Posted on 07/19/2012 2:13:04 PM PDT by xp38
VANCOUVER — Chris Sweeney and his husband were driving home to Seattle after a recent trip to Vancouver when they were stopped at the border for more than two hours and threatened with thousands of dollars in fines for dangerous contraband in the trunk of their car.
Their suspicious cargo? Half a dozen Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, each filled with a tiny plastic toy — a childhood favourite in Canada but an illegal choking hazard in the United States.
“I thought (the American border guard) had done his search and hadn’t found anything, and he was joking with us,” Sweeney, 35, told The Canadian Press in an interview Wednesday.
“He wasn’t joking.”
The popular German chocolate eggs are not sold in the U.S. because they are considered a choking hazard. They are also banned because the treats are considered adulterated food by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Sweeney said a border guard told him and his husband that they could be fined $2,500 per egg, and then ordered them to head to the port of entry, where they waited for more than two hours.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
Sleep well Freepers your border guards are on the job sort of preventing (if you read the the whole article the guardians eventually let the eggs enter anyway after detaining the couple for hours) chocolate eggs with little toys inside them from entering the good old USA.
Don’t believe everything you read. There’s always more to the story.
Him and his husband?
Him and his husband........eggs in the trunk. Wow.
Seattle.....is gay marriage legal in Washington state?
Him and his husband........eggs in the trunk. Wow.
I wonder if paper towel rolls, gerbils, and matches are also involved.
Not yet. The legislation passed a bill allowing it, and Gregoire signed it into law in Feb, but the people rose up and now it's up for referendum in November.
hmm....doesn’t seem to be a typo so maybe even if no papers or maybe from some other jurisdictioin they call themselves husband and husband or whatever.
Do you eggs have gerbils in them?
Do you eggs have gerbils in them?
I love those eggs. When I go Europe I buy them just to see what is inside. Can’t stand chocolate so I usually toss the egg itself.
to all.....I didn’t notice the homosexual angle until after I posted so I apologize for my now gay thread. That said there is another article linked about a woman from getting her kinder eggs seized by US customs. She subsequently got a letter from them saying if she wished to contest the seizure she would be charged $250 to store the seized eggs until the case was settled. Apparently a lot of kinder eggs have been seized over the years.
Not in this case. They are illegal in the US for the very reason mentioned. Dumping the packaging is the best move.
I guess they're from somewhere else, and were just vacationing up that way. The Pacific Northwest has perfect weather this time of year and is a great destination.
The problem is not the border guards, the problem if there is one, lies with the Consumer Products Safety commission.
They wrote the regulation and the customs guy is enforcing it.
Then there is Congress that likely had something to say earlier about choking hazards
Chocolate eggs, no less. :-)
>> Can’t stand chocolate
When I first met you I said to myself, “There’s somethin’ about that boy that ain’t quite right...”
:-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.