Magnetix Toy Recall
March 31, 2006 by Lei
Filed under Product Recalls
Following up on my previous warning about the dangers of swallowing parts from the Magnetix toy, the company has decided to officially recall 3.8 million kits. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has received reports of 34 incidents. And reader Melissa wrote to tell us about her family’s near death experiences with Magnetix.
My son just had abdominal surgery to remove two pieces of the toy building set, called Magnetix, that he swallowed. The pieces stuck together from different places in his bowel and wore holes in the bowel walls over time. His intestines shut down, causing a life-threatening bowel obstruction. He was seriously ill. He now has about a 5 inch scar up the middle of his belly. By God’s grace he survived.
Absolutely frightening to think my three-year-old has been enamored of his Magnetix set this week. I’m going to go find a replacement today. The ZOOB might be a good one.
Update: I just came back from Woolworths UK with a box of K’NEX.
More info on the recall at the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2006
Going by your previous posts, this action is long overdue!! I really hope plenty of people check and see this post. I may link to it via my bloggie if you don’t mind!! My blog isn’t that popular but every little helps right?
I’ve always had a preference for the modern wooden toys myself, my little one had a set of building bricks from day one. Went straight in the mouth of course but all the pieces are too big to do any harm and now she improvises so when she’s not knocking down my towers (yes I play with it too) she pretends its food and serves me green squares with cups of imaginary tea.
Andrea: Of course it’s ok if you link to it! No need to ask. I was just at Woolworths today and saw lots of Magnetix and asked a mom at school whether she knew about the latest controversy. She didn’t.
I love the way wooden toys feel and was lucky to pick up quite a lot in Vietnam – well-made and inexpensive.
Fellow parents, I hear there will be more developments on the Magnetix front…updates will be posted at my site. Please continue to spread the word about the dangers of toys with small magnets!
A Mom: Thanks for letting us know about your site.
Just want to repeat that the Magnetix recall is not a real recall. The toys are still on the shelves. The ‘recall’ is actually only a replacement program for those families that wish to trade their sets in for a suposedly safer model.
Remind all the parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles in your lives not to buy Magnetix for gifts this Christmas.
My son continues to do well after his surgery. I hope this is the last of it for us.
Best wishes – Melissa
Why are parents not watching their children closer with small toys and then blaming the manufactures?
Great toy for older children. Even the manufactuer says 6+ for the age. Just because your child is precocious doesn’t mean you should ignore the recommended are for the toy. I have to agree with Kristen
In my opinion Magnetix is NOT a great toy for older children. That is because no one would imagine that the magnets fall out of the ends of the bars, squares and triangles, but if you bought a defective set, they do. The 20+ parents whose children have had to have intestinal surgery had no idea that these tiny silver magnets might be lying in their carpet. What if your younger child comes upon these tasty looking items after your older kid has already put away his toy?
Sadly, another manufacturer has just admitted that they didn’t design their toys as safely as they should have, either. Mattel and the CPSC have entered into a voluntary recall of 9.5 million (18.2 million worldwide) Polly Pocket, Batman action figure and other sets where small magnets were not well secured. Check out cpsc.gov, service.mattel.com for the official recall notices. Or go to http://magnetscankill.spaces.live.com, where concerned parents have put together a complete list of all 63 affected Mattel models and links to their images.
Again….why are parents not thinking about these things??? Not everything is perfect and these toys and all toys are mass produced use your precaution with ANY toy. I cannot believe that so many parents blame manufacturers of toys! WATCH YOUR KIDS! Be aware of the toys and look over them and think about potential things that “could happen” how hard is that????
just want to update Kirsten a bit. Ok hunny, it’s not about who’s wrong or write. It’s not about pride, It’s not about the freedom that we should have the things we want. It’s about saving lives of little inecent children, no matter how un- educated their parents may or may not be. The US government has done an Update release for Magnetixs in April of 2007, with injuries coming from children 6-11 years of age. So even if the product (which it does!!!! I just went and check today at my hometown walmart!!!!!) say for 3+ years it is still not telling the whole truth. We are concerned parents who have every right to question anything that comes into our children’s hands and to stop doing that we would be letting our kids down. Now here is the kicker, at my home town walmart, guess where they have them???? IN THE LEGO SECTION FOR TOTTLERS!!!!!! So I called the Manager and we talked a bit and I asked her to atleast move them to the older kids section, there are in the 4 year old section right now and it’s been updated that it can effect children from 6-11 years of age. We don’t put beer and wine in a kids box and market it too them do we? Yet they do with Magnetixs. I mean, what Adult is going to buy magnetixs to play with????? Not me, to busy LOL. What older teenager is going to buy Magnetix???? Not mine, he’s to busy crusing main, playing on the football team, ect. Who is going to buy Magnetix????? CHILDREN AND THEY COMPANY KNOWS IT
Rose Art / Mega Brands profit in recall of Magnetix.
