Inventor of the Gummee glove, Jodine Boothby, has been fighting back against the consequences of a negative Which? safety report which was published earlier this week.
According to the consumer body, six of the most popular teething toys failed its standard safety tests, which had been designed to see whether any parts of the toy could either detach or potentially choke a small child.
One of these was the Gummee glove, which it said failed the tests on both counts. As a result of the Which? report, the Gummee glove was removed from sale in both Argos and Amazon.
Over the past few days Jodine has taken Which? to task, recording every step of the ongoing campaign on Gummee’s social media channels as she set out to prove Gummee’s exemplary safety records and procedures and the inaccuracy of the Which? report.
Which? was unable to reveal which lab the tests had been conducted at, so Jodine sent some samples off to be priority tested by SGS, one of the world’s leading safety labs. SGS has already issued safety certificates which confirm that Gummee glove passes the tests that Which? claimed it had failed. Since then, photographic evidence appears to show that the Which? tests were conducted improperly.
Gummee is taking the matter extremely seriously and will continue to prove its innocence by carrying out a further risk assessment and audit, as well as notifying manufacturers to be aware of any potential issues.
“I am very disappointed with Which? and surprised at the authority they appear to have without having produced the proper paperwork or proof of testing,” Jodine told PreschoolNews.net. “However, I’m so pleased to have had the support of nursery retailer JoJo Maman Bebe, as well as Amazon for reinstating our listings.”
She continued: “We have had so much support from so many other amazing nursery brands as well, such as Cara Sayer from Snoozeshade, Sara Keel from Babycup, Kate Bell from Zipusin, Helen from Cuddledry, Jane Johnstone… not to mention hundreds of other small brands who have stepped in to help in any way they can at a time of intense stress and worry. We are so overwhelmed and feel so humbled.”
“An Instagram shoutout from Stacey Solomon has also been extremely helpful in giving us a bit of a boost when we most needed it,” Jodine added. “The response from our social media fans and followers has been absolutely incredible.”
