CPSC wants to ban Buckyballs because kids keep eating them

Link

Even though Buckyballs are explicitly marketed to adults only and bear a ludicrous number of "DO NOT EAT" warnings, CPSC still finds them such a huge danger to humanity that they must be banned. I know these things are a bit pricy for a desk toy but if it makes you happy that they exist, or if you're just sick of people trying to protect us from our own stupidity, consider making a big deal about this.

What's next, banning miracles?

Just think of it as passive eugenics.

And yet nobody ever thinks of banning kids...

I dislike this type of regulation, but I can't say I'm surprised. Politicians need regular "wins" in "public safety" for PR purposes, and this is low-hanging-fruit.

As someone with a four and a half month old little boy who's current mission in life is to stick everything he can gets his hand on in his mouth, I have to say I have no problem with this ban.

Balls.

Badferret wrote:

As someone with a four and a half month old little boy who's current mission in life is to stick everything he can gets his hand on in his mouth, I have to say I have no problem with this ban.

You could not buy them or perhaps watch what your kids are doing.

Dr.Ghastly wrote:
Badferret wrote:

As someone with a four and a half month old little boy who's current mission in life is to stick everything he can gets his hand on in his mouth, I have to say I have no problem with this ban.

Or you could not buy them, or watch what you kids eat/do, or [insert take personal responsibility here]

This. My son just turned 3. He has an oral hyposensitivity (meaning he compulsively needs extra oral stimulation - sensory issues are common with PDD-NOS/autistic children) so he tries to chew on everything. Ever since he was able to pick things up he's tried putting things in his mouth. And I don't mean once or twice a day. I mean once or twice every 5 minutes. For 3 years so far. Think of the average kid times 1,000,000. It takes a lot of supervision. It means Wifey and I can't really look away for any length of time. It means going over everything in our house with a fine toothed comb on a weekly basis and making sure there is nothing that could pose a hazard to our son.

Yet never in a million years would I seek to ban buckyballs just to make my job easier as a parent and deprive someone of the chance to play with buckyballs.

Veggie is right. This is low-hanging fruit. As Lobster said, these are already marketed explicitly for adults.

Badferret wrote:

As someone with a four and a half month old little boy who's current mission in life is to stick everything he can gets his hand on in his mouth, I have to say I have no problem with this ban.

But should your child should stop me from buying them?

This is kind of like, GTA4 isn't appropriate for children, so adults shouldn't be able to buy it either.

Dr.Ghastly wrote:
Badferret wrote:

As someone with a four and a half month old little boy who's current mission in life is to stick everything he can gets his hand on in his mouth, I have to say I have no problem with this ban.

You could not buy them or perhaps watch what your kids are doing.

And I wouldn't buy them and I most certainly do watch my son, but the fact of the matter is that babies and small kids often swallow small objects, and not all kids have parents who are as careful as they should be.

Surely, most people are familiar with the concept that toys need to be a certain size, and that this standard is often applied to objects that kids could construe as toys. Laundry detergent manufactures have recently had to beef up their packaging for their laundry ball products for example.

And what happens when the owner of some Buckyballs decides they are just wasting space and gives them to goodwill or sells them at a yard sale to people who don't know the risk? What happens when an older sibling drops them on their bedroom floor and a few roll under a bed and are eventually found by a toddler, or imagine the same scenario, but substitute a cousin for the older sibling.

Could the makers of Buckyballs not just redesign them in a larger size? I just have a hard time getting worked up as an example of the nanny state just because these magnets appeal to geeks.

Badferret wrote:
Dr.Ghastly wrote:
Badferret wrote:

As someone with a four and a half month old little boy who's current mission in life is to stick everything he can gets his hand on in his mouth, I have to say I have no problem with this ban.

You could not buy them or perhaps watch what your kids are doing.

And I wouldn't buy them and I most certainly do watch my son, but the fact of the matter is that babies and small kids often swallow small objects, and not all kids have parents who are as careful as they should be.

Surely, most people are familiar with the concept that toys need to be a certain size, and that this standard is often applied to objects that kids could construe as toys. Laundry detergent manufactures have recently had to beef up their packaging for their laundry ball products for example.

And what happens when the owner of some Buckyballs decides they are just wasting space and gives them to goodwill or sells them at a yard sale to people who don't know the risk? What happens when an older sibling drops them on their bedroom floor and a few roll under a bed and are eventually found by a toddler, or imagine the same scenario, but substitute a cousin for the older sibling.

Could the makers of Buckyballs not just redesign them in a larger size? I just have a hard time getting worked up as an example of the nanny state just because these magnets appeal to geeks.

All of this applies to every cleaning product ever made, every sharp object, every toxic substance that can be bought in a hardware store. What if what if what if? It's real easy to go along with a ban I guess unless it's something that matters to you.

Badferret wrote:

Could the makers of Buckyballs not just redesign them in a larger size?

How large do they need to be? Larger than an infant's mouth?

muttonchop wrote:
Badferret wrote:

Could the makers of Buckyballs not just redesign them in a larger size?

