Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, 10589 Berlin, Germany.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 May 7;16(9):1599. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16091599.
For consumer protection across borders, the European Union has established the rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products (RAPEX), with the overarching goal of preventing or limiting the sale and use of non-food products that present a serious risk for the health and safety of consumers. In our study, we comprehensively analyzed RAPEX notifications associated with products posing a microbiological risk from 2005 through 2017. Additional information was retrieved from national laboratory reports. A total of 243 microbiologically harmful consumer products triggered notifications in 23 out of 31 participating countries. About half of the products were reported by Spain, Germany, and Italy. Notifications mainly included contaminated toys, cosmetics, and chemical products. Depending on the notifying country, measures taken to prevent the spread of dangerous products were predominantly ordered either by public authorities or economic operators. The interval between microbiological diagnosis and the date of RAPEX notifications considerably varied between RAPEX member states, ranging between a few days and 82 weeks. The nature and extent of RAPEX usage substantially differed among member states, calling for harmonization and optimization. Slight modifications to RAPEX could help to systematically record microbiological hazards, which may improve the assessment of potential health risks due to contaminated non-food products.
为了实现跨境消费者保护，欧盟建立了非食品类快速预警系统（RAPEX），其首要目标是防止或限制销售和使用对消费者健康和安全构成严重风险的非食品类产品。在我们的研究中，我们全面分析了 2005 年至 2017 年与微生物风险产品相关的 RAPEX 通知。从国家实验室报告中检索到了其他信息。在 31 个参与国中，有 23 个国家共报告了 243 种微生物有害的消费产品触发了通知。大约一半的产品是由西班牙、德国和意大利报告的。通知主要包括受污染的玩具、化妆品和化学产品。根据通报国的不同，预防危险产品传播的措施主要由公共当局或经济经营者下令采取。微生物诊断与 RAPEX 通知日期之间的间隔在 RAPEX 成员国之间差异很大，范围从几天到 82 周不等。成员国之间 RAPEX 的使用性质和程度有很大差异，需要协调和优化。对 RAPEX 进行轻微修改可以帮助系统地记录微生物危害，从而有助于评估受污染非食品产品对潜在健康风险的影响。
