Washington
Post: Because children have been swallowing the tiny
magnetic toys marketed as
Buckyballs, the US
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) filed a complaint
yesterday to get stores to stop selling them. Since 2009 at
least a dozen children have swallowed the high-powered magnets.
If two or more of the tiny balls are ingested, they can attract
each other across intestinal walls and cause serious injury or
death. Buckyballs' manufacturer, Maxfield and Oberton, has
refused to recall the product and calls the CPSC's actions
"unfair, unjust, and un-American." So far, the CPSC has
succeeded in getting about 10 retailers, including Amazon.com,
to drop the product.
