Feds Ban 'Buckyballs' Magnets

SicariusMan writes "Looks like warnings and other precautions were not enough to save Buckyballs Magnets. According to this report, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is concerned about the increase in children swallowing the rare earth magnets, and has issued its first stop-sale order in 11 years. Amazon and others have already agreed to stop selling the toys. 'Although the commission issued a safety alert in November, it has received more than a dozen reports since then of children ingesting the magnets, with many requiring surgery, it said. More than 2 million Buckyballs and at least 200,000 Buckycubes, a similar cube-shaped magnet, have been sold in the United States.'"

Comments

First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[crazyjj]

How about a ban on stupid trailer-park dumbass kids who ruin it for the rest of us?

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[SlickNic]

Thirded?

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[darkpixel2k]

How about a ban on stupid trailer-park dumbass kids who ruin it for the rest of us?

They already tried that. You may have heard of "Planned Parenthood"...

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[shentino]

Indeed

We need an incentive for lazy ass parents not to take a mile when the government gives them an inch.

The only place this slippery slope is going to end is with parents doing fuck-all to teach their kids about safety and ya know actually supervise them and letting Big Nanny decide everything.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[MightyMartian]

Fucking crazy. Some schizophrenic lunatic can buy thousands of rounds of ammunition of the Internet, but God forbid anyone should buy a Buckyball magnet.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Zocalo]

Hey, at least we know that it reality it takes at least a dozen dumbass kids now to ruin it for everyone else... The Onion pegged it at three, back in the day.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[DesScorp]

How about a ban on stupid trailer-park dumbass kids who ruin it for the rest of us?

Why is this insightful? It's not the kids, or even their parents that are banning this stuff. They're a vocal minority. It's a government that wants to nanny us 24 hours a day banning things like this. "For the children" is just another variant of "the public good". Various levels of government want to regulate... or outright ban... everything from the size of your soda to the ingredients in your food.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[ackthpt]

How about a ban on stupid trailer-park dumbass kids who ruin it for the rest of us?

I found a load of these on the ground in a park. Never mind how they got there, how do you expect children to read the warning which isn't present with these things? Also, you, I and likely everyone else on /. put stuff in our mouths in a time when we were so young we don't remember what these things were (but our mothers tell us, usually at the most inopportune times) These things, for the amusement value vs. the hazard value are understandable. See some of the x-rays where a couple of these things pinch and then pass through stomach and intestine walls. I've ever received some darn painful pinches from them while idly playing with them.

I hate to see it happen, but these really are a danger to children.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[AmiMoJo]

You seem to be arguing that people less responsible than a well adjusted adult should not be given dangerous things to play with.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[ackthpt]

As I read it, it is just the inclusion in toys that are banned....we just have to shop at legitimate supplier sources and build our own toys now...no biggie.

And that legit supplier goes by the name eBay (though I have bought some RE magnets from other sources, it's effectively the mall.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[AK Marc]

It's not the kids, or even their parents that are banning this stuff.

It's the parents who killed their kids who are looking to blame others that are calling for the ban. The government didn't call for the ban. There wasn't an independent investigation that found them unsafe. It was parents begging the government to ban them that got them looked at. And the democratic government looked at the wishes of the citezens and responded.

The issue is either that democracy is bad, or the parents are to blame.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[geekoid]

The kids aren't dumb asses. Kids are kids. Young kids put things in their mouth, it's human nature. Dumb ass parents, and dumb ass owns of these magnets are why it happens.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[v1]

I found a load of these on the ground in a park. Never mind how they got there, how do you expect children to read the warning which isn't present with these things?

Never mind that nail, rock, and used condom over there on the ground. What if someone's kid picks that up and tries to swallow it? Lets ban all that stuff!

No. How about you teach your kid common sense and save the entire world the trouble of looking after them for you? I'm not going to run around the world slapping warning labels on stuff for your kid that may not even be old enough to read yet.

"Don't childproof the world - worldproof the child."

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[geekoid]

No, "The Government" is responding to citizen concerns. The people who don't want something banned don't get together to stop it. It's the Citizen who allow this to happen.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[geekoid]

yeah, fuck thinkgeek responding to a government stop sell. WTF are they supposed to do? You wan't to be pissed at someone? be pissed at the people who brought this concern to the government. Take that anger and get other poeple together to tell the government you don't want them banned. Oh, you won't do that because it takes work, and it's hard..and besides you have all those new steam games to play.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Sponge Bath]

nail, rock, and used condom...

Call me old fashioned, but I always preferred rock, paper, scissors.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Greyfox]

If you're an adult you don't necessarily have to have your fun ruined. Just get your rare off magnets off United Nuclear web site. Be sure to go for the ones labelled in red, "EXTREMELY DANGEROUS MAGNET". That's their code for "this is the fun one!" While you're there you can pick up some uranium ore and death ray parts.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Sponge Bath]

I had lawn darts. Flying Death From Above is what we called them, and that's the way we liked it!

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[cheekyjohnson]

And the democratic government looked at the wishes of the citezens and responded.

The wishes of how many citizens, exactly?

I wish they'd do the same thing with the TSA and just get rid of it. If it was anything like this, a vocal minority could get rid of it.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Anonymous Coward]

The best part is when the dumbasses say things like "we did much worse things in my day and *I* survived!". Of course you survived, you fucking asshole, all the kids who didn't aren't here to say they died.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[ATMAvatar]

Responsibility begins before purchase.

If the child is old enough and responsible enough to save up money and pay for their own toys, he/she is not within the group of children likely to die by these magnets. In any other case, the parents (or some other presumably responsible adult) are purchasing the magnets.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[nbauman]

I've seen the x-rays.

The problem is that, if you have 2 of them, they don't pass through the intestine like the other stuff kids swallow. They pinch 2 sections of intestine together, crush them, and cause necrosis and blockage, and, like you said, perforation. The kids can die. They need fairly invasive surgery. There weren't too many deaths, but there were a few. The people who brought them to the attention of the CPSC were the emergency room doctors who were dealing with them.

The diabolical thing is that they're so interesting that kids are attracted to them.

Craig Zucker is an asshole. I realize his problem with selling a popular, profitable product, but they've been responsible for a couple of deaths. Too bad. You can't make a million dollars if a 6-year-old kid dies as a result. If somehow he manages to defy or stall the CPSC, he's going to get sued by the next parent whose kid winds up in the ER over them.

