MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina promises to reopen book imports: ‘lead poisoning ink argument too heavy’

Moreno, “the man that doesn’t give explanations”

Argentina’s restrictions on books imports based on the ‘lead content of the ink in which they are published’ and the fact the Argentine government described the implementation as a “safeguard for human health” echoed worldwide, and official sources have now promised the situation will “be back to normal” in a few weeks.

According to Argentina’s Book Chamber sources from the Domestic Trade Secretariat said that all foreign made publications will soon be cleared to enter the country.

The news reported in the Buenos Aires press said that public officials working in Domestic Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno’s department assured that the blockade on foreign books and magazines was the result of “misinterpreting” a regulation that limited the entrance of books containing a certain amount of lead in their ink.

Allegedly government officials promised that the delivery of all books purchased abroad via mail “will go back to normal in the coming weeks”.

Regulation 26/12 establishes that before any sale, the book's ink has to be certified as containing less than 0.06%. The regulation will go in effect in June.

The Argentine Book Chamber held several talks with Secretariat officials in the last few days after some of its members had been unable to have their medicine and science books delivered to their homes.

Even though these sources said that their conversations were always “in good terms,” when asked about the nature of the delays, they simply replied: “Moreno doesn’t give explanations to anyone.”

The ban on all books purchased abroad caused outrage among editorial organizations and people used to shopping online in popular sites such as Amazon.com.

Angry buyers took to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter in order to condemn the measure while urging the Government to “release the books”.