10 August 2026, Quezon City. The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition urged the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to strengthen surveillance and screening of unauthorized shipments of popular but potentially hazardous squishy toys.
The group called for BOC’s intervention to prevent counterfeit China-made squishy toys intercepted or seized by American, European, and Asian product regulators from being diverted to the Philippines and getting into the hands of Filipino children.
“We request our customs officials to prevent squishy toys that have failed product safety and labeling requirements in other countries and subsequently been banned from entering our ports,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition. “Intensified surveillance and screening of unauthorized toy imports will protect our children from being harmed by these unsafe and unlabelled toys.”
Various governments have taken action to tackle the proliferation of counterfeit squishy toys, which pose chemical, choking, and even burning hazards to children drawn to soft, squeezable, and stretchable toys shaped like food, animals, and cartoon characters.
According to a Consumer Safety Alert issued by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on August 5, the agency “has identified 55 shipments of violative squishy toys at US ports and worked with US Customs and Border Protection to prevent 355,683 units from entering the country.”
On August 7 and 8, Safety Gate (the EU rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products) published five alerts or notifications from the governments of Lithuania and Spain ordering the ban on marketing and withdrawal from the market of squishy toys with “small parts that can easily detach,” warning “small children may put them in the mouth and choke.”
UK, a non-EU member state, seized over 500,000 units of squishy toys last June for lacking safety markings, safety warnings, usage instructions, and manufacturer and importer details. Some products tested positive for “hazardous chemicals that can be discharged into the air, causing eye, skin, or lung irritation.”
In Thailand, the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) recently seized 19,665 substandard squishy toys mostly made from polyurethane and low-grade foam, which may pose choking and chemical risks associated with toxic phthalates and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
The EcoWaste Coalition has echoed the warnings made by the CPSC and other regulatory agencies urging consumers not to buy and use counterfeit and substandard squishy toys, such as those “that have an unknown manufacturer, lack required safety information, have a strong chemical odor, feel oily or unusually sticky, are leaking, or can be torn apart easily.”
According to the CPSC: “Squishy toys can also become dangerously hot when left in direct sunlight, inside a hot vehicle, near a heater, or in another high-temperature environment. Heated toys may burst and release material that can cause severe burns. Because the filling may be sticky and adhere to the skin, it can continue transferring heat and worsen the injury.”
On July 28, the EcoWaste Coalition wrote to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the influx of unauthorized and substandard squishy toys in the local market.
“In the interest of protecting children’s health from potentially dangerous toys, we request the FDA to issue the necessary public health warnings and to take the necessary action to promote compliance with toy safety and labeling regulations,” the group said.
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References:
https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2026/Consumer-Safety-Alert-CPSC-Warns-Consumers-About-Fake-and-Counterfeit-Squishy-Toys-Reiterates-Warning-About-Serious-Burn-Hazards
https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate-alerts/screen/webReport/alertDetail/10118539?lang=en
https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate-alerts/screen/webReport/alertDetail/10118506?lang=en
https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate-alerts/screen/webReport/alertDetail/10118519?lang=en
https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate-alerts/screen/webReport/alertDetail/10118502?lang=en
https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate-alerts/screen/webReport/alertDetail/10118504?lang=en
http://ecowastecoalition.blogspot.com/2026/06/warning-out-on-squishy-toys-as-uk.html
http://ecowastecoalition.blogspot.com/2026/08/ecowaste-coalition-lauds-thai-action-vs.html
