Dutch Govt. Blocks Sale of Sony Playstation Ones
Posted by vincent on 04 December 2001 - 22:29 · 5 comments & 458 views
About the Author
Full name: Unknown
Forum name: vincent
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
Full name: Unknown
Forum name: vincent
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
Slashdot It!
Submit to reddit
Submit to blinklist
Bookmark on del.icio.us
Add to furl
Share on Facebook
Add to Windows Live
Add to Google
Sony's new Playstation Two consoles were not involved.
The government said in a statement that Dutch customs and the state's health inspection service IHM had discovered the consoles and 800,000 accessories -- estimated to be worth $162 million -- during an inspection of a distribution center in Tilburg, a town in the south-central Netherlands.
The case would be studied by the Dutch public prosecution office, it said.
"The cables attached to devices belonging to the (consoles) contained much too high values of cadmium... The cables, which were examined, contained values of cadmium varying between three and more than 20 times the allowed value," the government said.
A spokesman for the Dutch Ministry for Environment said that large concentrations of cadmium were banned in the Netherlands -- in line with European Union policy -- to prevent it from entering the food chain.
"Cadmium damages the kidneys," spokesman Joost Kehrer told Reuters.
Within the European Union no goods are allowed to be imported which contain more than 0.01 percent cadmium, he said.
In reaction, Sony confirmed that the Playstation consoles had been impounded by the Dutch government.
"But the health risk is for incorrect disposal (of the cable) only," David Reeves, Sony Computer Entertainment senior vice president of sales and marketing Europe, said. "We have reservations about the interpretation of the law by the Dutch authorities," he added.
Reeves said that Sony was already replacing the peripherals and had started to ship the Playstation One consoles again.