US Customs & Border Patrol Protecting America From Chocolate Toy Eggs (And Charging You For The Privilege)
from the feeling-safer? dept
We're still waiting for a good explanation of why Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement group is involved in internet copyright issues that have nothing to do with either immigration or customs enforcement, but it appears that those sharp border patrol folks are really doing their job protecting Americans from... chocolate toy eggs. Tim Good alerted us to this story of how the US Border Patrol did a random search on a Canadian woman's car as she crossed the border into Minnesota, and told her she had illegal contraband in her car in the form of a Kinder Surprise Egg. I'd never heard of this before, but apparently it's a confection with a chocolate shell and a toy inside.According to US border patrol, they told her that it was a choking hazard and on the list of "prohibited items" in the US, though, as the folks at Reason (reasonably) point out:
A gander at the image... suggests you'd have to be awfully intent on getting that chocolate into your system not to notice the huge, bright yellow plastic capsule inside.Take a look for yourself:
Is this really the best use of border patrol?
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Filed Under: border patrol, customs, homeland security, kinder surprise egg
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Wonder Ball
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Maybe she is from San Francisco (I know, she isn't, but.) It is illegal to sell Happy Meals in San Francisco with toys in them now.
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the milk only has some bad stuff in it but nothing that teenage girls dont need them selves, and everyone else can use most of it; so i give it a pass
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YUm!!
I just wish there was more chocolate and less toy... but kids might not agree lol.
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Re: YUm!!
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Unbelievable
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But of course! Well, at least on the northern border! Just think of those brave guys at the border, risking their lives, protecting us from all that hazmat stuff, having to store it at their facilities (for a measly $250)!
I thought I have read about those chocolate eggs before right here too. Anyways, I was aware of those, although have never seen them myself (kudos to the US border patrol!)
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Ummm oh.. wait think I may have been thinking about something else there..... sorry.
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http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php?title=question_of_the_day&more=1&c =1&tb=1&pb=1
but 25,000 in 2,000 seizures in 2009.. feel safer?
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http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/highlights/kinder_eggs.xml
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http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/archives/2008_news_releases/june_2008/06 122008_2.xml
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But now I know not to have any in my car when traveling to Detroit.
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For those who have never seen one, the capsule is about the size of those short bottles of white out. If you accidentally swallow that trying to gorge on the chocolate egg, its probably for the best and you're doing the human race a favour.
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At what point
That's what I find so odd.
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Because folks use them for smuggling.. ?
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Re: Because folks use them for smuggling.. ?
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Re: Because folks use them for smuggling.. ?
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Seriously. All you'd have to do is figure out a way for it to come with a minorly addictive videogame and it'd be like a tiny packaged weekend....
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Re: Re: Re: Because folks use them for smuggling.. ?
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The foreign hordes...
The last thing the USA needs is those snowbacks coming down here with their drugs, terrorism, and anchor candies, sucking up our superior social services and takin all our jerbs!!
Would you want the Pledge of Allegiance to end with eh?
I say keep those snowbacks out of our great country, where are the minutemen when you need em?
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Snowbacks? That's a new one for me, we'll just continue to call you 'merican's and call it even. :)
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We have smarties, but they're horrible. Any self-respecting sugar junkie sticks with Nerds and Skittles. Chocolate is only good as an aphrodisiac with your gf....
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Smarties aren't bad, but rease's peices are where it's at.
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http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100609/0126569748.shtml
"the Ce De Candy company has obsessively kept the real Smarties out of the US for years"
You callin Mike a liar? ;)
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The number of crazy looks I got in the states when I mentioned Smarties and chocolate in the same sentence... I had to educate so many people about the joys of Canadian candy.
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http://www.amazon.com/Smarties-Bulk-40-pound-case/dp/B000VI5BB4
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"Chocolate is only good as an aphrodisiac with your gf...."
I'm confused! It's a bad day for me.
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"Chocolate is only good as an aphrodisiac with your gf....""
Nah, only added that last part because the two candies I listed that are good aren't chocolate....
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They are so much yummier than M&Ms.
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Kinder Eggs are awesome
I was wondering why these things weren't in the US. Thank you for protecting me from the evil egg and leaving me with just peanut butter snikers bars in the impulse isle.
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/Actually got a METAL car from a Kinder Egg once.
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I used to bring Coffee Crisp and Smarties for the other Canadians at my college after weekend trips to my parents' place.
I suppose I'm glad now that I never tried to bring Kinder Surprise.
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Are you alluding to corruption?
You know, just because lawmakers get financial contributions that exceed the median life-time income of Americans, from the same interests that these laws impact, does not imply any wrong doing.
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These have unfortunately been banned since 1938
They can be found in various small shops across the US, however, mostly because the owners bring them in themselves and don't know or don't care about the ban.
Here's the Kinder Surprise Egg story.