I brought a set for $12.99 and returned it unopened to the company. Today I received an email from the company stating they would credit me $2.48 to apply toward a purchase of another one of their products! What a rip-off! If this company continues to make products that are later recalled, they’ll always see profits.
I’m surprised this company hasn’t found itself in court over this!
That’s interesting Matt. Yeah, I wouldn’t want to use a coupon on a toy that I just returned because of a recall. That seems kind of weird. Thanks for commenting on this.
Gloria
4:36PM Oct 15/07
I bought Magnetix for my 6 year-old grandson. He swallowed one of the balls that is not
magnetic but we spent a very stressful week waiting for him to pass it. I know it is not as harmful as the magnets but he actually almost chocked. The ball is the size of a small marble. The package said 6 and up so I thought it was ok. I think it absolutely terrrible those things are still on the shelves.
My six year old son swallowed an action man hand gun. Ban them too I say.
Why not ban all toys that an unsupervised child can put into it’s mouth. Sue the manufacturers too!
WATCH YOUR KIDS FOR GODS SAKE!
My son swallowed 18 of the magnetix sticks, the sheer quantity saved him from surgery as they became connected in his stomach – large enough not to pass through to the intestines. They scoped him and removed all of them through his throat and out his mouth. Now we have thousands of dollars in medical bills because of this. Any idea if there is a way to contact the company and make our case?
Click on my name ‘Terry’ and it will take you to a pic of the xray.
Look, if your kids are to dumb yes i said dumb, to know not to swallow magnetix, or anything thats not food. thenmaybe you shouldnt buy them for them untill they are older or untill they know the difference bewteen eadible and not. But i am sorry for all the children who had to go through surgery.
We are on day 6 of the steel ball bearing in my 5 year old son’s stomach, with about 4 bm since this happened, and still no ball. all i want for xmas is a steel ball bearing…GI doc said not to worry. the ball was in his stomach on day 1..is it still in the stomach since we haven’t seen it? any tips? thanks
Anthony sometimes it is the genius that chooses to experiment! Look in your history books and you will see a lot of well meaning men who had a hard time listening to authority that did some dangerous things, like experiment with electricity. It happens! So watch your smart kids!
Well, they are just what they say, magnets. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the reaction of magnets. They stick together!!
What will they do in your body, Stick Together!!
Not to be harsh on the parents, but this goes along with other toys. There is always the potential for a seemingly harmless toy to go wrong, if not used under supervison. I like the toy and will keep it. It is educational and my child who is 9 likes it. She knows not to put it in her mouth. As a matter of fact, when I bought the toy, she knew about the recall. She said, I know not to put the pieces in my mouth.
Cammie is it possible that there isn’t another ball in their under disguise? Maybe they are sticking together between something. I hope it all works out in the end.
For all the people who keep ranting, “Watch your kids.” Apparently you don’t comprehend the fact that these “toys” are seriously wounding and killing children. Who cares your 9 year old knows not to put it in her mouth? Point is these are very powerful magnets that rip through a child’s intestines when swallowed one at a time. The old magnets we as children played with (refridgerator magnets) wouldn’t do that. Parents do watch their children, but say your 9 year old is playing with her set, puts it away, and your friends little toddler comes over. If a few little magnets fell out with no one’s knowledge, your sitting on a near fatal or fatal tragedy. So instead of flapping your lips on issues you obviously didn’t think through, take a breather and speak like a Parent, not like one of the manufacturers of this toy. Try not insulting other parent’s by putting down their children (calling toddlers dumb?), only an inept person would do so. If you don’t have words of wisdom, try listening, then maybe you’ll have something to say that is helpful, not damaging.
I agree with the last post. I watch my kids a lot. My 5 year old who never has ever put any toy in his mouth swallowed a 1 steel ball and thankfully it passed. These toys are awful!!
i have had magnex for years and never had a problum