Magnet Toy Danger

If you have Magnetix toys, you might be interested in this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/busin ... agnet.html

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[houseelf]

Ack...My seven year has these. This is not a good combination with my orally fixated two year old.

thanks for the heads up!

Kelly

aw crap. we have about 700 of these ...

[peggyfromwastate]

Have them, locked up somewhere in my oldest daughter's room...

I didn't read the article, but can guess what the problem is.

Nope. The problem is when the plastic casing cracks and the teeny-tiny-super-strong magnets get swallowed. They're so strong that if a kid swallows more than one they don't move through their system and end up requiring surgery. Once it's figured out, that is.

[planet]

I also heard that swallowing more than one of the small magnets led to some perforated bowel problems when the magnets stuck together from different regions and basically tore the bowel. I did not see an article or anything so it is total hearsay, but the story circulated in the mom's group.

Yup, Janet. That is it -- the problem is when more than one is swallowed. Not that I recommend swallowing just one...

[Momo]

I feel so awful...I have received a few e-mail warnings about these, over the past few years! I just assumed that most other moms had gotten them in their e-mails as well...golly I'll start posting the announcements I get, here on the boards. I have a friend from back in MI, that is soooo on top of these things and is always forwarding me the recalls & warnings!

[peggyfromwastate]

I think the toy manufacturer knew this was possible, b/c the set is for 8 and older, I think. It may be like 5 and older but if I recall it had a really high age limit. But, I think this toy would appeal more to younger kids. Seems like it was a toy that was not meant to be marketed really. I think they should have seen this one coming.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

There was an article in the Chicago tribune about it a while back because it killed several small children. I believe that article was free if you're looking to read more. According to that article, the company really was quite negligent.