That study also suggests more vehicle-related accidents but it's hard to know what to make of that without knowing more about the type of accidents, population patterns, etc.
Extreme "get the government off our back" people are definitely arguing for that.
Maybe some people think that way. Colloquially, I've heard about a million times Europeans laugh at how ridiculous they think some laws are in that regard, such as Kinder eggs being banned in America.
The egg has been redesigned some years ago. The two parts now stay attached together.
All that said, I think there are ways to get exceptions, but they are shy to give them away. And it really is a shame in this case: though there have been perhaps a handful of suspected choking cases in children, overall they have been quite reasonably safe (based on years and years of them being sold to children elsewhere). It simply winds up being a silly ban done for a good overall reason.
At this point I guess it would be helpful to know the letter of the law/regulation, but it's also probably not important enough to bother.
Do big American Easter eggs sometimes come with plastic bags of smaller candies inside? Those seem less likely to be a choking hazard, but similar enough that they could fall afoul of the law that hits the Kinder eggs.
Perhaps there's a size limit on embedded non-edible components.
King cakes are another example — commonly enjoyed despite how many baby Jesuses have been swallowed or choked on.
(1) has partially or completely imbedded therein any nonnutritive object, except that this subparagraph shall not apply in the case of any nonnutritive object if, in the judgment of the Secretary as provided by regulations, such object is of practical functional value to the confectionery product and would not render the product injurious or hazardous to health
Since hidden pillars are neither hazardous to anyone's health and also provide functional value, seems like they'd be just fine.
Thanks for the research.