Berlin, Sep 3 (DPA) Philips, the consumer electronics company which for decades has been a byword for Dutch solidity, announced in Berlin Thursday that it had begun manufacturing sex toys.

Three electrical vibrators are to be marketed under a new product segment to be known as 'relationship care'. They are to be shown at the IFA consumer-electronics show Sep 4-9.

One of the 'intimate massage' devices is available with a dish to pre-warm it to skin temperature. There is also a 'his and hers' set, the company website showed.

A Philips executive, Andrea Ragnetti, defended the move, saying scientific surveys in Britain showed 40 percent of respondents used sex toys and 35 per cent said they would use them if they were well made and supplied by respectable brands.

Ragnetti said Philips would remove the 'dirty' aura around such toys.