Yo-Yo ball safety in doubt

The Minister of Consumer Affairs, Judith Tizard, has issued a public caution over a children’s toy, the ‘Yo-Yo Ball’, and asked the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to investigate its safety, after the toy was recently banned in the United Kingdom. Yo-Yo Balls are low-priced toys, a little smaller than a tennis ball, made from a soft rubber material, and filled with a liquid. They are covered in small nodules and have a stretchy rubber strap with a finger loop at the end. The material is highly elastic and can stretch from 250mm, in its resting state, to over one and a half metres. "I am concerned that the design of the toy encourages children to swing it round their heads to see how far it stretched, or to lasso objects," says Judith Tizard. Between 30,000 and 45,000 Yo-Yo Balls have been imported recently into New Zealand. They first appeared on the domestic market in November 2002, but most seem to have been sold in February/March this year. "The Yo-Yo Ball can pose a hazard if it is whirled and the extended strap wraps around a child's throat. They can wrap very tightly and be difficult to remove. Instances of this occurring have been reported in the UK, France, Switzerland and the USA. As a result, the product has been banned in the UK, and other countries are considering options for action.