Regulator: Not doing its Job.

This is an example of the Australian Regulators not doing their jobs.

I came across this item in the hands of a four year old. It is a birthday present, the most innocent of items a gift to a child bought in Australia. One would assume that our regulatory system would keep our children safe, after all we cannot even go fishing at the moment due to our regulators.

This innocent item is a torch. It looks like a torch it behaves like a torch it lights up like a torch and the four year old loves it, but as we all know combine a torch with a four year old`s and they pull them apart. Yes if you unscrew the end of the torch you discover a treasure that any four year old would love, Where the batteries in a normal torch are found there is a big pink lolly pop and as any four year old would do they unscrew the cap and immediately suck on the lolly pop.

Well no harm in that one would think, but go beyong the image of the yong child innocently sucking on a lolly pop and go to the image of a baby sucking on a battery. Four year olds cohabit with younger children and the messaging they receive from their elders teaches them what to do, So a baby seeing a four year old unscrewing the back of a torch and pulling out a lolly pop where the batteries are normally housed can figure out it is ok to suck on a battery.

Now to go a little further with this innocent toy that our regulators, Border Force The local health constabulary and food standards Australia have missed is the fact that the torch/lolly pop does actually contain a real live battery and I am sure that an inquisitive four year old can get access to that battery.