The Food and Drug Administration (FA) warned the public against purchasing and using "unauthorized" glow-in-the-dark lato-lato toys, a product that it said that could pose potential hazards to health due to a lack of expert authorization.
In its Advisory 2023-1299 issued last Tuesday, the FDA said the certaina lato-lato toy, being offered online by a Shoppee store, have no valid certificate of product notice (CPN).
The agency said it is illegal to manufacture, import, export, sell, offer for sale, distribute, transfer, non-consumer use, promote, advertise, or sponsor any health product without the required FDA clearance.
According to the FDA, potential dangers may arise from components that are not permitted to be included in a toy, such as, but not limited to:
- endocrine disruption
- reproductive effects
- development effects
The public was also warned about the possibility of injury, choking, or suffocation caused by its small or broken bits.
The children toy lato-lato, also known as "clackers," "clankers," or "ker-bangers", is a two plastic spheres on a single string which generates a loud clicking sound when swung up and down.
It first became popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The toy rebound its popularity in Indonesia and the Philippines in late 2022 and 2023.
