ABC recently reported that Christin Rivas, a 14 year-old girl from Melbourne, Florida, required lower intestinal surgery after swallowing two small rare-earth magnetic desk toy balls. The article describes Rivas’s ordeal with the magnets in great detail, including how she came about swallowing them (she didn’t want to set them on the bathroom floor), how the doctors didn’t realize the danger at first (which could have resulted in her death, since the magnets had reached her small intestine and were not passing), and how she got a hold of the magnets in the first place (from a friend in her church group). The full article is readable here.
Small magnetic toys have appeared in the news a great deal lately. In November of 2011, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) began warning the public that small magnets were a serious swallowing danger for young children. Since the then, the organization has sued to recall some small magnetic products. In one instance, the CPSC has even sued the former CEO of Buckyballs.
