Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
08/14/2013
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
RIO - The risk of injury to children walkers, mostly by tipping, evidenced by recent tests, led the National Institute of Metrology (INMETRO) to decide the compulsory certification of the product. Thus, manufacturers must follow specific rules of production that will have as its main objective to broaden security. Although certification is a step toward reducing accidents, it does not end the controversy surrounding the product. The Brazilian Society of Pediatrics (SBP) and NGO Child Safe advocate the banning of walkers in the Brazilian market. Director of Quality INMETRO, Alfredo Lobo, explains, however, that you can not take such a radical step before going for certification, as claimed by the industry:
- We evaluate the foundations of the parties, we analyze the regulations to Inmetro similar organizations abroad, and the only country that banned the product was Canada, the other, increased the rigor of standards, the case of Australia, the United States and Europe.
Experts criticize decision
Wolf said that the Brazilian standard will build on the best international standards and will be built with the market, civil society and the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT). This development, says the director of the institute, is expected to last between four and six months. The second step is the regulation.
- The entire process of developing the standard, regulation, certification, adjustment period of industry and commerce should take 12 to 18 months. Within 24 months, the idea is to reassess the walkers to check whether the report was able to effectively reduce accidents. If there is the expected effect, then it will be possible to think of a more drastic measure, such as the ban - underscores.
To do so, says Wolf, is key in the registry database of accidents INMETRO by parents and medical cases related to infant walkers.
- Not only the number of cases, but the severity of them can help us in evaluating the effectiveness of the products and certification. The medical report, then, is of great value for the amount of technical information that can bring - says the director of INMETRO, adding that the rules also address the manuals and there will be an awareness campaign on the importance of monitoring the child while using the walker.
Disbelieving the possibility of any improvement of walkers from the certification, the physician Rui Locatelli Wolf, a member of the Scientific Council of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics also considers fundamental the accident record. Was to denounce the death of a baby of 10 months in 2009, the Public Ministry (MP) Passo Fundo, in Rio Grande do Sul, Wolf managed to court to ban the use of walkers in schools, kindergartens and municipal hospitals, as well as the recommendation not to use by private establishments. Today, the doctor, who is also part of the Committee of the Society of Neonatology Pediatrics Gaucho, will file a new application in MP town, this time to ban the product in commerce.
- Based on scientific studies, which show not only the risk of accidents, but delays in motor development of the child, and the test result INMETRO which proved that all ten brands were unsafe, I will ask you to take this product trade. We have to follow good examples, such as Canada, where you can not even carry a walker in the street under a penalty. There is no standard that could make this product better - says Wolf.
The NGO Child Safe also keeps the opposition the manufacture, sale and use of walkers in the country. The national coordinator of the organization, Alessandra Françóia laments that INMETRO opted for product certification instead of his banishment:
- The walker is dangerous and unnecessary. Has no function. The child needs to crawl, walk interact with the family. The claim that a mother does not have time and so need to leave the child in the walker is a matter of family planning, no child safety.
Alessandra highlights that certification of walkers in Europe reduced the number of accidents in "only 50%" Also, she points out that the European and American consumers are culturally different from Brazilians, more informed.
- In Europe, there was a moral ban the product. The evils that may be caused by walkers are widely disseminated. In Brazil, people consider that if a product is on the market, because it is good. Therefore, we consider that the INMETRO is responsible for any and all walkers sold in the country and the accidents that can happen with each.
Already Synésio Batista da Costa, president of the Association of Children's Products (Abrapur), praised the decision and said that the INMETRO certification responds to a request made by the entity:
- It acertadíssima the decision. It is a theme with many emotions. We want to make walkers and are increasingly safe. We are here to make these and other products in the best possible way. Do not play with a child.
To Synésio, which minimizes the issue of accidents involving walkers, stating that there is no record in SACs manufacturers involving the product, the certification will allow those responsible to make purchasing more smoothly, since instructions and brakes, for example, will improve .
- No certification each follows a standard production. Already created an internal committee in Abrapur, which is the 4th meeting.
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.