Kids’ ER Visits for Swallowed Magnets Soared After US Lifted Ban on Sale
Calls to U.S. poison centers about incidents involving children and high-powered magnets surged quite 400% after a court overturned a ban on the magnets, a replacement study finds.
“Regulations on these products were effective, and therefore the dramatic increase within the number of high-powered magnet-related injuries since the ban was lifted — even compared to pre-ban numbers — is alarming,” said Dr. Leah Middelberg. She’s the lead author of the study and medicine physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in Columbus, Ohio.
The small magnets began exposure in toys within the early 2000s and have caused thousands of injuries. They’re considered among the foremost dangerous ingestion hazards in kids, because when quite one is swallowed, the magnets attract to every other across the tissue, isolating blood supply to the bowel and causing obstructions, tissue death, sepsis, and even death, consistent with Nationwide Children’s.
In 2012, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) halted the sale of high-powered magnet sets and ordered a recall. Then it introduced a rule that effectively eliminated their sale, but the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the rule in December 2016.
In this study, researchers analyzed calls to U.S. poison centers from 2008 through October 2019 for magnet exposures in children aged 19 years and younger. the typical annual number of cases fell 33% between 2012 to 2017 thanks to the ban but rose 444% after it had been lifted.
👉Click Here and Check Our Recommended Weight Loss Supplement
There was also a 355% increase in the number of cases that were serious enough to need hospital treatment. Cases from 2018 and 2019 increased altogether age groups and accounted for 39% of magnet cases since 2008.
“Regulations on these products were effective, and therefore the dramatic increase within the number of high-powered magnet-related injuries since the ban was lifted — even compared to pre-ban numbers — is alarming,” Middelberg said during a hospital news release.
In all, there have been over 5,700 magnet exposures during the nearly 12-year study period. Most calls involved boys (55%); kids under age 6 (62%); and unintentional injury (84%).
Nearly half (48.4%) of patients were treated at a hospital or other health care facility while 48.7% were managed at another site, like a home, workplace, or school. Older kids were more likely than younger ones to be admitted to the hospital.
The study was published online recently within the Journal of Pediatrics.
Middelberg noted that oldsters don’t always know if their child swallowed something or what they swallowed.
“They just know their child is uncomfortable — so when children are brought in, an exam and sometimes X-rays are needed to work out what’s happening,” she said during a hospital news release. “Because the damage caused by magnets are often serious, it’s so important to stay these sorts of magnets out of reach of youngsters, and ideally out of the house .”
The researchers support federal legislation to limit the strength and/or size of magnets sold as a part of a group, also because the reinstatement of a CPSC federal safety standard might effectively restrict the sale of magnet products.
Comments
Post a Comment