It’s been a while since we’ve covered the Reason TV Nanny of the Month Award, and in the intervening time, it’s gone global. This time our friends Ted Balaker and Meredith Bragg cast their eyes overseas, to Australia and a drinking “license” system, to the Danes and their “fat tax,” and finally to the EU, for a series of regulations on children’s activities:
Fat taxes are all the rage in Europe. After the skinny Danes slapped a tax on foods high in saturated fats, other European pols—including British Prime Minister David Cameron—have considered following suit.
And in Australia’s Northern Territory, they’re bringing alcohol prohibition back—incrementally, that is—by barring problem drinkers from buying grog. What could possibly go wrong!
But in the first-ever Nanny of the Month Global Edition, top dishonors go to the European Union’s control freaks who have cracked down on free-range kids, slapping regulations on everything from baby rattlers (which have brand-new noise restrictions) to blowing up balloons (not to be done by tots under age eight!).
I understand the safety concerns for balloons with very young toddlers, as there is a choking hazard involved when they burst, but … age eight? Noise restrictions on rattles? How noisy could a baby rattle be, and what harm does it do when it exceeds the EU’s threshold? The US handles this more sensibly by encouraging manufacturers to list the intended age threshold and allow parents to make the decisions on what kind of toys are appropriate (as well as how much noise they want to hear). I’ll give the EU this much credit … they really know how to put the nanny in “nanny states.”
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