I can see Zucker being cross-examined: "You did know that several children had died from swallowing these buckeyballs, didn't you?"

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[OrangeTide]

slowly ramping up responsibility with kids is the normal way of things.

And kids should be able to make mistakes. And suffer some consequences, but not the same level of consequences for a younger kid versus a teenager versus an adult.

Generally our society feels that having a section of a child's bowel removed is too large of a consequence for a child.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[AK Marc]

I'm outside the US. I didn't buy any specifically because of my children (I'm not trailer park trash), so I want to be able to order lots of them for cheap now that they are banned in the US. Zen Magnets appears to be shipping as regular (and claims to be higher quality). So just snap them up before the feds notice.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Dahamma]

The 3 year old boy who ate a bunch of them isn't a dumb ass - as you say, the parent is. The 12 year old girl who tried to use them as a tongue stud and accidentally swallowed them... well, that one's not so clear...

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Dahamma]

Rock dulls nail, condom covers rock, nail breaks condom!

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[pla]

The kids aren't dumb asses. Kids are kids. Young kids put things in their mouth, it's human nature. Dumb ass parents, and dumb ass owns of these magnets are why it happens.

So if parents ignore age rating on a goddamned dildo, can we sue the manufacturer for child sexual abuse?

At some point, it comes down to "don't be an idiot". If you buy your kids a gun and they blow their heads off - don't blame Remington, try a frickin' mirror.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[geekoid]

Better yet, a ban on idiots who don't read the facts of the case? also a ban on people who post these damn articles without any real facts in them.

This is ridiculous, and when a headline is ridiculous you should follow it to the source. Gather some fact.
The article is nothing but a set up baseless attack on Obama.
What has happened is the CPSC told the company that there are reports of injuries. Items like these should be marketed for "14 or older". The company labeled it 13+. The company could have simply change the labels on the new one being produced when the first found out, in 2009. The didn't in 2010, they didn't in 2011. The "Ban" is only on the ones labels 13+

For some reason, the company is stirring this into a much larger issue then it is,. Sine the company attacks Obama, I suspect Zucker did it intentionally. Why else wouldn't you change your label?

" This recall involves the Buckyballs® high powered magnets sets labeled "Ages 13+""

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml10/10251.html

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Omestes]

The problem is that, if you have 2 of them, they don't pass through the intestine like the other stuff kids swallow.

So, I, an adult without any children and none planned, am not allowed to own them for this?

That makes sense...

How many children die from accidental gunshots in households where parents are too stupid to secure their weapons, but I can buy guns at the local Walmart? Oh, can't ban those... Shucks.

This is a stupid ban, no matter HOW nasty they are inside children. I feel bad for the kids, really, but there is no need to punish everyone else for it.

I can see Zucker being cross-examined: "You did know that several children had died from swallowing these buckeyballs, didn't you?"

So people would have the same reaction to any firearm manufacture right? I can picture P. James Debney (CEO of Smith and Wesson) in court "You did know several children have been accidentally shot, didn't you?".

My house has around 1000 things that are very dangerous to children (cleaners, knives, airsoft weapons, small parts and screws, cactuses, poisonous plants, solvents, magnets!, outlets, glass objects, plastic bags, gasoline, cigarettes, booze, lighters, other flammable liquids, R rated movies, metal music, a chainsaw, three or four machetes, a weed wacker, atheist propaganda, a Koran, the Communist Manifesto, and the complete works of Socrates/Plato), should I be expecting the police to swing by and arrest me for being "dangerous" soon?

EVERYTHING IS DANGEROUS. Ban it all.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[dgatwood]

I couldn't disagree more. Buckyballs are not toys for kids. They're toys intended for adults, marketed for adults. Arguing that they should be banned because kids play with them and get hurt is just as nonsensical as arguing that the Ferrari should be banned because parents can give their five-year-olds the car keys and those kids can drive the car off a cliff. There is zero difference. Both are toys designed for adults, and clearly labeled as such.

These products already have prominent warning labels on their packages saying that these are dangerous when swallowed, and that they are not intended for children under 13 years of age. Most kids stop swallowing random objects by about age three, so that's a solid ten year safety margin. To the extent that some of them might have been sold prior to when that warning label was added, they should be held liable for any injuries resulting from those early sales. However, it is not the CPSC's responsibility to protect parents who are so clueless that they buy a product that is clearly marked for ages 13+ and give it to a two-year-old. The only way to achieve such a standard would be to ban all toys designed for children over three years of age. No sane person would say that this is a good idea.

As for younger kids getting their hands on them accidentally, it is the parents' responsibility to watch their kids, and to ensure that anything potentially dangerous is kept out of reach. You don't see people trying to ban household cleansers because kids can be killed by drinking them. You don't see people trying to ban all medications because kids can climb into the medicine cabinet and OD. And yet all of these are things that children of the very same age do. There really is absolutely no difference here. The products are properly labeled, so to the extent that there is a problem, in much the same way as we have poison control ads, the right solution is public service announcements to educate the public about the risks of kids swallowing magnets, not a ban on the products.

Oh, and more importantly, educate doctors, nurses, and poison control centers so that when you ask them if you should worry after a kid swallows one of these things, they immediately tell you to go count them and make damn sure the kid swallowed only one.

People trying to get products banned because of egregious misuse and abuse are what drives us rapidly towards being a nanny state in which anything interesting, useful, or fun is outlawed to protect us from our own stupidity. That isn't a world I want to live in.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Hentes]

Which is why responsible parents teach their children not to eat anything they find on the ground. Until the kid is old enough to understand that (about 2 years, otherwise the kid is slow), they require constant supervision.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Gaerek]

Last I checked, the 2nd amendment doesn't say:

"...and the right of the people to keep and play with Buckyballs shall not be infringed."

