cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45088835
A 13-year-old boy in New Zealand swallowed up to 100 high-power magnets he bought on Temu, forcing surgeons to remove tissue from his intestines, doctors said on Oct 24.
After suffering four days of abdominal pain, the unnamed teen was taken to Tauranga Hospital on the North Island.
“He disclosed ingesting approximately 80 to 100 5x2mm high-power (neodymium) magnets about one week prior,” said a report by hospital doctors in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
The magnets, which have been banned in New Zealand since January 2013, were bought on online shopping platform Temu, they said.
An X-ray showed the magnets had clumped together in four straight lines inside the child’s intestines.
“These appeared to be in separate parts of bowel adhered together due to magnetic forces,” they said.
[…]
Surgeons operated to remove the dead tissue and retrieve the magnets, and the child was able to return home after an eight-day spell in hospital.
“This case highlights not only the dangers of magnet ingestion but also the dangers of the online marketplace for our paediatric population,” said the authors of the paper, Dr Binura Lekamalage, Dr Lucinda Duncan-Were and Dr Nicola Davis.
Surgery for ingestion of magnets can lead to complications later in life such as bowel obstruction, abdominal hernia and chronic pain, they said.
[…]
Not gonna lie, banning 5x2mm magnets is insane. They’re very useful, I’ve seen countless DIY projects or 3D print models that use them and in general they’re just handy. It seems insane to me to ban them for such a reason. There are infinite ways in which children can hurt themselves, should we ban stoves because they can get hot? That ban sounds a bit too much to me.
The ban was specifically in the context of toys.
We banned toy magnets. Magnets for other purposes are still completely legal.
Ah, ok, thar is some much needed context
Exactly. I never heard of a magnet ban in my life.
But how do they work?
“You can’t explain that.” ~ Bill O’Reilly
Magnetic field comes in and field comes out. You can’t explain that
Something like magnets are outstanding in their field.
Bucky Balls were banned in the USA for 4 or 5 years.
Where they banned in all their various applications? Because I had a scare when my 2-year-old granddaughter found a box with a magnetic latch and the magnet had been torn out. We thought she ate it. But after scouring the area we found it, and it’s a thin neodymium magnet. Went through the whole house making sure boxes like that were out of her reach.
One magnet is harmless. The problem is when you eat more than one, and they pinch their way through the intestine.
Or a magnet and some other ferrous metal. That might be more likely than multiple magnets sometimes.
I think the post actually stated ‘banned’, not band.
And actually it’s auto correct that will be the end of us.
So, New Zealanders can’t magnetize their Warhammer minis? What do they do if there are rule changes that affect their unit loadout? This is a human rights abuse!
And they laugh at the USA because Kinder eggs with toys in them are banned.
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They’re laughing at USA for other reasons, mate.
Well sure, but we’re also laughing about the kinder egg thing.
I am so confused. Why did he eat them? Magnets are banned in New Zealand since 2013? Are they marketed as special eating magnets?
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Small high-powered magnets, specifically
Small strong magnets are harmless to play with – but if they are ingested or inhaled, they can become attracted to each other and join up in the digestive system. If left untreated, this can result in major tissue damage, sepsis and even death.
So basically banned for this exact reason.
In…inhaled…?
They’re pretty small and kids like to stick things up their noses.
Sniffing magnets get you fucked up.
You don’t snort a line of magnets before hitting the club? What a square.
It’s fine if you only eat one, though. Just make sure it’s out before eating another one. 🤷♂️
This is exactly what I do and it’s never bothered me.
I am almost afraid to ask… but why eat magnets?
How else is he going to get out all the metal shards he ate?! It’s like if a bird gets stuck in the wall and you use a cat to get the bird out!
What are you smoking and can I have some, please?
Of course, you just gotta wrestle the bag from the racoon!
Well I did! But I didnt wrestle the raccoon, I helped him get some more from a greedy cigar smoking capitalist aardvark, then we danced to this all night.
Of course when I woke up there was just a bunch of dead raccoons around me and I was wearing a shirt that said ‘nyuk nyuk nyuk’ with the three stooges… something tells me I might have already been high the whole time!
I’m sorry. I can’t hear you over the 80s oozing from this song!
I think the kid might’ve been avoiding hardware disease
They do that by feeding cows magnets.
(no but seriously 100 small magnets on purpose is something else)
It could be a desperate suicide attempt. The magnets get trapped in the bowels by sticking together at various points, necrotizing or rupturing the intestines or other tissues, which can cause peritonitis or ultimately sepsis, which can be fatal.
That is such a slow and painful and unsure way to commit suicide though…
Agreed. A few of my physician/nursing friends mentioned that they see these kinds of injuries on rare occasions and have always been attributed to patients in serious mental/emotional distress, so this level of desperation is unfortunately still out there.
