Six Retailers Announce Recall of Buckyballs and Buckycubes

thereitis writes "The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with six retailers, is announcing the voluntary recall of all Buckyballs and Buckycubes high-powered magnet sets due to ingestion hazard. CPSC continues to warn that these products contain defects in the design, warnings and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury and death to children and teenagers. An administrative complaint has been filed which is rare, as CPSC has filed only four administrative complaints in the past 11 years." This follows last year's ban on buckyballs.

Comments

Seriously?

[Red_Chaos1]

Why does this even need a warning? If you're too stupid not to understand to either A) not ingest these, or B) not give them to someone not old enough to know better, then by all means, swallow them all, then go get an MRI.

Re:Seriously?

[AK Marc]

If you swallowed them all, you'd be fine. The way I described it to my wife is, eat one. Wait between 1 hour and 6 hours and eat another. Don't see a doctor for abrominal pain, and there's a reasonable chance you'll die. Multiples at once will not cause an issue. One a day will not cause an issue.

My 5 year old gets to play with my set, but the 3 year old (who doesn't eat toys) has close supervision, especially since these look like dragee, candy he has had before.

The problem is that a proper warning is hard when everything is deadly already. I'm surprised bottled water doesn't come with a DHMO warning label. When everything has a warning on it, adding a real warning to something that looks safe doesn't have proper effect. People don't read warnings when everything comes with 100 warnings.

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice work AC, being pedant while missing the point.

Re:Seriously?

[phantomfive]

People don't read warnings when everything comes with 100 warnings.

Very good point. Or they read them and laugh.

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds me of a warning I saw on a treadmill recently. "Cease use immediately and consult a physician if you experience any of these symptoms: dizzyness, light headedness or shortness of breath."

On a treadmill? Really?!

Re:Seriously?

[oiron]

You're assuming that the reason for the warnings is to save lives...

It's actually purely to get themselves off the hook after lives are lost. Plausible deniability!

Re:Seriously?

[AK Marc]

53% of slashdotters get shortness of breath looking at a treadmill.

Re:Seriously?

[Fuzzums]

Really?! Now that wouldn't be very smart, would it?
Just like swallowing magnets in the first place.

I think he did mean MRI for exactly that reason :)

(My apologies for my sarcasm)

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, my boy, you clearly haven't been to an MRI scan before. Just try to go into the chamber with your glasses on, and see the reaction of the operator.

Nope, my boy, you clearly haven't been exposed to sarcasm before. Just try and go on Slashdot without it, and see the reaction of the intertubes.

Re:Seriously?

[Bengie]

CPSC has received 54 reports of children and teens ingesting this product, with 53 of these requiring medical interventions.

Sounds like Darwinism in action. Young children, I can understand, but teens?

Re: Seriously?

[ColdWetDog]

This doesn't appear to be the case. Look, for example at this reference, where several magnets had stuck together and yet caused problems. These appear to have been larger than buckyballs, but the idea is that they can loop back and pinch the bowel even if they are stuck together.

Even a cursory glance at the literature is a bit scary. The problem is that MOST things that kids swallow are pretty harmless and therefore not brought to anyone's attention. We don't know the numbers of kids that swallow magnets yet have no problems - they certainly exist - so the reporting bias is going to be fairly high.

But I personally would keep kids away from these things. They just don't need to play with them just yet.

Re:Seriously?

[__aaltlg1547]

Those seem stupid, but for at least two there's a reason: peanuts are legumes, and people can be allergic to either tree nuts or peanuts, or both; and yoghurts can be soy-based rather than dairy-based.

Soy based yoghurt? OH MY GOD, WHERE IS MY GUN?

Re:Seriously?

[Bengie]

And they should be treated as such. If a warning says not to let 2-3 year-olds have something, then a teenager with a development issue probably shouldn't play with those things either.

Re:Seriously?

[makomk]

Nope, the problem is that people are idiots, even smart people. On one of the previous /. discussions there were a surprising number of people who posted comments talking about how they'd swallowed all kinds of metal objects as kids, many of which were sharp, and swallowing something round like Buckyballs is no big deal - it's just the nanny state kicking up a fuss about nothing. They did this in response to an article which described, in fairly graphic detail, exactly why swallowing strong magnets was more dangerous than other small metal objects and the actual injuries that had resulted from it.

Re:Seriously?

[heathen_01]

Fake tongue piercing. Granted its a stupid idea but it's not the same as an infant putting something in their mouth.

Yay, we can stop this pernicious danger!

[Anonymous Coward]

But if it's guns, well, we can't even suggest that background checks should be implemented or the NRA will unleash a titanic fury of political money to get what they want.

Re:Yay, we can stop this pernicious danger!

[Z34107]

Relax. We're laughing that "think of the children" claimed your toys, too.

Re:Yay, we can stop this pernicious danger!

[KGIII]

When I was younger we would take the lawn darts out back into the yard at night. We'd throw them straight up and then run around underneath them hoping that we'd not die. Amazingly, nobody died or was ever hurt from that game and I'm not sure how we managed to be that stupid and that lucky. Either way we were really stupid but we had a lot of fun. They need to bring Jarts back and they need to specifically prohibit me and my childhood friends from playing with them. Again, we were really lucky and really stupid. We all survived to adulthood - most of us are quite successful today.

ffs

[maliqua]

Why is it the governments job to parent. keep an eye on kids, teenagers? lol teenagers if they eat them that's natural selection

death to children and teenagers.

[Osgeld]

children, maybe teenagers?

come on thats not saftey that Darwin, if your teenager is eating magnets then wtf are they going to do with a car, or the right to vote OMFG

Re: death to children and teenagers.