Banning the sales of ammo would be unconstitutional, regardless of any statistic. Banning of Buckballs (not that I agree) would be within the dubiously used "Commerce Clause"

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Gaerek]

I agree, this isn't a case of "It's a dangerous product!" It's a case of parents who don't read warnings and let their kids have access to something that clearly isn't safe for them. According to a quick Google search in 2002, over 1 million children were hospitalized due to accidental poisoning, and in 2001, 96 were killed as a result. Following the lead of the Buckyball ban, let's ban all substances that can poison a child! http://www.preventinjury.org/PDFs/POISONING.pdf

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Eponymous Hero]

you are genuinely fucking retarded. there is no ban, stupid. anyway, my comment about thinkgeek was based on the fact that the manufacturer is still selling them. the CPSC is only suing to ban. thinkgeek could have been smart and rejected their persuasion to stop selling, but they succumbed to pressure and maybe even believed the bullshit they were told (like you did).

http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/Feds-act-to-stop-sale-of-magnetic-Buckyballs-163775816.html

The safety commission says the company refused to recall the product. On another front, the agency said it was able to persuade about 10 retailers, including Amazon.com, to stop selling Buckyballs....

If the administrative law judge rules in favor of the commission, then CPSC could compel Maxfield to stop the sale of its Buckyballs. But the company could appeal to the agency's four commissioners. It could also appeal in federal court. The commission typically negotiates product recalls with companies, and they usually work out an agreement.

persuade? that's not a federal ban. it's a suggestion, or more accurately, a manipulation, while they try to push their ban through the courts. and you're a tool. here, you want to buy some? ordering them is more effective than crying to the government. that way, you put money into the pockets of the company fighting the lawsuit while persisting the product's ubiquity. see how that works?

https://www.getbuckyballs.com/order/buckyballs/

Oh, you won't do that because it takes work, and it's hard..and besides you have all those new steam games to play.

you must be generalizing. i don't use the steam platform. and i prefer to work smarter, not harder.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[similar_name]

You have to marvel at a society that can recognize the rights and responsibilities involved with gun ownership but bans the sale of a toy. Sort of like you can die for your country or be in a gang bang on camera at 18 but you can't have a beer.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[TubeSteak]

Buckyballs and Buckycubes got banned because they're the only company that managed to muscle their way into the lucrative distribution channels that feed brick and mortar stores.

If this product was so wildly dangerous, the Consumer Product Safety Commission would be forcing all the other manufacturers of rare earth magnet toys to shut down as well.
Other manufacturers: nanodots, neocube, zen magnets/neoballs, cybercube, and the generics from china.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[The Rizz]

Banning the sales of ammo would be unconstitutional, regardless of any statistic.

So what you're saying is that someone needs to make a gun that shoots Buckyballs, and then we can buy them again?

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[camperdave]

If the child is old enough and responsible enough to save up money and pay for their own toys, he/she is not within the group of children likely to die by these magnets.

That doesn't mean that the child doesn't have a sibling that might swallow them.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[milkmage]

"So people would have the same reaction to any firearm manufacture right?" ..well, check this shit out.
cop allowed to sue Glock.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Judge-allows-paralyzed-dad-to-sue-Glock-3732408.php ...by a Los Angeles policeman who was paralyzed from the waist down when his 3-year-old son shot him with his service pistol. ....Enrique Chavez claimed in his lawsuit that the Glock 21 lacked adequate safeguards against an accidental discharge because it had a light trigger pull and did not have a grip safety
ok - this is true. Glocks do not have a traditional safety that needs to be released before the trigger moves.
and put his son, Collin, in the back seat of his pickup truck to drop the boy off at his grandfather's house...
sounds tragic, right? wait -
Chavez had removed the child's car seat from the truck and had forgotten that he had left his Glock, which he always kept loaded, beneath the front seat, the court said. ...now Glock has to defend themselves against this moron.

go back to the beginning.. "son shot him with his service pistol."

SERVICE PISTOL. there's a reason LAPD picked Glock as their standard issue.. it's BECAUSE of the lack of traditional safeties and the light trigger pull.

he should sue LAPD for trusting him to carry a gun.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[dark12222000]

It's called a right to bear arms. It's a right because it was considered necessary for the defense of our basic rights.

In addition, most gun related homicides stem from drug or gang violence - and a large percentage of those cases are using illegally obtained firearms.

Some of those "homicides" (depending on the statistic set you're using) may be self defense cases.

So, I'm going to argue that we shouldn't be banning magnets just because some kid is stupid enough to swallow one. I'm also going to argue that banning guns, opposed to banning Bucky balls, does more harm then good, if only because gun ownership does not correlate with homicide.. (Some recent numbers for you)

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[sl149q]

From: https://www.getbuckyballs.com/order/buckyballs/

"You might have heard there's a problem with our products...
THIS IS NOT TRUE.
A government agency (the Consumer Product Safety Commission) is saying they should be recalled because children occasionally get ahold of them. This is unfair. We market exclusively to adults. We are vigorously defending our right to market these products you love. Let us know how you feel about this: Comment on Facebook; send a tweet; tell your friends; complain loudly; or just buy a set to stick it to the CPSC. Read more here."

See the part that says "exclusively to adults".

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[qeveren]

Nah, it's stupid lazy-ass parents who can't be bothered actually supervising their children, but instead just shove them at something distracting so they can try to go about their pre-parenthood-responsibility lives.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Dahamma]

So the 180 kids who were killed by someone misusing their parent's gun was due to drugs and the gun was illegally obtained? I'm sure you have a citation for that...

The point was that's 180 more kids than have actually died eating these magnets, so why in hell is one protected and not the other?

And if you sort the table in the article you mentioned by the key statistic, "homicide by firearm rate per 100,000 population", the US is #1 of all Western, non-3rd world countries. Comparing against a country with a civil war, roving bands of pirates, or where the government is the one doing the shooting is kind of pointless.

But anyway, automatic weapons were successfully banned in the US with no Constitutional override. Why not ban semi-automatic weapons as well? The founding fathers had to load their metal balls one at a time, which did a pretty good job of preventing mass murders and random crime-related homicides (you miss, and you lose).

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[sumdumass]

Yes, because as everyone agrees, the federal government should be in the business of picking and choosing which genes get passed on based on your biased opinion and pushing birth control and abortions onto the unworthy.

