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Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product

usatoday.com

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Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product

#9

This is a nonsense suit. The first time we bought a box of these, one of the first things we noticed was the warning about the dangers of strong magnets and the risks of swallowing them in particular.

Seems like nonsense to me also. Obviously tiny round things can be swallowed easily. Now I understand the laws don't quite work that way, but still, it's not like this product could be manufactured in anyway to make it safer. And I don't think more warnings plastered over everything would help Buckyballs or consumers in general. We're polluted with warnings - just look at the roads in the US.

Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product

#10
post #4

One wonders how many children swallow, say, thumb tacks and whether this makes a prima facie case for the government to sue the manufacturers of all small pointy things. Sure enough, if one Googles [swallowed thumb tack]...

On investigation, and somewhat surprisingly to me, it seems that medical experts legitimately believe that swallowing these particular small metal objects are worse than swallowing garden-variety small metal objects because if you swallow e.g. 5 BB pellets then you'll pass 5 BB pellets but if you swallow 5 high-powered magnets you now have one single clump o' metal which is large/heavy/sharp enough to damage your intestinal tract.

I probably still wouldn't ban them but, hey, worth noting.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/story/2012-0...

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