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.
[…]
Looks like they were 100% right to ban them.
Edit: see Naich’s reply to my comment. Neodymium magnets as a whole are not, indeed, banned; thanks for the correction!
Neodymium magnets are extremely important for many sectors. It is ridiculous to ban them.
Australia has, for example, shot itself in the foot vis-a-vis the small-audio company market with this, as neodymium magnets are widely used in speakers, headphones, IEMs, and even microphones. Many a legendary audio company has started out of someone’s garage, see KLH — this becomes exceedingly difficult when essential resources like neodymium magnets are not available.
Here is what are actually banned:
Magnets that are separate, loose, or supplied in multiples of two or more and meet all the following criteria are banned.
Source: https://www.productsafety.gov.au/business/find-banned-products/small-high-powered-magnets-ban
Can everyone calm down now?
Ah, touché! Clearly I should have looked this up first. Good on you for being civil about this, despite being wrongfully disciplined by trigger-happy lemmings like me (sorry about that), though.
Anyway, the Australian custom audio-driver sector is saved!
No, it looks like a 13 year old did something fucking stupid.
So by that logic, all sports should be banned. Last year there was an injury, so 100% a 100% ban to keep the children safe.
Also, kids get injured at school every now and then. Ban school! Also kids get injured at home every now and then. Ban homes! Ban parents! Ban food, I heard some people are allergic and even if they aren’t, it’s a choking hazard!
“Logic” - really?
Here are the details of the actual ban:
https://www.productsafety.gov.au/business/find-banned-products/small-high-powered-magnets-ban
To be banned it has to meet all these criteria:
Are small enough to fit into the small parts cylinder, which is a device used for testing in Australian and international toy standards. Have a magnetic flux index greater than 50 (kG)2 mm2. Are marketed by the supplier as, or supplied for use as any of the following: a toy, game or puzzle a construction or modelling kit jewellery to be worn in or around the mouth or nose.
So, no. That’t not logical.
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Where on Earth do you live that hand grenades are available to children?
Because while I have tossed a bunch, it was one of the most secure boxes I’ve seen in my life, before we cracked it open and started tossing them, that is. (The chief didn’t want the hassle of returning them to storage so after training the conscripts and there being 75% of a box left, he just told me to toss them asap as he couldn’t be arsed to do the paperwork of returning them.)
So now makers and hobbiest’s just can’t have magnets? Surely that’s an overreaction.
The banned magnets have to meet all these criteria:
Are small enough to fit into the small parts cylinder, which is a device used for testing in Australian and international toy standards. Have a magnetic flux index greater than 50 (kG)2 mm2. Are marketed by the supplier as, or supplied for use as any of the following: a toy, game or puzzle a construction or modelling kit jewellery to be worn in or around the mouth or nose.
So no, it’s not an over-reaction and it doesn’t affect makers and hobbyists.
Specific magnets… not all magnets that exist.
No they can’t eat magnets just because its “their hobby” or they’re “homemade”. Ingesting magnets is dangerous for all people.
speak for yourself, i dip my magnets in water before ingesting them.