I'm sorry your quest to create an utopian super race of humans are being thwarted by those selfish religious nuts but hey, look on the bright side, government funding of planned parenthood was only a small portion of their overall budget so Margret Sanger's dream of Eugenics will still be somewhat in place.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[starburst]

According to Alive Past 5 .com

The Top Five Causes Of Unintentional Injury involving children:

1. Car Accidents: Kill 260,000 children a year and injure about 10 million children. They are the leading cause of death among children and a leading cause of child disability.
2. Drowning: Kills more than 175,000 children annually. Up to 3 million children each year survive a drowning incident. Due to brain damage in some survivors, nonfatal drowning has the highest average lifetime health and economic impact of any type of child injury.
3. Burns: Fire-related burns kill nearly 96,000 children a year.
4. Falls: Nearly 47,000 children fall to their deaths every year, but hundreds of thousands more children sustain serious injuries from a fall.
5. Poisoning: More than 45,000 children die each year from unintended poisoning.

Looks like there is a whole lot more that needs to be banned, or re-labeled. Think of the children.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[sumdumass]

Automatic weapons are not banned. Whoever gave you that idea. I have two of them sitting beside me right now. Well, actually, they are locked in my gun safe but all you need to do is get a tax stamp for them. I suggest you stop imagining things and take a trip to the machine gun festival and see how many private citizens own fully auto weapons. You might be surprised to find that ordinary citizens can and do own explosives too.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[shutdown -p now]

Constitution is not a substitute for common sense.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[shutdown -p now]

Enact a constitutional amendment that would provide a strict definition of "interstate commerce" as only applying to deals where money or goods actually cross state borders.

Better yet, just throw it out altogether, and replace with a narrow restriction on states so that they cannot apply import fees (or equivalent) on out-of-state goods.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[MHolmesIV]

Sorry, it's you who didn't read the facts here. This administrative action is against _all_ buckyballs, not just the old 13+ ones (which were fixed in 2010)

You're looking at 2 year old actions and assuming they relate to today's one, but they're only tangentially related.

Here's the press release about the current action: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12234.html
You'll note that in this release they point out that in both the previous actions, the company was cooperative. That is also pointed out in the actual complaint here: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12234.pdf

The founder's bizzarre political allegations aside, they are not being misleading about the CPSC complaint.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[cawpin]

Actually, Glocks don't have a particularly light trigger pull. The standard is about 5.5 pounds and LAPD may use the heavy NY1 trigger which is around 8 pounds. There is a light trigger as well at 3.5 pounds.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[lister king of smeg]

i had toys with small pieces when my younger sister was at the stage where everything went in her mouth and i was told not to let her near them. i was also given a piece of plywood to put across the entrance to my door so she couldn't get to them when i was using them. i was also banned from using them in the same room as her without parental supervision. never had a problem. i don't see why there is issue here just keep out of reach of small children and dumb-ass's

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[AK Marc]

Can you name the parents that are stong arming the governemnt here?

Stephanie Thompson, for one. First hit on first google search. Did you even look, or are you just a (knee) jerk?

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[couchslug]

"So what you're saying is that someone needs to make a gun that shoots Buckyballs, and then we can buy them again?"

They already do!

A "T"-size steel shotgun pellet is about Buckyball size. I don't have a reloading press or any Buckyballs to load, but it would be interesting to shoot a few rounds loaded with nonmagnetic steel shot and compare their pattern on target to that of Buckyballs.

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52612&stc=1&d=1318459735

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[sumdumass]

I'm sure there are some, but again, there is no indication they played a role in this ban and appointees do not have to clear their actions through elected officials that may have appointed them. Now the elected official (in this case the executive) can direct certain things to happen, but again there is no indication that President Obama or any member of congress ordered the ban on the sale of these magnets.

The complaint is signed by the executive director who isn't an appointed official and the only other listings on it are subordinate attorneys.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[MightyMartian]

And I want to own Buckyball magnets. It's my choice, not the government's. Seems like a tyranny to me. You're the gun owner, get out there and water the tree of Liberty with a little blood.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Sqr(twg)]

It's a case of parents who don't read warnings and let their kids have access to something that clearly isn't safe for them.

Parents would probably read warnings if they were only displayed on products that are actually dangerous. In the US, for fear of lawsuits, everything comes with a long list of warnings. It's like the boy who cried wolf: Parents are trained to ignore warnings. (I once bought a toy for my three year old that was labeled "EU: Not suitable for children under 3. US: Not suitable for children under 5.")

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Lemmy Caution]

A lot of kids don't have a stay-at-home parent, and are stuck in crappy day-cares run by people who don't care, but are that can be afforded on the low wages that are available for them.

I hear a lot of sanctimonious claims about "lazy parents" and "bad parents" from people who either aren't parents, or who have a partner acting as a stay-at-home parent (the stay-at-home parents themselves don't make these claims too often.) Which are you?

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Charcharodon]

You can have my super industrial strength magnets only if you can manage to pry them off of my refridgerator.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[michelcolman]

I've got an inflatable beach ball that says that it must only be used in shallow water. So we can't use it in our garden unless it's raining very hard.

Also, it must only be used under surveillance (do we have to get one of those CCTVs?), and we can't play with the ball unless there's at least one minor present, because "the minor must touch the bottom".

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[Java Pimp]

It's not that simple. I have an 11 year old, 3 year old and 18 month old. The 11 year old is obviously allowed to have such toys. She is required however to make sure they are picked up and stored in her bedroom and has been told that if I find parts laying around that the younger ones could get a hold of I will throw them out without warning or even telling her about it. I have followed through on that many many times.

However, a few months ago when changing my son's diaper, I found he had swallowed and subsequently passed, a silicon button that was part of my daughter's iPod cover. One of these: http://amzn.com/B0086YLNVW Apparently one he saw laying around before I did.

I'm not saying that a ban on this toy is appropriate. I'm certain the packaging is appropriately labeled with age restrictions and warnings. It's just not as simple as "parents who don't read warnings".

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[cayenne8]

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

There are two statements in that sentence...one about a well regulated militia....and one about the right of people (the general public) bearing arms.

It isn't saying that only people IN a militia can bear arms.....

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[pixelpusher220]

You sir, are an Infoxicated idiot. Planned Parenthood exists not because people choose not to go to a doctor, but because they can't afford insurance or that there are no doctors willing to risk being killed who provide that service.

Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this

[arth1]

Planned Parenthood is an abortion mill.

You're saying that as if it were a bad thing.

My stockpiling has paid off!

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks to Woot! I now own several million Buckyball magnets. I was waiting for the rare Earth metal market to skyrocket before cashing in, but this may be my chance. Hello Ebay!

