EU: Children to Be Banned from Blowing Up Balloons, under EU Safety Rules
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Children are to be banned from taking part in traditional Christmas games, from blowing up balloons to blowing on party whistles, because of new EU safety rules that have just entered into force.

The EU toy safety directive, agreed and implemented by Government, states that balloons must not be blown up by unsupervised children under the age of eight, in case they accidentally swallow them and choke.

Despite having been popular favourites for generations of children, party games including whistles and magnetic fishing games are to be banned because their small parts or chemicals used in making them are decreed to be too risky.

Apparently harmless toys that children have enjoyed for decades are now regarded by EU regulators as posing an unacceptable safety risk.

Whistle blowers, that scroll out into a a long coloured paper tongue when sounded – a party favourite at family Christmas meals – are now classed as unsafe for all children under 14.

The new rules are designed to protect children from the chance that a piece of the whistle could be swallowed and cause choking. » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Sunday, October 09, 2011

German Farmer Denies E.coli Link to Farm's Bean Sprouts
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of a German farm facing an inquiry over a deadly E.coli outbreak has denied that bean sprouts grown at his farm could be to blame.

Klaus Verbeck, managing director of the "Gaertnerhof Bienenbuettel", told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung that no fertilisers are used to produce his bean sprouts and that there are no animals on his organic farm.

German officials said on Sunday his bean sprouts could be behind an E.coli outbreak that has killed 22 and made more than 2,200 people ill across Europe. The farm has been shut, produce recalled and further test results are due on Monday.

"I can't understand how the processes we have here and the accusations could possibly fit together," Mr Verbeck told the paper. "The salad sprouts are grown only from seeds and water, and they aren't fertilised at all. There aren't any animal fertilisers used in other areas on the farm either."

Neither Mr Verbeck, himself a vegetarian, nor anyone else from the farm would talk on Monday to journalists and television crews, including Reuters, outside his farm in the rural town of 6,600 that is located about 70km (40 miles) south of Hamburg.

German officials, under intense pressure to identify the source of the E.coli outbreak, have warned consumers for weeks to avoid tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce, and at one stage said Spanish cucumbers might be the source of the outbreak. The rare E.coli strain has killed 21 Germans and one Swede. » | Monday, June 06, 2011

NEUE OSNABRÜCKER ZEITUNG: Betroffener Betrieb gesperrt – Sprossen aus Niedersachsen wohl Ursache für EHEC-Epidemie: Hannover. Die Experten sind sich ziemlich sicher. Auch wenn der letzte Beweis fehlt: Sprossengemüse aus Niedersachsen ist wohl dafür verantwortlich, dass EHEC grassiert. Ob alle gefährlichen Sprossen bereits verzehrt sind, ist unbekannt. Die Fahndung läuft. » | dpa/NOZ | Sonntag 05. Juni 2011

German Beansprouts 'Likely Cause' of E.coli Outbreak
Test results prompt German state of Lower Saxony to ask people to stop eating the locally grown produce

European E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Restaurant
German scientists are focusing on the northern town of Luebeck as they look for clues about an E.Coli outbreak that has killed 19 people. Video courtesy of Reuters

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A Picture Paints a Thousand Words!
Found near a mosque in Edinburgh. Photo: MailOnline