How large do they need to be? Larger than an infant's mouth?

Bigger. Toddlers obsessively eat everything too.

This happens simply because it's possible to sue over sh*t that should be personal responsibility. "My kid ate your (only for adults) toy! You should have prevented, um, something!" And politics, of course. I f*cking hate stuff like this. If my child had eaten something, I'd blame me! I left something that wasn't for her where she could get it and she did what kids do. How that's anyone's fault but mine is beyond me.

Badferret wrote:
Dr.Ghastly wrote:
Badferret wrote:

As someone with a four and a half month old little boy who's current mission in life is to stick everything he can gets his hand on in his mouth, I have to say I have no problem with this ban.

You could not buy them or perhaps watch what your kids are doing.

And I wouldn't buy them and I most certainly do watch my son, but the fact of the matter is that babies and small kids often swallow small objects, and not all kids have parents who are as careful as they should be.

Surely, most people are familiar with the concept that toys need to be a certain size, and that this standard is often applied to objects that kids could construe as toys. Laundry detergent manufactures have recently had to beef up their packaging for their laundry ball products for example.

And what happens when the owner of some Buckyballs decides they are just wasting space and gives them to goodwill or sells them at a yard sale to people who don't know the risk? What happens when an older sibling drops them on their bedroom floor and a few roll under a bed and are eventually found by a toddler, or imagine the same scenario, but substitute a cousin for the older sibling.

Could the makers of Buckyballs not just redesign them in a larger size? I just have a hard time getting worked up as an example of the nanny state just because these magnets appeal to geeks.

So there's no Legos in your house either, right? Or coins? Jewelry, particularly stud earrings? Pencil erasers? Nuts, bolts, screws? Beads? Sewing needles? Barbie doll accessories? Hair ties? Batteries? That last one is arguably worse than magnets, by the by.

All of those are things that my children have consumed and/or attempted to consume. And in every case that they went to the ER for a coin or legos or what have you, it wasn't the fault of the kid eating it. Fact is, little ones figure a lot out by putting stuff in their mouth. It's the natural order of things. But banning things that are small because children put them in their mouth is heavyhanded at best and idiotic at worst.

ColdForged wrote:

This happens simply because it's possible to sue over sh*t that should be personal responsibility. "My kid ate your (only for adults) toy! You should have prevented, um, something!" And politics, of course. I f*cking hate stuff like this. If my child had eaten something, I'd blame me! I left something that wasn't for her where she could get it and she did what kids do. How that's anyone's fault but mine is beyond me.

+1

This proposed recall and ban is ridiculous.

Ban small rocks, while there's still time.

Buckyballs have not resulted in a single death as far as I can tell. Surgeries, yes. Deaths, no. On the other hand, you get around a dozen choking deaths just from small toys each year (children's toys!). And "drowning is responsible for more deaths among children 1-4 than any other cause except congenital anomalies (birth defects)" along with "among children ages 1 to 4, most drownings occur in home swimming pools." (Source: CDC) And still around 200 children 4 and under die from accidental poisoning each year. (source)

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Buckyballs have not resulted in a single death as far as I can tell. Surgeries, yes. Deaths, no. On the other hand, you get around a dozen choking deaths just from small toys each year (children's toys!). And "drowning is responsible for more deaths among children 1-4 than any other cause except congenital anomalies (birth defects)" along with "among children ages 1 to 4, most drownings occur in home swimming pools." (Source: CDC) And still around 200 children 4 and under die from accidental poisoning each year. (source)

We must ban pools and bathtubs, obviously. /snark

Bought a set. I've expounded on this before, but I really think that the world became a much worse place when we decided that we had to ban anything even vaguely dangerous "for the children" or for "the safety of others". You can't buy a decent chemistry set anymore because if you want cool chemicals, you're either a) terrorist, b) terrible parent, or c) unsafe for others. Kids are surprisingly resilient and curious, and yes, inevitably some of them will pay for that regardless of how carefully they're watched. That's life. Most of the best stuff in life carries some risk, and making children the primary focus of what our country allows or doesn't allow is madness. Of course we'll all try to keep the kids safe, but sometimes you just have to accept that they're going to climb trees, skate on lakes, throw rocks at each other, eat stuff off of the ground, ride a bicycle over a ramp, and play rough sports.

Don't even get me started on how many awesome medications aren't available (or are recalled) because some infinitesimal number of people had a bad reaction to it.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Ban small rocks, while there's still time.

My childhood home had a long gravel driveway. It's a miracle I'm still alive.

AnimeJ wrote:

So there's no Legos in your house either, right? Or coins? Jewelry, particularly stud earrings? Pencil erasers? Nuts, bolts, screws? Beads? Sewing needles? Barbie doll accessories? Hair ties? Batteries? That last one is arguably worse than magnets, by the by.

All of those are things that my children have consumed and/or attempted to consume. And in every case that they went to the ER for a coin or legos or what have you, it wasn't the fault of the kid eating it. Fact is, little ones figure a lot out by putting stuff in their mouth. It's the natural order of things. But banning things that are small because children put them in their mouth is heavyhanded at best and idiotic at worst.

