| Gennady Onishchenko requires his subordinates to carefully monitor children's products The Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare intends to seriously take control of baby food and toys. Yesterday, the country's chief state sanitary doctor, head of Rospotrebnadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, announced that he had recently signed several resolutions instructing local service employees to more closely monitor the quality of imported children's goods, and especially food for schoolchildren.
According to him, 82 programs have already been adopted in the constituent entities of the federation aimed at preventing diseases caused by a lack of vitamins and microelements in school meals. At the same time, Mr. Onishchenko noted that, despite high-profile cases of mass poisoning of children, the general situation in school canteens today cannot be called critical. According to Rospotrebnadzor, over the past year, “the coverage of students with hot meals has increased” - today 62.6% of Russian schoolchildren receive it. The head of the service believes that there is a positive trend in the hygienic characteristics of ready-made meals, both in terms of their safety and nutritional value. At the same time, Mr. Onishchenko claims, monitoring the health status of schoolchildren shows that children’s home diet often does not correspond to the principles of healthy nutrition, in particular, there is a lack of proteins, vitamins, and iodine-containing microelements. But most schoolchildren in their families receive saturated fat and sugar in excess. In addition, 75% of students suffer from physical inactivity, which, coupled with poor nutrition, leads to excess weight and more serious diseases, such as metabolic disorders.
Gennady Onishchenko considers children's toys to be no less important for health. In his opinion, the situation in this market has deteriorated sharply over the past two years. Thus, in 2004, about 61% of toys withdrawn from sale by sanitary doctors did not pass laboratory tests, and the vast majority of them were imported (mainly Chinese). The main complaint of doctors is that the manufacturer exceeds the permissible toxicity values of toys for the content of formaldehyde and phenol, as well as exceeding the level of sound emitted by the toys. The new document “On increasing the efficiency of control and supervisory measures over the production and sale of children's toys” should, according to Mr. Onishchenko, increase the effectiveness of state supervision over the implementation of sanitary legislation requirements by toy manufacturers and sellers. In addition, Rospotrebnadzor intends to oblige its own divisions in the regions to more carefully check imported domestic toys that go on sale. The corresponding order has already been sent to the heads of territorial departments. Anna ShPAK |
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