[White Flame]

The situation that I heard about was teenagers (presumably at the lower end of that age range) accidentally ingesting them from putting them on their lips, tongue or teeth in trying to simulate piercings & jewelry.

It's still absolutely retarded that the CPSC is so bent on banning these things. I think the extent of their influence is getting them off retail store shelves, not outlawing their sale completely.

"At least" they've only gone after Buckyballs, not the other manufacturers. I bought mine from NeoCube, as they're by far the cheapest for their large combo set. Buckyballs are expensive. As NeoCube and others (like Zen Magnets) generally only sell online, I'm not sure if they're in the CPSC's reach.

Re: death to children and teenagers.

[deimtee]

"At least" they've only gone after Buckyballs, not the other manufacturers. I bought mine from NeoCube, as they're by far the cheapest for their large combo set. Buckyballs are expensive. As NeoCube and others (like Zen Magnets) generally only sell online, I'm not sure if they're in the CPSC's reach.

There's a banner on Neocube's website now that says :
THESE PRODUCTS ARE NOT FOR CHILDREN UNDER 14!! Please Read All Warnings
NOT FOR SALE INSIDE THE U.S.

Incredibly stupid

[Zaldarr]

There was a big hoo-ha in Australia about 6mo ago where a 12 year old kid swallowed a bunch of them that were sitting on a high shelf in his father's locked study. So the kid, who is 12 and should have known better, went into his fathers office, climbed up the shelf, pulled down metal balls and proceeded to eat them. The mother went on to campaign for them to be pulled from Australian stores, which they were 4 months later.

Now the infuriating thing about this is that because of one *incredibly* stupid kid everybody doesn't get some awesome toys. My 26 year old brother in law is pretty annoyed because he spends a lot of his free time tinkering with big blocks of them and now he can't get anymore. These are not children's toys and it is foolish to ban them entirely because some dumbass kid was stupid. By that logic you'd have to ban every adult product on the logic that it was not safe for children

Re:Incredibly stupid

[grumbel]

So the kid, who is 12 and should have known better, went into his fathers office, climbed up the shelf, pulled down metal balls and proceeded to eat them.

The kid didn't just ate them for the fun of it, it swallowed them accidentally while pretending to have a pierced tongue. You might still call that stupid, but that's well in the realm of normal child stupidity (I for one prefer to call that creativity).

These are not children's toys

It's looks like a toy, it plays like a toy and is fun like a toy. The very problem with them is that it is not obvious how dangerous those things can be.

A growing problem

[Animats]

The risk for teenagers comes from attempts to use magnets to simulate piercings.

See "Magnet Ingestions in Children Presenting to United States Emergency Departments from 2002 to 2011." "A national estimate of 16,386 (95% CI: 12,175-20,598) children The incidence of visits increased 8.5-fold (0.45 per 100,000 to 3.75 per 100,000) from 2002 to 2011 with a 75% average annual increase per year. The majority of patients reported to have ingested magnets were under 5 years (54.7%). From 2009-2011 there was an increase in older children ingesting multiple small and/or round magnets, with a mean average age of 7.1+-0.56 years over the study period. "

Re:A growing problem

[thegarbz]

Smoking is a problem. Motor vehicle accidents are a problem. Guns related deaths (some say it isn't) are a problem.

A product that has sold 2.2million sets resulting in 33 surgical procedures and 1 death since 2010 is NOT a problem.

Re:A growing problem

[dgatwood]

Could you please supply the exact number of children's deaths over a 3 year period that you believe would justify banning the product. Thanks.

For perspective, on average 25 kids die every year from plastic bags. On average, 350,000 kids require emergency room care and 200 kids die every year from bicycle accidents, and that's a toy designed for use by kids. I can't give you an exact number, but it should certainly be several orders of magnitude greater than the number of kids injured or killed by Buckyballs.

Either that or ban all bicycles and plastic bags, including garbage bags.

Re:A growing problem

[thegarbz]

No. But it's damn well higher than one. As a quick guide think of the things we as a society take for granted and then consider how many people get killed by it each year.

But then it's not a case of absolutes either. The primary purpose of buckyballs is not to be eaten. As such a child related death due to ingestion is simple bad supervision by parents. Accidental deaths are attributed to all manner of products used improperly. A teenager got killed opening a computer powersupply, does that mean we should ban all computers? On the other hand a safety device like a seatbelt pretensioner failing and causing one death over a three year period is cause for alarm as the device failed to perform it's primary purpose.

Warning

[thegarbz]

In news tonight the CPSC have called for more warning labels on things that could potentially in rare cases cause death or hospitalisation. This follows the single reported death due to ingestion of bucky balls, a popular product designed exclusively to kill babies. One Californian senator however says the CPSC is dragging its feet and has a long way to go to protect Americans. He has repeatedly criticized the CPSC over its lack of interest and regulation of gun sales urging both the department and retailers to place signs on all ammunition saying "Warning: May contain lead".

Over my dead body

[TheReaperD]

You can have my BuckyBalls when you pry them from my cold dead fingers!

Re:Over my dead body

[cffrost]

You can take my Buckballs when you dig them out of my cold, rotting intestines. ;o)

In releted news ...

[PPH]

... CERN's LHC will be decommissioned due to fears that scientists might swallow the accelerator magnets.

Labelling

[VirginMary]

When I was living in the US, I enjoyed showing my German friends labels from water bottles that listed 0% fat, with the comment: "Look, they sell fat-free water in the US, quite unlike all the fatty water that is being sold in Germany!" ;-)