Does this mean there won’t be any more Multicultural Crayons in the European Union? Horrors!
Seriously — this ban on colored pencils and watercolors seems somewhat of an overstretch. But I’ll let the toxicological experts among our readers judge whether it is an appropriate regulation.
Many thanks to Nash Montana for translating this article from Bild:
EU bans colored pencils and water colors
New regulation madness coming out of Brussels: Many of the colored pencils, markers, felt pens, crayons and wax crayons, and watercolors can not be sold anymore in the EU!
Completely unnoticed by the public, the EU has drastically tightened the safety limit for lead in children’s toys.
Kids’ coloring pencils are — according to EU legislation — counted as “dry, brittle, dust-like or smooth” play materials; water colors are classified as “liquid or adherent”. Pencils now may only contain 2 milligrams of lead per kilogram of play material instead of the previous 13.5 milligrams, and water colors may only contain 0.5 instead of 3.4 milligrams.
The problem: Almost all children’s coloring products contain the filler Kaolin (hydrated aluminum silicate), and titanium dioxide. These are both minerals which are harvested from the earth’s crust; therefore they naturally contain nominal traces of lead which can’t be chemically removed. The ban mostly affects lighter color tones because they contain a lot of white pigment.
The EU assumes that — in the evaluation of the allowable concentration of lead — a child ingests 100 milligrams daily of said play material. But that would mean that a child eats 18 colored pencils a year!
Additionally: Many markers and colors are sold in sets, for instance coloring sets for schools. But even if only one color pencil in a whole set exceeds the prescribed lead limit, the entire set cannot be sold anymore, effective immediately.
CSU-EU representative Markus Ferber remarked: “It would be a lot better to get a grip on bigger problems instead of limiting the creativity of children.”
Just as with leaded petrol, this will be part of a scam to increase profit for the elites. The body copes with small quantities of lead very nicely, but we have been taught to see lead as problematic (brainwashing). Aluminum, Mercury and Fluorine are also deadly, but profitable, so they are ignored.
The Brussels buffoons strike again!
If children really eat that many colored pencils per year why not get creative and fortify them with vitamins?
Ha! Good one! Besides, I really don’t believe their number 18 anyway. I wonder where they took the survey, among what group of people. I don’t know a single kid that eats crayons or color pencils. I substitute at my daughter’s school every once in a while, 1st and 2nd grade. There is no color pencil eating going on here.
Apparently as a child I used to stick crayons up my nose and in my ears.
I grew up to be a fully functioning, responsible adult,
Apart from being deaf and having no sense of smell!
Uuuum, could the EU be onto something?
I always call this “natural selection”. Since less lion and bear running around cities as before, dumb people do not die and later multiply. Natural selection as the phrase says: “natural”. Even the most fascistic hippy should realize that natural is good for ya…
Let the dumb ones eat crayon!
Remember when you once mixed all of your Plasticine into one big, “glorious ” lump … and how disappointed you were with the result: An grey glob of ugliness?
The vibrant, interesting spectrum was gone. You moved on to your other toys.
What an interesting perspective on multiculturalism!
I remember one of the first things they did was regulate the size of beer glasses in the EU. No more half liter glasses, which in Germany was areal bummer.
I swear the EU is becoming more repressive and punitive the more they lose control over the situation
Governments and other institutions that are losing power frequently tighten their grips and their level of regulation. It reminds on of Princess Leia’s retort to Gov. Tarkin; the more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
It is called ‘Displacement Activity’ by anthropologists. When a real threat is so grave that a creature is too frightened to face it, the creature ignores it and invents a smaller one on the ground nearby which it furiously pecks at.
How anyone who is not firmly ensconsed in a First Class seat on the Euro Gravy Train – the one that departed from Reality some forty years ago – can possibly claim that Brexit is bad for Britain simply beggars belief.
What’s next? To just take the child from its parents at the earliest possible age and raise it in a state run dormitory? Or is this happening already? I’d be surprised if such forced kidnapping would find all that much resistance in the general population given what a nuisance children are.
More and more I feel like a Martian given that I was raised by a Mommy and Daddy who would always be there back in the dark ages before total enlightenment.
Um, its already here! A Mum has her baby, after 6 months, her maternity pay ends, she has to go back to work. Aformentioned baby is taken into state care, whoops, sorry; childcare. A childcare facility that has to reach certain conditions before it is licenced. Such things as giving a positive message on diversity, and anti-racism and bigotry.
Perhaps the real issue is that Islam is art-phobic. Mustn’t encourage the development of skills which are Haram, right? This would certainly address that problem, without ever directly naming it as such. I wonder how long it will be before Brussels decides that musical instruments are chemically dangerous, also?
Oh, don’t say it, I do so look forward to the New Year’s Eve concert from Wien!
Oh well, I still have my vinyl records–will see me out.
Do they put wild ideas in a hat , and pull one out , and think ” What can we do to upset every one this week ?” Can I please have a job in that EU Department !!! I am not brainy , but I think that I could do that job easily . Simples !!
If you can unbuckle your straightjacket, the job is yours.
There will be a job vacancy soon, Martin Schulz, the former President of the EU Parliament, is returning to Germany. I think you should apply!
My favorites:
In 2011 theEEC passed a law, which claimed scientists had found no evidence to suggest drinking water stopped dehydration. This meant manufacturers of bottled drinking water were prohibited from labelling their product with anything that would suggest consumption would fight dehydration.
And the rules prohibiting excess curvature of bananas and cucumbers (I think a female EEC bureaucrat came up with one.
Can’t believe that Britian wanted to get away from this fun house.
Making children safe from childhood?
April 1st is still a couple of months away.
About time, where I live the streets are littered with the corpses of children clutching crayons. Brexit, if it ever happens will leave us defenceless.