VietNamNet Bridge – Despite the bans released by the Hanoi Education and
Training Department, toxic and anti-education toys still have been brought to
general schools.
The city’s education department has released a strange document, saying that
Hanoi’s students must not buy “stink bomb.”
However, the dangerous toys still have been sold at all the toy shops in Hanoi,
while students all have got familiar to the toy sourced from China.
The owner of Mai Ngan Toy Shop on Nguyen Khuyen Street affirmed that she has all
the toy products now favored by children and students. However, when asked about
Vietnamese toys, she said that 99 percent of the products here are from China.
The saleswoman showed customers a product called “stink bomb,” saying that this
is the most favorite toy now in Hanoi, especially popular to boys.
“It’s dirty cheap, just VND2,000 for a pack. This is a kind of “secret weapon”
which helps the boys increase their strength in front of the rivals,” she
advertised for the Chinese product.
The “stink bomb,” as the saleswoman introduced, would give stink when someone
beats it and makes it blow up. Therefore, it is called a “bomb.”
The “bomb” is contained in a pack which looks like a bag of candies or small
snack packs. One can see on the package the image of a boy in torn trousers and
the word “bomb,” with a skull and crossbones. When the bomb explodes, it would
cause a terrible smell.
The owner of a toy shop in Lang Son province has posted an ad piece about the
bomb as follows: “Not injuring anyone, not harming people’s health, but once it
explodes, it would create a smell stir.”
The ad piece also said that it would take five seconds only for the small bomb
to stir up a big hall. The attack of the “smell typhoon” would be so strong that
all the people in a 200 square meter room would have to evacuate.
Dr. Tran Hong Con from the Hanoi National University said he thinks the bomb is
made of bicarbonate salt, and safe if the substance reaches people’s skin and
clothes. However, if it reaches eyes, it would harm the cornea.
Therefore, Con believes that it would be better for students not to use the
toys.
The Hanoi education department has urged schools to have meetings with students
and parents and persuade them not to buy the dangerous toys. However, ignoring
the ban, the Chinese toy still has been favored by many students.
A senior official of the education department complained that the ban is not
enough to eliminate the dangerous toy from the schools. Students would still buy
them, if the products are still available at the shops. Meanwhile, the market
management agencies have not taken any actions to prohibit selling the products
and preventing them from entering school.
In fact, stink bombs once appeared in Hanoi a long time ago. At that time, the
quick intervention of the leaders of primary schools and parents’ associations
helped prevent the bombs from entering schools. However, the bombs have
returned.
Many Hanoi parents have applauded the decision by the city’s education
department to prohibit using the bombs at schools. They said that a lot of
Chinese toys have been found as dangerous and containing toxic substances, and
that they don’t intend to buy Chinese toys for their children any more.
Dai Doan Ket