ASTM International Meeting on Magnets in Toys
June 7, 2006 by Lei
Filed under Children's Toys, Product Recalls
Caroline Mayer of The Washington Post blog, The Checkout, reports that the toy industry met this week to examine the safety of magnetic toys. As many of you will remember, Magnetix has been in the news for a few months because several children needed surgery to remove the magnetic pieces they swallowed.
Safety officials said that the strength of the magnets may be what’s different; what’s been on refrigerator for years may have magnets far weaker than what’s currently in the building-block systems that use magnets. And some of the current magnets are so strong that if more than one is swallowed, they can be attracted to each other inside a child’s intestine, causing a potentially fatal perforation or blockage.
UK stores, such as Woolworth, are still selling Magnetix and I don’t recall seeing any specially made warnings to the effect that they’re not suitable for young children. It remains to be seen whether the ASTM subcommittee on toy safety will decide to require warning labels.
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