Argentina Severely Limits Importation of Books — Allegedly Due to Concerns About Lead in the Ink

(Eugene Volokh)

Juan Carols Hidalgo (Cato@Liberty) writes:

The Argentine government has severely restricted the importation of books due to "human health concerns" [in Spanish]. That's right. According to the government, it can be dangerous to "page through" a book that has high lead quantities in its ink. "If you put you finger in your mouth after paging through a book, that can be dangerous," said Juan Carlos Sacco, the vice-president of an industrialist organization that supports the measure.

The government claims that this is not a ban. However, since each buyer has to demonstrate at the airport's customs office that the ink in the purchased book has lead quantities no higher than 0.006% in its chemical composition, the result is that all book imports into the country are stalled….

Thanks to Opher Banarie for the pointer.