Seriously

[Anonymous Coward]

What's so special about these magnets?
Children can swallow any kind of magnet you find in toys.
It should be up to the parents to ensure the child is old enough not to swallow the damn thing.
Next up: crayons banned because kids stick them up their nose.

Re:Seriously

[stanlyb]

It is not the balls, nor the kids. Even if you swallow some balls, but not at once, you will need to go to the surgery. The problem as i see it, is stupid grown people buying bucky balls and giving them to their kids, who, SURPRISE, swallow them.

Re:Seriously

[bennomatic]

These are small and unusually powerful magnets. Swallow one, and then another a half-hour later (or any time before passing the first), and they will pull together, pinching your internal organs, and they'll never come out without invasive surgery.

A normal magnet, if swallowed, will just pass. And if it's big enough to have the same pull that these rare earth magnets have, it'll be uncomfortable enough during the swallowing that most kids won't do it twice, so that pinching thing likely won't happen.

Re:Seriously

[Lehk228]

it's not that they don't come out that makes them dangerous, when they pinch they kill and destroy intestinal tissue, allowing gut/fecal bacteria into the blood

Blackmarket Buckyballs

[fustakrakich]

Soon we'll be battling the Buckyball cartels in the streets of America. I say end prohibition now!

Re:Blackmarket Buckyballs

[MightyMartian]

First they took away the Buckyball magnets from the Communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they took away the Buckyball magnets from the the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they took away the Buckyball magnets from the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for my Buckyball magnets
and there was no one left with any Buckyball magnets to speak out for me.

Or perhaps

Those who would give up Buckyball magnets to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Buckyball magnets nor Safety

Re:Blackmarket Buckyballs

[bitt3n]

Soon we'll be battling the Buckyball cartels in the streets of America. I say end prohibition now!

I find this prospect strangely attractive

Re:Blackmarket Buckyballs

[Mashiki]

Man you guys banned kinder toy eggs aka kinder surprise. ... And people smuggle them in from Canada, so....I guess you shouldn't have to wait too long.

Re:Blackmarket Buckyballs

[formfeed]

Those who would give up Buckyball magnets to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Buckyball magnets nor Safety

Once Buckyballs are illegal, only cows will be allowed to swallow magnets.

Nice things

[bananaquackmoo]

You see? This is why we can't have nice things, Barry!

Re:Only in America!

[tlhIngan]

They also spend quite a bit of resources confiscating Kinder egg surprise (50,000 a year according to an article I read), because there is an "unintuitive" toy inside the chocolate egg and a child may swallow it

It happens a lot because they're legal in Canada, actually.

But you don't want to carry them over the border - the guards can get pretty damn nasty over a bunch of toys.

Last week: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Kinder+eggs+surprise+includes+harrowing+stop+border/6956919/story.html

Re:Only in America!

[Brandano]

Something that can be dangerous when grossly misused can be outright banned.

Unless it's a weapon

Glad I already have mine...

[The Raven]

I have 7 sets of them. Well... technically about 6.7 sets. It's hard not to lose one here or there when you play with them nearly daily. I'm just glad that I got them now, before the ban... they are my third favorite toy, behind my computer and my phone. I make bracelets out of multiple colors as transient art (lost as soon as they stretch out and get rearranged), play with them on my desk, and use them as temporary tie tacks if I leave my mine at home.

Yes, tie tack. Don't knock it, it works!

Re:Glad I already have mine...

[PeanutButterBreath]

It's hard not to lose one here or there when you play with them nearly daily.

QED

Re:Glad I already have mine...

[makomk]

It's hard not to lose one here or there when you play with them nearly daily.

At which point a little kid could pick the ones you've dropped off the floor and eat them. They don't look obviously dangerous at a glance.

How many...

[Dcnjoe60]

The article states that dozens of children have swallowed the magnets and 12 required surgery. There are over 60M children age 14 and younger in the US. Isn't this a bit of an over-reaction? I'm curious as to how many children have had problems after swalling coins and other items that people may have on their desk (ie paper clips, thumb tacks, etc.)?

Seems the shootings in Colorado hurt a lot more people, but for some reason, they haven't banned the sale of bullets.

Re:How many...

[Sebastopol]

"Seems the shootings in Colorado hurt a lot more people, but for some reason, they haven't banned the sale of bullets."

The makers of BuckyBalls don't have the billions of $$$ of NRA lobbying PAC behind them, otherwise you never would have even heard of the 12 kids requiring surgery...

Re:How many...

[tgd]

The problem is if you swallow more then one, they bond through an intestine loop and you can't egest them normally.

That's just step 1 of the problem. Step 2 is the pressure between them wearing/tearing a hole through the intestine, which can be quickly fatal if not caught in time.

Re:How many...

[gweihir]

As I have never heard of this being a specific problem here (Europe), and these Magnets are available, I strongly suspect this is a political stunt that banks on the amazing irrationality of the US population.

The basic problem is that children of a certain age like to swallow things that are bad for them. Its the parent's responsibility to make sure they do not.

Come to think of irrationality, the number of children getting killed by improperly secured firearms is much higher. Not there is an item nobody with children should leave lying around. Apparently a significant number of US parents are too dumb to realize this. This looks very much like an education problem to me, not a problem of the objects themselves.

Re:How many...

[Hatta]

Easy solution. Sell buckyballs as ammo.

Re:How many...

[TheGratefulNet]

I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly;

I don't know why she swallowed a fly;

I guess she'll start a PAC and sue the blue sky.

Re:How many...

[tftp]

These days if you tried to revolt with the pea shooters you're still allowed to buy, the military could just kill you with a hellfire missile launched from a drone 20 miles away.

Is this the reason why US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered zero losses?

If every US citizen shoots one US soldier and gets killed in return, the US Army will be wiped out completely, down to the last man, while the population suffers loss of only 0.3%. The US Army exists only because the population allows it to exist.

There were enough urban conflicts in recent time. The one in Syria is ongoing. You can be sure that the well-armed military does not have an upper hand over a ragtag band of freedom fighters. Armies exist to fight other armies. The drone can attack a specific location... but drone operators need to know which location to hit. Cities provide unlimited cover to all kinds of fighters. The military can level a city and destroy the resistance this way; however it is rarely done, and if a US military destroys a US city it will sign its own death warrant.

