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Toddlers and Magnets: A Dangerous Attraction
Why Are Some Magnetic Toys Being Recalled?
By Lisa A. Goldstein
When Dr. Marina Reznik was a medical student about to begin her internship, she experienced firsthand the scary combination of children and magnets. Her son's babysitter told her that her son – who at the time was 1 1/2 years old – had been playing with the refrigerator magnets. The babysitter found one on the floor, but the magnet piece was missing. After a trip to the ER and close monitoring of her son's diaper and symptoms, the story ends well. Later that evening, Dr. Reznik found the missing magnet under the refrigerator.
Unfortunately, for young children who play with magnets and actually swallow them, there isn't always a happy ending. According to Bridget Clementi, Injury Prevention Manager at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, within the past year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has conducted five recalls with more than eight million products containing magnets.
Why are magnetic toys so dangerous? Magnetic toys contain small, powerful magnets inside them that can fall out. If young children find these magnets, they can be swallowed or aspirated. If a child swallows more than one magnet, the magnets can attract each other, drawing them together from different parts of the intestinal tract.
"Once magnetically attached across bowel walls, magnets are unlikely to disengage spontaneously," says Dr. Reznik, assistant professor of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, N.Y. "This may cause intestinal perforation, infection and obstruction, which can be fatal."
If there are vessels present between attracted bowel walls, severe hemorrhage can also occur. "Moreover, initial signs and symptoms of swallowed magnets are nonspecific, leading to delayed diagnosis and greater injury," Dr. Reznik says.
