Surgeons remove up to 100 magnets from New Zealand teen’s gut
www.straitstimes.com
The child was able to return home after an eight-day spell in hospital. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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.

[…]

  • Übercomplicated@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    19 hours ago

    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.

    • Naich@lemmings.worldEnglish
      3·
      21 hours ago

      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.

      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.

      Source: https://www.productsafety.gov.au/business/find-banned-products/small-high-powered-magnets-ban

      Can everyone calm down now?

      • Übercomplicated@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        19 hours ago

        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!