Yes, I know this, and again I am not personally asking for help with parenting. I don't actually fear these magnets for my son, rather, reading news articles about the potential dangers made me imagine the anguish parents would be going through.

And now for confession time, I didn't click on lobster's link, instead I erroneously assumed it was a news article like this one. The article includes the following:

Buckyballs, made in China, were initially marketed as a children’s toy when they were introduced in this country more than three years ago, the commission’s complaint said.

In May 2010, the company voluntarily recalled 175,000 Buckyball sets at the commission’s request because their labels said products were intended for ages 13 and older. Federal rules prohibit such loose magnets from being sold to kids younger than 14. Since the recall, the company has changed its labeling to reflect the older demographic. The company has put warnings in five places on its packaging to notify consumers that its products are not intended for children. And it has set up a Web site devoted to educating doctors, parents and retailers about safe use of its magnets.

The commission continued to receive reports of injuries to children even after it worked with the company to warn the public about the dangers. The commission issued a safety alert in November 2011.

In its lawsuit, the CPSC said the warnings alone are not effective and that the misuse of these magnets is “inevitable.” Despite the warnings, parents and children do not appreciate the hazards, the lawsuit said.

Also, once the magnets are removed from their carrying cases or shared among children, the end users may not have had any exposure to the warnings.

The North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition said it has seen an increase in magnet ingestion among children and teens. On Wednesday, the group and some consumer advocates voiced support for the lawsuit.

Mark Gilger, a gastroenterology specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, said his hospital has had five young patients who have swallowed tiny magnets in the past four months. One required surgery.

Maria Oliva-Hemker, chief of the pediatric gastroenterology division at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, said some children have lost substantial parts of their small bowel by swallowing Buckeyballs-type magnets. “We know of cases . . . where you can have an entire string of these magnets hooking together in the intestines,” she said.

Again, in my mind, the quoted section seems reasonable to me, but I must admit that I had never heard of buckyballs before and obviously have no attachment to them. The article mentions that the CPSC has only brought a suit twice in the last decade and seems to use it as much as a negotiating tactic to get stronger safe guards or packaging.

I've got 5 kids. Just about all of them have been to the ER for ingesting foreign objects; at this point the only thing that really worries me is my 20 month old getting hold of batteries, he gets some sort of buzz touching them to his tongue and completing a circuit. I figure everything else will pass through fine.

AnimeJ wrote:

I've got 5 kids. Just about all of them have been to the ER for ingesting foreign objects; at this point the only thing that really worries me is my 20 month old getting hold of batteries, he gets some sort of buzz touching them to his tongue and completing a circuit. I figure everything else will pass through fine.

Heh, I don't think I will share your experience with my wife, as admittedly we are still in the bubble room mentality with our first born. Batteries are definitely another thing on our radar, especially the little nickle size ones found in remotes.

Bucky balls?

IMAGE(http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7swplW9jB1qgnv86.jpg)

Badferret wrote:
AnimeJ wrote:

I've got 5 kids. Just about all of them have been to the ER for ingesting foreign objects; at this point the only thing that really worries me is my 20 month old getting hold of batteries, he gets some sort of buzz touching them to his tongue and completing a circuit. I figure everything else will pass through fine.

Heh, I don't think I will share your experience with my wife, as admittedly we are still in the bubble room mentality with our first born. Batteries are definitely another thing on our radar, especially the little nickle size ones found in remotes.

While my situation's a bit different(Oldest two are technically stepkids), I was a bit like that with my firstborn too, so I definitely know the feeling. But having spent a great deal of time in the ER when I was a kid, I'm of the opinion that a trip or three won't kill them, and in general is good for moral fiber and character and all that stuff.

Our 10mo is always putting stuff in his mouth that's not HIS toys (he has taken a liking to paper at the moment), therefore, buckyballs will not be in our house. I figure it's my job and tomaytohead's job as his parents to not have things like that in our home or to keep them completely out of his reach (our computer room door is always closed unless we are in here and both of our hands are free).

Buckyballs are done.

Due to baseless and relentless legal badgering by a certain four letter government agency, it's time to bid a fond farewell to the world's most popular adult desktoys, Buckyballs and Buckycubes. That's right: we're sad to say that Balls & Cubes have a one-way ticket to the Land-of-Awesome-Stuff-You-Should- Have-Bought-When-You-Had-the-Chance.

There are still a few thousand sets of Buckyballs, Buckycubes, and Chromatics in stock and available for purchase online.

But act fast; once they're gone, they're gone for good.

http://www.getbuckyballs.com/

What crap.

Michikodesu wrote:

Our 10mo is always putting stuff in his mouth that's not HIS toys (he has taken a liking to paper at the moment), therefore, buckyballs will not be in our house. I figure it's my job and tomaytohead's job as his parents to not have things like that in our home or to keep them completely out of his reach (our computer room door is always closed unless we are in here and both of our hands are free).

Yay for good parenting!