Pica?
Was scratching my head wondering what got him into swallowing so many of those magnets for no other logical reason in the first place, except maybe because of some online Tiktok dare where logic is thrown out of the window.
Free bus rides. Just stick to the side.
Why are kids eating magnets now?
Six seven, obviously.
60-70* We have now changed the meme.
It increases the vibe
Bullshit propaganda to try to soften age restrictions coming in to fkin everything.
That’s unusual for a teenager to do, I’m curious why he did that. My first guess would be a developmental delay vs a dare?
How else does one become magneto?
Pica?
teenagers are fucking stupid. never forget that.
when i was a teenager, my friend and I got into a BB gun fight without any eye protection, i nearly lost an eye.
Do you still see eye to eye with them today?
Teens are dumb.
adults these days are also fucking stupid and incompetent
god I fucking love generalisations
The brain is not fully developed till your 30’s.
No need to brag
I wouldn’t even go that far, given some of the adults I’ve met.
All generalisations are great.
🥇
That’s true. But they don’t normally eat 100 magnets.
Just laundry tabs. Lol
Teens eat Tide pods on what’s essentially a dare.
Most of those occured after mainstream reporting. Usually it goes like this, some weird trend happens online, some real, some ironic, some making fun of said trend as if they were real, mainstream media picks up the story and signal boosts to the rest of the country, teens see the trend on clips of the news story and copies it, boom sudden epidemic of said trend. These trends, or memes suddenly propogate with great effect, not unlike a biological spread really.
Because our children being fucking dumb enough that 86 of them ate LAUNDRY DETERGENT is an issue.
It’s true that since the Tide Pod Challenge began, the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPC) has received 86 reports of teenagers intentionally ingesting laundry detergent. Yet at the end of last year, the AAPC reported that over 10,500 children under the age of five were exposed to laundry pods in 2017 (for example ingesting, inhaling, or absorbing the detergent). If we are going to have a mass panic about poisonings, ten thousand children are clearly in greater danger than less than a hundred teens. So why was it that only the Tide Pod Challenge that made pearl-clutching headlines across the globe?
I think the bigger problem is that adults focus on issues that are marketed to us than the issues that actually exist
Direct focus to a moral panic, no need to look at the real issues that could hit the bottom line.
Their grandparents used to chew on lead paint chips so lets not pretend this is new
Lead is sweet which makes this an unfair comparison
So is antifreeze and I don’t remember the drink antifreeze challenge so idk about that. Not to mention the reason people chose tide pods was because of the sensory feeling they gave dissolving in your mouth, so it’s a lot more similar than you make it out to be. Just a case of taste vs texture.
There have been multiple instances a while back of people in northern Canadian “dry” communities being poisoned from drinking antifreeze and pop/soda.
“only”!?
This is fucking stupid. A 13 year old is old enough to read the “don’t fucking eat this you dumbass” labels on the packaging. Do you know how useful neodymium magnets are? You’re gonna just ban them cuz this kid’s dumb enough to swallow a hundred fucking rare earth magnets and didn’t go to the doctor for half a week? Stupid
Yeah stop banning everything that can hurt you because ONE person does something stupid. Like we say in my language, one time is zero times. Everything can hurt you. If many people start doing it, maybe it’s time to consider a ban.
For example, a big contention of 16 year olds being able to drink was one teenager going to a bar and drinking 43 shots of tequila and killing himself.
That should be a case of the bartender being guilty of manslaughter or something. “Accessory to the death of another” or summit? I dunno. Nobody should be served 43 shots, let alone children.
They’re banned since 2014 because apparently multiple people had the idea to eat them for whatever reason
Better ban the ocean then. I heard millions of people decide to go swimming in it every day and some of them drown.
What the shit aotearoa
Magnets from Temu were probably just loose in a bag or some bubble wrap with no warning label. People should know they’re not food anyway, but defying a warning label wasn’t the particular flavour of dumbness exhibited here.
Next they’re going to ban CR2032 button cells
(I was gonna put a /s at the end but I can vividly imagine that happening now :/ )
Not sure if you’re aware, but Duracell and probably others coat button batteries in a chemical that tastes bad in order to discourage ingestion.
I see where these regulations are coming from, but we can’t just ban away anything that could be harmful. I just recently bought a bunch of magnets like these for a using in 3D printed models. I don’t have any kids, but I do have pets and so they’re stored away in their own case and not left around. People just need to be responsible. I mean, we don’t ban bleach but you sure as hell shouldn’t drink it!