Experience of recent operations tells us that the army cannot even hold territory. All it can, in Iraq and Afghanistan, is to build small, fortified bases and stay there. We can call them "prisons" for convenience, since the word is fitting well. The US Army has no control over the adjacent land, or over the villages and cities - or over people's minds. It can venture out, suffer a few losses to IEDs, perhaps capture a militant or two, and retreat. In essence, troops there are just targets.

Also consider that currently the US Army enjoys unlimited supplies of war materiel, since factories in the USA are working and producing everything that the Pentagon asks for. This will not be the case if widespread social unrest stops production. The US military does not have an unlimited supply of high-tech weapons - they are too expensive to stockpile. The US Army also does not have millions of boots to be put on the ground; for each grunt with a gun you have nine support personnel who aren't trained fighters (a.k.a. sitting ducks.) If there is ever a conflict between the US Army and The People (which IMO is not very likely) then the Army will fare not any better than Assad's troops in Damascus. They will not be able to use methods of total war on the US territory; and the fallback methods give advantage to militiamen. But the most important factor here will be disobedience, desertion and switching sides. A US soldier is required by law to reject illegal orders. A commander who orders his subordinates to fly a mission and firebomb a US city will find himself arrested, if he is lucky - or fragged if his luck wore thin.

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem with magnets is they can pinch the intestines between them if you swallow more than one, and that can cause pretty nasty stuff.

Alternative Toy

[Solstice]

Looks like I'll just have to get my kid Lawn Darts for Christmas instead.

Re: stupid trailer-park dumbass kids

[macraig]

I modded you flamebait, but decided I'd rather tell you to your face that this comment is every bit as ignorant and prejudiced as any I've heard uttered by the so-called trailer trash I've encountered. I don't know if this really reflects your beliefs or you're just trying to be controversial, but at face value that's stereotypical trailer-trash talk.

Re: stupid trailer-park dumbass kids

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh-oh someone rocked your trailer in the wrong way.

You know what is also dangerous for children?

[f3rret]

Uranium and bleach

Re:You know what is also dangerous for children?

[amicusNYCL]

The "also viewed" list of products on that uranium page leaves some questions. I want to know who out there is simultaneously shopping for uranium, milk, "The 2009-2014 Outlook for Wood Toilet Seats in Greater China", a UFO detector, fresh whole rabbit, a horse feeder, a David Hasselhoff "best of" CD, and a home testicle self-exam kit.

The list of products that people actually bought is a little more scary. 3 of those products (iron oxide, aluminum powder, magnesium ribbon) are all you need to make thermite. Which I guess answers the long-standing question I've had since making thermite in high school about where I can get the ingredients easily. Might as well add a little uranium to the mix and see what happens.

Also, this is obviously the best review:

I purchased this product 4.47 Billion Years ago and when I opened it today, it was half empty.

Re:You know what is also dangerous for children?

[f3rret]

The list of products that people actually bought is a little more scary. 3 of those products (iron oxide, aluminum powder, magnesium ribbon) are all you need to make thermite. Which I guess answers the long-standing question I've had since making thermite in high school about where I can get the ingredients easily. Might as well add a little uranium to the mix and see what happens.

Yeah I'm sure ordering the ingredients for an incendiary device from Amazon wont get you put on all kinds of fun lists.

a nice company, too

[agrif]

Me and my brother recieved the silver Buckyball cubes as Christmas gifts a few years back. These things are a blast to play with.

When one of the balls on my brothers set shattered, we called one of the listed numbers for the company to ask about maybe purchasing a replacement ball. The person on the other end was extremely interested in how this happened (apparently they hadn't had a report of a ball shattering before), and offered to send us an entire new set for free. On Christmas day. This was excellent, excellent support for an awesome product.

It's sad to hear about this.

Re:a nice company, too

[ceoyoyo]

Uh huh. So tell us how the ball shattered.

I'm not saying..

[HexKrak]

I'm not saying lets kill all the stupid people, I'm just suggesting we remove all the warning labels and let nature sort it out.

Re:Huh?

[Microlith]

These are neodymium magnets that stick together quite strongly. If two are swallowed they run the risk of coming within close proximity to each other while passing through separate parts of the intestines and clamping them together. Only way to remove them at that point is surgery.

That's not to say the other things you mentioned don't run a risk of getting stuck, or that these will get stuck. By being rare earth magnets they set themselves up for causing problems in the twisty path of our lower digestive tract.

Zen Magnets

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the sales of Zen Magnets are about to increase...

(For those who don't know, Zen Magnets are *exactly* the same thing as buckyballs except for a very slight increase in quality and price. That would also mean they'd be more dangerous due to higher magnetic strength.)

Re: Zen Magnets

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a bit anal, but Zen Magnets are the exact same strength. They claim a better surface finish and diameter tolerances, which supposedly assists when making the really super-ambitious structures with the things. They do not claim increased magnetic strength.

So much for free enterprise

[ilikenwf]

I've got the nanny state blues, man.

Re:Some other things that should be banned...

[MickyTheIdiot]

don't forget 1000-foot-tall straw men.

You can still buy Buckballs

[mcnster]

from amazon.ca and have them shipped over the border to the "land of the free" (cough).

Re:Only in America!

[JustOK]

They're designed to make a profit for the guns/bullets manufacturers.

Re:Another "ban"

[maxwell demon]

Why don't we ban [...] crime, since they are even more dangerous than magnets?

So crime is not already illegal in the U.S.?

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[Anpheus]

My understanding is that it is different, the intestine isn't blocked, but actually ruptured because the magnets pull through it.

Re:Not so harmless afterall

[cheekyjohnson]

First I thought this was another nanny-state ban. But it looks like they are dangerous for small children.

That is a nanny-state ban. Banning something for all of us because a minority abuse it/get hurt by it.

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[cheekyjohnson]

We don't sell cribs or strollers that collapse on infants.

That's simply a bad product. I'm sure you could sue the company for that. These work as intended, however.

We don't sell poisoned dog food.

That would be intentionally harming them. Not a fitting analogy.

We don't sell toys marketed to children that can easily kill them.

I think we should be able to if they're just imbeciles and their parents don't pay attention.

It's just a toy, and it really isn't worth kids dying over it.

