Muser
06-03-2008, 01:32 AM
Indiana Girl Hospitalized After Swallowing 30 Magnets From Toy (http://www.theindychannel.com/health/16366961/detail.html)
Indianapolis -- A popular toy called Magnetix -- a magnetic building set -- is becoming a controversy magnet.
Last year, there was a voluntary recall of millions of the toy sets after reports of children being injured from swallowing magnet pieces that fell out of the toy. One child even died.
After the recall, you'd expect these toys to be safer.
The company says they are, but if you ask one Indiana family, they'll tell you these magnets are still a danger.
Haley Lents is 8-years-old...and her doctor says she's lucky to be alive.
"I feel guilty because I put a very dangerous object in her hands, magnets that I had no idea were that powerful. I had no idea they were that attractive for a child...I might as well handed her a gun," said the girl’s father, Jason Lents.
Nearly two weeks ago, the Lents rushed Haley to the hospital for emergency surgery.
While playing at home with the popular toy Magnetix, Haley swallowed 20 steel balls and 10 magnets.
This is the x-ray taken of Haley - where you can see all the small pieces... pieces doctors say were ripping holes in her intestines.
"She had multiple areas where the magnets had stuck together between different loops of intestines," said Dr. Alan Ladd, Riley Hospital for Children.
Haley says she thought the small shiny balls - looked like something she could eat.
"I like candy a lot so that's why I ate them,” Haley said from her hospital bed.
"She looked at me and said mommy and daddy am I going to die?” said Lents.
Haley’s parents didn't realize when they bought a Magnetix set last Christmas; the toy had already been recalled.
In 2006 and 2007, mega brands - recalled more than four million Magnetix sets, after the consumer product safety commission reported 27 intestinal injuries - and one death, after these toy magnets were ingested.
The company redesigned the product by encasing the powerful magnets in plastic – and added new safety warnings. And that redesigned toy appears to be what the Lents bought.
Yet, doctors say these magnets are so powerful that most parents don't realize if your child accidentally swallows only two of them - it could do enough internal damage, to actually cause death.
"There are a lot of parents who don't know they've got a time bomb in their toy box," said Lents.
Mega Brands stands behind its product - it says, it knows of one other case of a child who has swallowed a magnet rod since the recall.
The company also says it created a new product "designed to have no magnetic parts that can be swallowed." It will hit store shelves in July.
Too late for Haley, who is hoping to leave the hospital soon - and has a message for other children. "So don't eat them, kids," she said.
The age labels on the box state this toy is meant for children six years and up - but doctors say even older kids just can't seem to resist putting these little shiny pieces in their mouths.
Mega Brands tells us that this is a highly unusual and isolated case and does not indicate any problems with the company's magnetic toys on the market.
It says its toys meet the highest safety standards, and adds if a child swallows 30 pieces of any toy; it's likely to result in harm.
It points out, in this case, no magnets got loose from the product.
A spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission says it is investigating what happened in this case.And the story at Fox News:
Girl, 8, Survives Swallowing 20 Steel Marbles, 10 Magnets (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,361902,00.html#)
HUNTINGBURG, Ind. — The parents of an 8-year-old southern Indiana girl who swallowed 20 marble-size steel balls and half as many magnets from a building set want the toy completely removed from stores.and
"We're going to work toward getting them out of the schools and off the shelves," said Jason Lents, Haley's father.First off, I'm glad the child is going to be ok; however....
- anyone wondering how an 8-year-old - reportedly an A-B student - could be dumb enough to do something like this? "It looked like candy". Umm...wouldn't she've figured out it wasn't candy by the 3rd one? Something smells a bit not-quite-right in this story.
- anyone think the toy company should be forced to recall a toy because of the ignorance and negligence of both the child and the parents? I've seen toys far worse on the market, in terms of tiny bits and pieces that can be "easily swallowed". Smells like one of those "nanny-state" thingies to me.
Indianapolis -- A popular toy called Magnetix -- a magnetic building set -- is becoming a controversy magnet.
Last year, there was a voluntary recall of millions of the toy sets after reports of children being injured from swallowing magnet pieces that fell out of the toy. One child even died.
After the recall, you'd expect these toys to be safer.
The company says they are, but if you ask one Indiana family, they'll tell you these magnets are still a danger.
Haley Lents is 8-years-old...and her doctor says she's lucky to be alive.
"I feel guilty because I put a very dangerous object in her hands, magnets that I had no idea were that powerful. I had no idea they were that attractive for a child...I might as well handed her a gun," said the girl’s father, Jason Lents.
Nearly two weeks ago, the Lents rushed Haley to the hospital for emergency surgery.
While playing at home with the popular toy Magnetix, Haley swallowed 20 steel balls and 10 magnets.
This is the x-ray taken of Haley - where you can see all the small pieces... pieces doctors say were ripping holes in her intestines.
"She had multiple areas where the magnets had stuck together between different loops of intestines," said Dr. Alan Ladd, Riley Hospital for Children.
Haley says she thought the small shiny balls - looked like something she could eat.
"I like candy a lot so that's why I ate them,” Haley said from her hospital bed.
"She looked at me and said mommy and daddy am I going to die?” said Lents.
Haley’s parents didn't realize when they bought a Magnetix set last Christmas; the toy had already been recalled.
In 2006 and 2007, mega brands - recalled more than four million Magnetix sets, after the consumer product safety commission reported 27 intestinal injuries - and one death, after these toy magnets were ingested.
The company redesigned the product by encasing the powerful magnets in plastic – and added new safety warnings. And that redesigned toy appears to be what the Lents bought.
Yet, doctors say these magnets are so powerful that most parents don't realize if your child accidentally swallows only two of them - it could do enough internal damage, to actually cause death.
"There are a lot of parents who don't know they've got a time bomb in their toy box," said Lents.
Mega Brands stands behind its product - it says, it knows of one other case of a child who has swallowed a magnet rod since the recall.
The company also says it created a new product "designed to have no magnetic parts that can be swallowed." It will hit store shelves in July.
Too late for Haley, who is hoping to leave the hospital soon - and has a message for other children. "So don't eat them, kids," she said.
The age labels on the box state this toy is meant for children six years and up - but doctors say even older kids just can't seem to resist putting these little shiny pieces in their mouths.
Mega Brands tells us that this is a highly unusual and isolated case and does not indicate any problems with the company's magnetic toys on the market.
It says its toys meet the highest safety standards, and adds if a child swallows 30 pieces of any toy; it's likely to result in harm.
It points out, in this case, no magnets got loose from the product.
A spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission says it is investigating what happened in this case.And the story at Fox News:
Girl, 8, Survives Swallowing 20 Steel Marbles, 10 Magnets (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,361902,00.html#)
HUNTINGBURG, Ind. — The parents of an 8-year-old southern Indiana girl who swallowed 20 marble-size steel balls and half as many magnets from a building set want the toy completely removed from stores.and
"We're going to work toward getting them out of the schools and off the shelves," said Jason Lents, Haley's father.First off, I'm glad the child is going to be ok; however....
- anyone wondering how an 8-year-old - reportedly an A-B student - could be dumb enough to do something like this? "It looked like candy". Umm...wouldn't she've figured out it wasn't candy by the 3rd one? Something smells a bit not-quite-right in this story.
- anyone think the toy company should be forced to recall a toy because of the ignorance and negligence of both the child and the parents? I've seen toys far worse on the market, in terms of tiny bits and pieces that can be "easily swallowed". Smells like one of those "nanny-state" thingies to me.