capsule in a Kinder egg).

Mars Corp., Ferrero's chief competitor in the US, shot down all attempts to get Kinder eggs excepted (on the basis that the embedded capsule doesn't actually pose a choking hazard). They came up with a bunch of frivolous arguments you can hear about in the video.

Hence the ban persisted.

As for the ban being lifted, weltschmerz is going to have to cite her source. I'm finding a lot of 2013 articles that talk about Kinder knock-offs (with sub-par toys and chocolate) being permitted in the US, as well as vaguely Kinder-egg-like alternative products by Ferrero being released in 2016, but nothing saying that the bona fide Ferrero Kinder eggs the rest of the world knows and loves are legal in the US.