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PARENTS ARE BEING warned to take extra care that their children do not swallow small magnets from toys after two recent cases where children required surgery to remove such objects.
Magnets were found lodged in the digestive systems of two young children in the UK in the last 18 months with both requiring surgery according to a letter published in the medical journal The Lancet.
In one case an 18-month-old child swallowed 10 small magnetic spheres and in the second case an eight-year-old swallowed two 2 centimetre long magnetic strips.
In both cases surgery was required after magnets were found lodged in the children’s digestive system.
While single small objects can pass through the digestive systems of young children without any problems, such as illness or internal damage, when several magnet elements are ingested it can lead to more severe problems such as fistulas.
Fistulas develop when soft internal tissue is trapped between the magnets and an abnormal connection is formed between the soft tissue inside the body.
This can lead to serious illness which may not be immediately noticeable to parents whose children will not experience any pain or discomfort initially.
One of the co-authors of the letter, Dr Anil Thomas George from Queen’s Medical Centre at Nottingham University Hospital, said: “We are particularly concerned about the widespread availability of cheap magnetic toys where the magnetic parts could become easily detached.
“Parents should be warned of the risk of magnet ingestion, particularly in small children. We believe that improvement in public awareness about this risk will be key in preventing such incidents”.
The letter further warns that as magnetic toys become increasingly popular and more cheap, there is an increased chance that the problem of accidental ingestion of magnetic elements will become more common.
Dr George added: “We would advise parents to be more vigilant and take extra care when giving their children toys that may contain magnets small enough to swallow.”
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I have to say my first thought on reading this was…”and in other news hitting children with hammers is bad for them.”
funniest comment iv read on this today… brilliant!
Dont swallow magnets or let others swallow magnets. Isn’t that kinda of common sense.
Must add magnets to the list, softdrinks, sweets etc!
Joking aside these toys kill. Not just choking. They rip your internal digestive system from the inside as the magnets want to join together internally and rip up your small intestines to do so. I’ve x rays before of kids who had died or had Large sections of their system removed to rate their lives.
Would that refer to swallowing the fridge magnets or the fridge itself?
No child should be allowed to swallow ANYTHING that is not meant to be swallowed! It takes parental involvement, of course- and normal intelligence.
It’s like saying ‘dont let your child eat the TV remote control,’ or swallow the dog, cat, etc., etc.
But Coco Magnets are his favourite!
Can’t believe they’re only warning parents. In America this type of construction toy was banned years ago after over a dozen kids died from swallowing them and not just young kids either.
What’s to stop a child picking up a stone and swallowing it or a broken piece of glass or 50cent… Banning the toy won’t stop kids choking.. It’s like the argument that they must ban backyard pools because a kid drowns… Then why not just fill in all the open water in Ireland with concrete.. nnWhy not just tell parents to be a bit more vigilant before you start shutting down a toy industry
Peter,
They have covered over all the open water in Ireland with concrete; it’s happened quietly and unnoticed during the building fever! Check your basement lately?
We should be ever grateful to the Irish bodge-builders for saving us all from falling into open water??
Now we can fall into the flooded sitting-roon instead.
Now how am I going to stick them to the fridge?
Can t see the attraction in swallowing a magnet.
It’s a new craze these days called bus sticking, they eat loads of magnets then throw themselves at buses and see who stays on the longest. It’s the next step up from planking
Is it April fools day again!!!!! If your child eats a magnet you should be arrested
Calm down.
arrested keith…really ? have u got kids? if so ul know its impossible to monitor their every move, taking away the hazard is sometimes the only option.
have your say