Stampdown on slime
Kids' novelty sludge pulled after parent complains
07 January, 18:21
(ANSA) - Ragusa, January 7 - Italy on Thursday
stamped down on a slimy novelty product that has been proving a
big hit with Italian children.The health ministry ordered the Milan-based Gedis Edicola company to take its Skifidol ('nasty idol) Slime off the market across Italy after a Sicilian prosecutor presented tests on the sludge that kids all over the country have been smearing on a range of collectible characters.
A batch of the slime was seized in September when a concerned parent complained.
The head of the tax police in the Sicilian province of Modica, Colonel Francesco Fallica, said they would make sure Gedis complies with the order.
"The measure we have taken is innovative because it orders producers to take damaging goods off the market at their expense," Fallica said.
"We will stand guard to see that happens".
The Modica prosecutor, Francesco Puleja, unsuccessfully applied for a court order to ban the slime after the September seizure.
A judge ruled the product's warning label that it was unsuitable for children under three was sufficient.
But Colonel Fallica said new tests had persuaded the health ministry that the product posed a danger because particles might lodge in the nose or lungs.
He paid tribute to the "classic diligence of the good father" who came forward in September.
Gedis insists its products are safe, especially in the light of safeguards put into place after an original line of 'scratch and sniff' cards was changed when 16 children and a teacher were hospitalised in Piedmont in March.
The elementary kids had been playing with the collector's cards featuring blubbery pink monsters called Skifidol Puzz (Nasty Idol smell) when they began complaining of burning eyes and throats.
The cards, which when scratched released nauseating smells such as vomit, rotten eggs and dirty nappies, featured characters including Antonietta Toiletta, Sandrone Vomitone, Paolino Pannolino (Nappy) and Yuri Tantisiluri (Multi-fart).
The line had a massive appeal with the pre-teen and teen market, especially fans of the Harry Potter movies where two brothers sell joke products including Fainting Fancies, Fever Fudge, Nosebleed Nougat, Puking Pastilles and U-No-Poo.
The Piedmont victims were only held in hospital briefly as health authorities tried to see if the cards actually caused the symptoms.
One theory was that the incident was the result of 'auto-suggestion' after one child felt ill because of a strong smell.
But newsagents across the country were told to stop selling the cards and Gedis said it was rebranding its cards without odours.
It later launched the slime to cover statuettes of some of the new characters to meet a huge demand from kids miffed by not having odd-smelling stuff to swap with schoolmates.
The new characters include Bruce Pus, Alberto Semiaperto, Augusto Disgusto, Gustavo Lacacca, Dolores De Panza, Caravaggio Tatuaggio, Achille Millescintille and Tommaso Sadomaso.
Officina Comunicazione, Gedis's agent, stresses all its products repeatedly come out clean in toxin tests.
photo: some of the cards pulled in March