If it means banning it, it is. Just because you don't find it useful doesn't mean everyone else feels the same way. I believe "for the children" is a terrible excuse whether or not children really are in danger.

12?

[englishknnigits]

I hate our government, seriously. Maybe I should forward the following list to the CPSC. I'm pretty sure most of the items on the list have caused more than 12 cases of choking and/or surgery since November. They've got a lot of banning to do!
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the following items are common choking hazards:
Hot dogs and sausages
Chunks of meat
Grapes
Hard candy
Popcorn
Peanuts and other nuts
Raw carrots
Fruit seeds
Apple chunks
Coins
Toys with small parts
Small balls and marbles
Balloons
Arts and crafts materials
Ballpoint pen caps
Watch batteries
Jewelry

Re:Only in America!

[blackbeak]

Let's just save some time and ban everything small! That should include insect size surveillance drones, GPS dots, nano anything, and the miniature hearts of the 1%.

Re: stupid trailer-park dumbass kids

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

It's a shame this post was modded down. I'd personally prefer to reward dudes with mod-points who decide against using them just to say "I disagree".

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[yurtinus]

Except that buckyballs weren't marketed to young children (the packaging says "14 years or older"). They were marketed to adults and teenagers. On top of that, TFA doesn't mention any reports of deaths.

There are so many more dangerous things around the average household that it is simply baffling that there would be a ban on these.

Re:More than a dozen reports ...

[yurtinus]

You know, 100% of injuries happen to people. If we ban people, we can finally save them from all those injuries!

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[bhlowe]

As far as I know, no one has died from eating too many buckyballs. Consuming the other type of Buckyballs, Buckminsterfullerene, might make you live longer.

Re:Another "ban"

[Elros]

How about banning hydrogen dioxide too? It is extremely dangerous when in liquid form and kills a lot more people (kids and adults) when inhaled.

Did you by chance mean dihydrogen-monoxide? http://www.dhmo.org/

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[Petron]

Buckyballs are *NOT* for kids!

They are marketed to adults. Designed for adults. There are 6 warnings on the package, instructions, plastic storage box, etc that is so expressive, it's to the point where I'm not sure a child should LOOK at it. Really, above and beyond on warnings that kids should not go near these things.

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[Un pobre guey]

What has to occur for you to actually get it? When two or more magnets are swallowed, and they come together on opposite sides of intestinal tissue (note that the intestine is intricately folded), life-threatening pinching can occur. Do we have to show you pictures for you to get it? Sock puppets? A video game where you chase little magnets through a child's intestine? A raunchy cartoon on Comedy Central? What, Dude, what?

How about some actual truth?

[geekoid]

It's simply a labeling issue:
http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml10/10251.html

Re: stupid trailer-park dumbass kids

[macraig]

The bigger shame is that the parent comment to mine has been modded +5 Insightful... not even +5 Funny, but Insightful. WTF? What does that tell us about the current average Slashdot moderator mindset? Is it tribalism, crazyjj's buddies all mindlessly modding him up, or is it inbreeding?

Re: stupid trailer-park dumbass kids

[Mike Buddha]

It's summertime. The self-centered teens have nothing to do but bitch about how everyone's keeping them down.

wait

[Charliemopps]

How many kids were KILLED in car accidents in the same period of time? I think the benevolent Consumer Product Safety Commission should issue a stop-sale on automobiles immediately. It's the only safe thing to do.

Re:Another "ban"

[Lehk228]

because rare earth magnet toys don't have billion dollar lobbying behind them

This might be a good thing

[viperidaenz]

For everyone outside the US. Hopefully an over supply will result in lower prices for everyone else at the expense of US citizens, caused by the stupidity of US children and their parents.

I was totally confused...

[amoeba1911]

To clear up some confusion I found the source on CPSC's own site. It's slightly more informational than the Reuters summary... But I'm still confused.

I bought tiny fridge magnets from The Container Store that are actually tiny neodymium cubes, are they banned also? Are they exempt because they're not toys?

How about just plain neodymium magnets direct from suppliers? Are they banned also or are they exempt because they're not labeled as toys?

How about a hobby brushless motor kit that comes with neodymium magnets? Is that banned also or is that exempt because even though it's a toy the magnets are supplied with the purpose of installing them in the motor?

So many unanswered questions... I think it would be easier to require all kids to wear muzzles to keep their mouth closed at all times. It would solve all the issues where kids choke on things or eat poisonous/dangerous materials, and has added benefit of muffling their annoying whiny cries.

Re:Geek stupidity

[Gaygirlie]

No, they're pissed because a toy that was never meant for children is being given to children by stupid parents and as such they cause the toy to be banned. It's like giving a power-drill to a child and then crying foul when the kid gets hurt: "oh, just get a clue and find something else, parents don't need to pay more attention and I'll just continue shoving fingers in my ears while yelling lalalalalala..."

Re:Is surgery really needed?

[makomk]

Yes, the surgery is needed. If swallowed the magnetic balls stick together through the intestine walls, cutting off circulation and eventually punching holes in the intestines through which the intestinal contents leak into the abdomen. That's just a little fatal without surgery.

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[hexagonc]

They're actually perfectly fine and perfectly safe for 99.99999% of kids 8 years old and up because most kids are not so stupid as to swallow small metal balls. These things are expensive; why would you do anything to deliberately lose them? When I was 8 years old, it would never even occur to me to swallow these magnets. It would be as self-defeating as swallowing my own LEGO pieces.

Accidental Poisonings

[Roger W Moore]

Even if you swallow some balls, but not at once, you will need to go to the surgery.

Correct - you will need surgery but nobody has yet died. However if you look at the stats for accidental poisonings in the US you will see that there are 41,592 deaths every year. 91% of these are due to drugs which leaves 3,473 deaths every year due to non-drug related poisonings. It is not clear how many of these are due to kids swallowing household chemicals but you have to wonder why there is any need to ban something over 12 surgeries and zero deaths given the number of actual deaths from swallowing things.

Don't Tread On Me

[sker]

They can have my Buckyballs when they pry them from my cold, dead.... intestines.

Re:Geek stupidity

[Gaygirlie]

And yet, there are so many other scenarios where such toys would end up in kids mouths despite their parents being perfectly good parents. Bad preschools. Older siblings. Kids climbing up on Daddy's computer desk while Daddy's in the toilet. These things happen, and in the case of these toys, the effect is much worse than it would seem due to the strong magnetics.

