Won't someone think of the children?
I think we should ban knives, and hot surfaces - to protect children of course.
Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
11–20 of 88 posts
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#12I was scared for a moment! I thought the headline referred to the C-60 fullerene supplement I've been taking for a few weeks. Carbon buckeyballs in an olive oil suspension dramatically increase mouse lifespan in a single recent study. Whew...
Well, it isn't looking good for C-60: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16709433 it has been six years and I have yet to hear any news about the bass. In all seriousness, would organ binding from within be an aspect of "toxicity"?
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#13Why is swallowing them so dangerous? Don't kids swallow pennies and what not? Then it leaves the body through normal bodily function?
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#14One 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 int…
A single clump early would actually dodge the worst outcome: where two separate magnets, one ahead of the other around an intestinal curve, attach to each other through the intestinal wall.
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#15Why is swallowing them so dangerous? Don't kids swallow pennies and what not? Then it leaves the body through normal bodily function?
Hmm... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXmmkH2Y7M0 it turns out its when you swallow 2 or more they pinch and squeeze the intestines.
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#16Children will do the craziest things if left unwatched for even a second. This year alone I've heard about kids drowning in backyard pools, a kid dancing on an air conditioner on a window sill (was caught by a passerby) and a kid dying because a soccer net fell on her.
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#17One 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 int…
I think the big difference is that thumb tacks are not a toy. These are a toy. They're marketed as a toy. They're given to children as a toy.
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#18One 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]...
I most certainly read this as OP swallowing a thumb tack.
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#19Why is swallowing them so dangerous? Don't kids swallow pennies and what not? Then it leaves the body through normal bodily function?
Because they're strong magnets. They stick to each other, even through tissue, like the folds of your intestines.
Re: Feds file suit against Buckyballs, retailers ban product
#20This 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.
After reading the complaint ( http://i.usatoday.net/money/_pdfs/cpsc-complaint-buckyballs.... ) I'm doubling down on that. This is one of the most asinine things I've ever read. Per paragraph 36, the CPSC complains that the product warnings are ineffective because parents and caregivers don't appreciate the hazard and will continue giving the magnets to children.
So adults fail to keep the product say from children, despite the clear warnings (which have already been upgraded by the distributor in response to a previous warning from the CPSC), but the CPSC thinks that amounts to a product defect. Also (pp 41-44) the magnets are too attractive and interesting to children, for whom it is 'developmentally appropriate' (p 17) to stick things in their mouth below the age of 14 or to make fake piercings as adolescents.
What. The. Fuck. On this basis we can go on to outlaw nails, screws, buts, bolts, and coins. We have about 15 sets of these things and don't want our money back. We're well aware of the hazard and don't allow children to play with them.