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August 7, 2008
German Nanny State Bans Kinder Eggs
Every year millions of Kinder eggs are sold in Germany — chocolate eggs with toys inside, some of which have to be assembled with the help of a little instruction sheet, encouraging kids to develop their brains instead of gawking at the television. But not for much longer: the Nanny State has declared them harmful.
No one has ever been hurt by a Kinder egg. Yet bureauweenies in a parliamentary health commission have decreed that children are too stupid to tell the difference between toys and food, which should therefore not be sold together, even though the toy part is enclosed in a capsule.
There's more:
The commission is also looking at forcing youngsters to wear cycle helmets and making schoolbooks lighter so children don't injure themselves or tire themselves out carrying them around all day.
At least we don't have to worry about a Fourth Reich. Imagine the squishy-soft products of Germany's Nanny State trying to conquer even France.
On a tip from Matthew B.
Posted by Van Helsing at August 7, 2008 6:45 AM
Comments
Somehow I get the feeling that this is less about the "Health Commission" addressing a matter of public safety & more about a bureaucratic entity trying to extend it's tendrils further and further... Unless there's something wrong with the food part (salmonella?), or the toy part (defective/dangerous?), and considering that no one has ever been hurt by one to date, what else could be the purpose? Unless people challenge these bureaucratic dictates, they stand & make a precedent. One by one, creeping slowly, they advance the power of this agency. Multiply that by the number of such agencies in the German government and it get's really scary.
Posted by: hiram13pm at August 7, 2008 7:15 AM
Well, at least this kind of madness could never happen in America.
They are sold all over the world excluding the United States, where the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits embedding "non-nutritive items" in confections. Additionally, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall on the eggs in 1997.
Posted by: Ian from the EUSSR at August 7, 2008 7:25 AM
It's a wonder any of us survived this long, isn't it? We didn't sit in car seats from birth to 10 years old (how humiliating is that?), we didn't wear helmets riding bicycles or skateboards, we had actual playground equipment! We watched violent cartoons with politically incorrect images and characterizations (anyone else remember the black woman in "Tom and Jerry", whose voice has since been changed to a white woman?), we played violent video games; hell, we even played with toy guns. Some of us even had real guns - if your father was a hunter, he probably taught you how to shoot when you were old enough.
We fell and scraped our knees. We broke the occasional bone. We took a fastball to the small of the back (I can still feel it). We took a turn on our bikes too fast and wiped out on some gravel. We carried books for 6 subjects home on some nights. We organized our own games and activities (gasp!).
I don't mean for this to sound like the old "6 miles to school uphill both ways and we liked it" line. It's just that I'm not that old (34), and it wasn't that long ago that children were allowed to be children and handle the occasional "situation." Kids are tougher than we remember - we made it, and they'll make it too. If they never have to deal with the real world as children, they won't be able to as adults either.
Posted by: CoderInCrisis at August 7, 2008 7:29 AM
In our county school system, one sixth grader was writing a math report and was not allowed to use the term "die" to refer to the singular of dice, lest he incite another Columbine. He was instead obligated to use the term, "six-sided polyhedral random number generator."
Lunatics are running the asylums, and idiots are running the education systems. How can conservatives take them back is the question.
Posted by: V the K at August 7, 2008 7:34 AM
For some reason, hearing about the pussification of the Teutons isn't bothering me that much.
Posted by: mega at August 7, 2008 7:54 AM
hiram13pm: It's almost always about government entities controlling people. I can still remember kids from school who were that way. They "grew up" (if you want to call it that) and now they spend their lives trying to control others.
Ian from the EUSSR: Ouch! Yes, we have our share of moonbattery here, as well.
CoderInCrisis: This is how we learned what to do and what not to do, with acceptable consequences. We learned not to go too fast on gravel on a bike, then when we are older, we remember and apply that lesson. Without these small consequences (knee scrapes, etc) people will learn with big consequences (dying in an accident). Sad.
V the K: One word: Homeschool. (or is that two words: Home School? :)
Mega: Thanks for the new word Teutons.
Posted by: Lyle at August 7, 2008 8:14 AM
V the K:
Please tell me that's not true!?
Posted by: Ed at August 7, 2008 8:15 AM
Ed --- I'm not kidding. It wasn't my kid, but it's from a family in my church.
OT - The always classy PETA exploits Greyhound Beheading Tragedy.
Posted by: V the K at August 7, 2008 8:27 AM
Next thing you know, they will be confiscating our bags of Cracker Jacks.
Posted by: on-the-rocks at August 7, 2008 9:14 AM
They want the Cracker Jacks anyways, O-T-R... not because of the dangerous toys inside, but because of the dietary dangers...
ZOMG!!! We can't tolerate fatties anymore!
They don't think we can view through the thin veil of fake concern for our nation's health and see that it's all about taking control on every level.
Posted by: Thulsa Doom at August 7, 2008 11:04 AM
