How do you challenge the safety of a product?

[March152013]

While on holiday recently we bought our son a bubble blower which works by smothering the end of a device with bubble liquid which the child then blows into to produce bubbles.
Our son loved it but today I noticed a white dry residue in his face ands where the liquid had dried...it was like pva glue and peeled off his skin. Everyone knows that pva if left on the skin can be an irritant but then it occurred to me what if he’s breathing in the liquid while taking a breath to blow the device, surely this cannot be safe.
We’ve thrown the packaging away but after googling it the only warning is that it’s not safe for under 5s. Is there a way to challenge this further?

Are you just talking about a plastic stick with a circle on the end which you dip into bubble liquid? If he's getting it all over his hands and face and not washing it off after then it will dry and go flaky. That's what it does. Bubble blowers have been around for decades. This isn't a new thing.

Bubble solution is normally soap, glycerin or corn starch type ingredients, maybe plastics if fancy long lasting ones. Unlikely to be pva. Do you have the ingredients? Which ones are you concerned about. Did they have the relevant safety information. I wouldn't consider then anymore dangerous than a bubble bath or playing with washing up liquid.