I was at a company picknic this summer and was watching people trying to play a pitiful version of Lawn Darts. The darts were weighted but would just bounce off the ground and ruin a good shot. Lawn darts, or darts of any kind, simply don’t work as a game when you take the pointy end away. I will say though, that a company outing where there’s people milling about is not a good place to play lawn darts, so I wouldn’t have used the real ones here even if you could.
Proper product packaging, like we use in medicine canisters, and perhaps an extra disclaimer/waiver on purchase is the way to go on these things IMO.
I agree that most of these safety bans are stupid. Lawn darts though? I don’t see a reason for the old version. Sure, without a dart it may bounce, but that becomes part of the game. It’s like some saying horseshoes is ruined because they bounce sometimes. Or curling is ruined because the stone slides too far. It’s just more skill that’s needed to account for the fact it could bounce.
Lawn darts was a dangerous game to begin with, so I’m not too shaken up about losing it, but I disagree that the bouncing is part of the game. No ground is perfectly even, and you can’t see imperfections from where you throw. It just creates randomness and makes it not worth playing. These aren’t issues in the other examples you cited. My opinion, obviously.
You could say the same about puting in golf. Reading the ground is a huge part of it. It’s something good players do and bad players don’t.
I don’t think you can compare a park/field to a manicured putting green. You can’t see the ground through the grass. Either way, play it if you like, to each their own.
Denatonoum Benzoate.
Intensely bitter compound used to prevent people from putting them into their mouths. Examples include nail polishes (to help nail biting habits), button cell batteries, and even Nintendo switch cartridges.
Denatonium - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatonium
Also if you’re having trouble with a low power devices with button cells. Wiping them down with isopropyl alcohol to clean off the bitter coating can help. Both my car keyfob and an AirTag both started working again after cleaning the brand new batteries.
In Australia CR2032s have a double wall thick plastic blister packaging that is basically impossible to open.
You need scissors AND some time.
This is an example of a sensible control. Double walled, difficult to open packages may be a small inconvenience for adults, but it makes it near impossible for a toddler to open. Button cell batteries are seriously dangerous if swallowed.
Banning neodymium magnets is fucking stupid, and unfortunately the world seems to be heading in the direction of banning everything in the name of “safety”.
Don’t forget the ink
Same in the US, apparently. I bought some to replace my car key remote battery. Guess what I don’t have in my car? Any kind of scissors.
Not to harp on you but one of those old school keychain Swiss Army knives should be on your key ring
Knife
In public
Not looking for a stiff fine or gaol time. Yes, a Swiss Army Knife on your keyring is considered a dangerous weapon here too.
(Legally, there is an exception for Utility knives, if you ‘have a good reason’ but it’s never given, people have been fined for having box cutters)
Usually I carry a little Leatherman folding knife, but I didn’t grab it that morning because I was just stepping out to replace a battery. I didn’t expect it to be a whole ordeal.
I had to double take at neodymium — wtf!!! Neodymium is completely standard for audio drivers, where the choice of the magnet is actually very important! My good old Philips 2XHR literally proudly advertise on the shell that they have a 50mm neodymium dynamic driver inside them… banning them is ridiculous
How is Temu allowed to sell items which are explicutly banned in that country?
I don’t know if this is the same loophole used in NZ as in the UK and EU, but in the UK and EU, lots of things are banned from retail rather than completely illegal. If they’re imported and the importer sells them without demonstrating that they’re safe, the importer has committed a crime. If the importer keeps them for personal use, that’s fine, though. In theory, people ordering things from outside the EU and importing them are supposed to be aware that they’re importing things and that the stores aren’t necessarily only selling CE-marked goods, so they’re responsible for checking that they’re safe themselves, but in practice, people just see an online shop and don’t make a distinction from a domestic online shop except the price and delivery time. The EU is working on a law to close this loophole in some way.
Customs cannot possibly scan every package coming in.
Parcel gets marked as childs toy.
Honestly pretty good chance it gets through.
https://www.productsafety.govt.nz/for-consumers/using-products-safely/small-high-powered-magnets
The ban does not apply to: hardware magnets magnets used for teaching, or magnets that are (or are intended to become) parts of other products.
NZ banned toys from having magnets like this, but not complete magnets sold for general purposes. The article is misleading.
Which is also more reasonable than banning it across the board.
Magnets are banned in New Zealand?
Some like Bucky Balls are banned in the USA as well.
The post States that the subject of the band are the small magnets.
Reading comprehension is going to be the end of us.
There’s a lot of worse things that could be the end of us…zombie kittens, for example
I think the post actually stated ‘banned’, not band.
And actually it’s auto correct that will be the end of us.
now they’ll never know how they work.
Banning teenagers was considered less practical.
It did have a higher popular support tho.
