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Italy

Italian Police Seize Trove Of Toxic Bubble Soap Toys Shaped Like Gelato

LA REPUBBLICA, CORIERRE DELLA SERA (Italy)

Worldcrunch

LA SPEZIA - Sounds like a classic recipe for summer fun: little kids, bubbles, ice cream cones....Chinese bacteria?

A huge stock of allegedly toxic made-in-China bubble soap toys has been seized by Italian Police, Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica report. Italian children, to whom the products were aimed, risked being exposed to infections from a so-called "opportunistic" bacterium hidden in the liquid, authorities say.

In late June, a container of 35,214 colorful bubble soap packages, for a total value of 100,000 euros, arrived from China in the northern Italian port of La Spezia. Police seized the toys, which are in the shapes of ice cream cones and billy clubs (see video), and sent them for testing to the Italian Environment Protection Agency.

Results show the bubble soap contained 380,000 times the tolerable upper intake level of the bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause serious infections, Corriere della Sera reports. Other, similar shipments may be in circulation, and Italian authorities recommend anyone who is in possession of objects in these shapes destroy them immediately, or have them tested. The Florentine businessman who'd ordered the toys has been arrested for importing illicit materials.

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Society

How I Made Homeschooling Work For My Mexican Family

Educating children at home is rarely accepted in Mexico, but Global Press Journal reporter Aline Suárez del Real's family has committed to daily experiential learning.

How I Made Homeschooling Work For My Mexican Family

Cosme Damián Peña Suárez del Real and his grandmother, Beatriz Islas, make necklaces and bracelets at their home in Tecámac, Mexico.

ALINE SUÁREZ DEL REAL/GPJ MEXICO
Aline Suárez del Real

TECÁMAC, MEXICO — Fifteen years ago, before I became a mother, I first heard about someone who did not send her child to school and instead educated him herself at home. It seemed extreme. How could anyone deny their child the development that school provides and the companionship of other students? I wrote it off as absurd and thought nothing more of it.

Today, my 7-year-old son does not attend school. Since August of last year, he has received his education at home, a practice known as home-schooling.

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