All the things you said apply to almost anything! Kids can end up with all kinds of things they shouldn't and even die, yet those products aren't banned. Hell, you'd have to ban even basic ball-pens, then, as there are several cases of severe trauma, lost eyes and death associated even with those. So why are Buckyballs or similar stuff any different? All I see is a witch-hunt by people who do not care to actually think for a few more minutes before crying foul.

Re:Is surgery really needed?

[Anonymous Coward]

How many hours apart do you need to swallow them for this effect to take place? Generally if they're within innser-stomach distance from each other, they connect instantly and would pass through the digestive track together since it takes significant force to pinch them apart.

Re:Is surgery really needed?

[cyn1c77]

Yes, the surgery is needed. If swallowed the magnetic balls stick together through the intestine walls, cutting off circulation and eventually punching holes in the intestines through which the intestinal contents leak into the abdomen. That's just a little fatal without surgery.

But why do you need to waste money on a surgeon?

Can't you just put the kid in an MRI and rip the magnets out?

Re:Is surgery really needed?

[_Shad0w_]

I suspect the field required to degauss a rare earth magnet might also be harmful to the person. There may also be a problem with toxicity - I seem to recall most rare earth metals have moderate toxicity...

2 years old

[SmallFurryCreature]

This kid was 4

You argument?

And if something is sold in a store, it makes it difficult not to have it in the house? Because the store owner forces you to buy it? Because you are incapable of thinking "mmm this toy clearly has a warning on it to keep it away from all kids, so lets not buy it for my kids".

Didn't you child proof the house when you got a kid? Use those childproof plastic stickers on all your outlets? Lock the cabinet with chemicals? Keep power tools out of reach? Close the front door so the kid can't escape? Not boil water without keeping an eye on it?

Parenting is hard work, don't want to do it, don't get a kid.

Re:Is surgery really needed?

[mysidia]

Generally if they're within innser-stomach distance from each other, they connect instantly and would pass through the digestive track together since it takes significant force to pinch them apart.

Their safety guidance for medical professionals seems to suggest otherwise:

If more than one magnet was swallowed, it is highly unlikely that they will pass without surgical removal because of their tendency to bind together across membranes.
Radiographs will be definitive and will show small round spheres, linked together in the gastrointestinal tract.
Once the diagnosis is confirmed, urgent surgery is indicated to remove the magnets, repair any tissue damage and treat for infection. Patient follow-up is essential. Do not assume that they will pass through the gastrointestinal tract without treatment.
For more information, please download our complete Diagnosis and Treatment Service Announcement here

Dogs, Guns and Swimming Pools

[dadioflex]

All kill more kids every year than magnets. Personally I don't want any of them banned, just pointing out the stupidity.

Re:Is surgery really needed?

[Rhys]

If you want to cook them from the inside out, why not just use a microwave?

Hint: if you haven't ever used a degausser, they can only operate for a limited time (due to internal resistance -> heating) and you wear the huge heavy gloves to hold the disk which will get what can be best described as "quite hot."

Actually, Headline Is Correct

[Slashdot Parent]

Actually, your link is from 2 years ago. The correct current link is here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an effort to prevent children from suffering further harm, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff filed an administrative complaint today against Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC, of New York, N.Y., alleging that Buckyballs and Buckycubes contain a defect in the design, packaging, warnings, and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury to the public. The Commission voted 3-1 to approve the filing of the complaint, which seeks, among other things, an order that the firm stops selling Buckyballs and Buckycubes, notify the public of the defect, and offer consumers a full refund.

So no, this is not a labeling issue. They already corrected the labeling issue. This is about stopping all sales of Buckyballs. Headline is correct. Posting to undo my upmod of your comment because it turns out you are wrong.

Re:faux-libertarian dipshits

[ckaminski]

I prefer to keep the CPSC aimed at finding problems that AREN'T fucking obvious, like bad plastic in car seats.

Eating a handful of rare earth magnets runs up there in the fucking obviously bad idea if you're smarter than a 5th grader category. Fuck that.

Re:Here come the lawsuits...

[johnlcallaway]

It's an ADULT toy you moron. I suppose we should also ban all guns from homes because a few poor excuses for parents let their kids play with those too. Or cars because a few kids found the keys and went for joy rides.

I have no clue?? My wife and I raised two kids. Two kids who were taught at an early age to not put things in their mouth. We didn't have to go through and 'child proof' our house, because our kids were 'raised', and not allowed the run of the house. They were watched, we didn't sit in front of the boob tube watching soaps while they did whatever they wanted to do. We did this thing called 'interaction' where we watched the same insipid shows they did, or went outside and played with them when they were very young and not old enough to be left alone. They learned early on to not get into things they weren't supposed to.

My daughter once called me to come and get her from a birthday party because they were watching an 'inappropriate' movie. I forget what it was, but she knew that she was not allowed to watch it. Maybe your parents didn't teach you moral values, but we did.

Now she is getting her degree in molecular biology, splicing DNA, and contributing to the betterment of society. She is married and owns a home at 24 years of age. All without student loans also. Sounds like she is a lot smarter than a bunch of people on this site.

My son didn't like the 'establishment' route, but is equally smart and moral. He is a musician and tours the country and doesn't live off the state. He has taken apprenticeships and can build and repair violins and boats and is a pretty damn good carpenter. And has a ton of common sense and knows right from wrong.

I did do something, I raised my kids to be independent. I let them discover who they wanted to be encouraged id, and taught them good values. I let them make mistakes, but only ones they could learn lessons from and grow from. I didn't hover over them and act like I was protecting them by simply removing everything dangerous from the house. In reality, parents that do this are just to fucking lazy to watch them.

You are the one with no clue. You believe the BS the world tosses your way about raising kids. Your kids will probably also grow up dependent upon their parents, with asthma and a dozen allergies and no sense because you won't raise them.

You will put them in a cocoon from which they will one day never want to leave because they aren't prepared for the world. You, and others like you, are what creates the moronic Occupy movement and Anonymous .. people who think they deserve everything and have the right to press their opinions on everyone else. Because they were raised to think they are the center of the universe, and everyone needs to take care of them.