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Re: These have unfortunately been banned since 1938
On January 10, 2011, it was reported that a Kinder egg was seized from a woman's car during a random inspection while entering the United States from Canada. She was informed that bringing the egg into the United States could result in a $300 fine.[3] Seizures such as that one, and even the prohibition of the product itself, are frequently cited on political blogs and web forums as an example of a "ridiculous" application of law. It is seen as an example of "liberal" intrusion upon personal liberty.[6] The rationale for not banning the product also takes the form that deaths have been too few for it to be considered an actual danger, as well as the argument that since there are worse dangers that are not regulated, this particular danger should not be regulated.[7]
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>that since there are worse dangers that are not regulated, this particular danger should not be regulated.[7]
I bet Kinder eggs don't come with 30 shot clips.
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laughing at that one.
And for the kinder eggs, yes, fairly prevalent here and a very nice treat for the kiddies. But then, there was a time when the world thought brownies were safe.
I wonder if the US has banned jujubes too? We couldn't find any on our last trip down - a couple of candy shops we asked at eyed us up and down like we were trying to rob them.
Is there a public list of contraband? The last list we found was a booklet on what you can't bring across the border and I don't recall seeing any "kinder eggs" on the list. I'd hate to have tried to bring a couple of kinder eggs for my friend's grandbabies without knowing I was doing some so drastically wrong. How sad is that?
Polkaroo...big green thing with polkadots :)
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She is LUCKY
Hazardous Item (Toy inside)
Sugar embargo
Cuba (sugar can be from Cuba)
She is lucky she did not end up at Gitmo
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Heard about them in a Cracked article
http://www. cracked.com/article_17093_10-awesome-ads-for-traumatizing-children.html
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When?
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I love amerika
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Comment
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You must have heard about this one
"The only exception is for a one-armed traveler, in which case the blade must be no longer than three inches."
So any one arm bandit can walk through customs with a prosthetic in which is a spring-loaded is concealed? Nice!
"What the fuck?", I hear you ask.
Rewind the tape back to the Civil War, and you discover that one-armed amputees at the time had a fine choice in retractable cutlery.
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How to do the right thing and the wrong thing at the same time.
So it is a part of customs to protect their borders, from imports.
All the same, its very sad they have to take 'candy off a baby'. !!
Kinder Surprises, are very popular here in Australia.
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Re: How to do the right thing and the wrong thing at the same time.
Though I would suggest that we don't send vegemite. It seems that it too has been banned, so they will never know the joy of eating vegemite off a spoon *weg*
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Re: How to do the right thing and the wrong thing at the same time.
Unlike US counterparts, these treats are made with real sugar, and taste quite good!
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Maybe they're protecting us from obesity. Or, if it was made in China, maybe they're protecting us from lead poisoning.
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Perhaps being better informed would make the story a little more clear?
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You can also see recalls in the past, such as:
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content3/news3/chocolate.pr.recall.html
According to Wikipedia (not a great source) "Since 1991, at least 7 children worldwide have died of choking after swallowing the toy inside the Kinder egg".
Not huge numbers, but some examples.
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Pic is wrong
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Re: Pic is wrong
I mean, LOOK at all the things that have been banned lately, and what do those laws do? N O T H I N G! NOTHING FOR SAFETY!
They just piss people off and make it MORE CLEAR that 'laws' are not 'laws' all the time..... basically, that some laws you SHOULD ignore.
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also
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Idiocy reigns
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What?
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Found the FDA regulation that bans these yummy eggs
--
Sec. 402. [21 USC §342] Adulterated Food
Note: revisions were posted to this section in December 2007.
A food shall be deemed to be adulterated
(a) Poisonous, insanitary, or deleterious ingredients.
...snip...
(b) Absence, substitution, or addition of constituents.
...snip...
(c) Color additives. If it is, or it bears or contains, a color additive which is unsafe within the meaning of section 721(a).
...snip...
(d) Confectionery containing alcohol or nonnutritive substance. If it is confectionery, and
(1) has partially or completely imbedded therein any nonnutritive object, except that this subparagraph shall not apply in the case of any nonnutritive object if, in the judgment of the Secretary as provided by regulations, such object is of practical functional value to the confectionery product and would not render the product injurious or hazardous to health;
(2) bears or contains any alcohol ...snip...;
or
(3) bears or contains any nonnutritive substance, except that this subparagraph shall not apply to a safe nonnutritive substance which is in or on confectionery by reason of its use for some practical functional purpose in the manufacture, packaging, or storage of such confectionery if the use of the substance does not promote deception of the consumer or otherwise result in adulteration or misbranding in violation of any provision of this Act, except that the Secretary may, for the purpose of avoiding or resolving uncertainty as to the application of this subparagraph, issue regulations allowing or prohibiting the use of particular nonnutritive substances.
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As a matter of fact, if you know where to look, you can find them all over here in the US, too. You should look around Mike. They are actually quite good and great for little kids (within reason)!
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