What's so insidious about a small-magnet injury is that initially it seems like a stomach bug. "If they would have taken me seriously," Grigsby said, "that little boy would be alive." The agency didn't take action until after Kenny Sweet died. It didn't listen when Grigsby warned that a boy had been severely injured and that Magnetix could kill. Nor did the agency respond when parents and caregivers complained that magnets were falling out of Magnetix toys. The CPSC didn't act, though, even as toymakers' use of such magnets skyrocketed. And they knew it well before magnets started falling out of Magnetix toys, which allow kids to fashion complicated geometric structures out of colorful plastic pieces.ĬPSC investigators in 2000 and again in 2003 documented cases of children suffering intestinal injuries after swallowing magnets from other products. Government regulators knew magnets could cause these dire injuries. They don't expect pieces from a broken toy to rip holes through a child's gut like a gunshot, which is what happened with Magnetix. Parents expect skinned knees, even the occasional broken bone, from a fall off a bike or jungle gym. As consumers clamor for the latest high-tech toys and nursery gear at ever-cheaper prices, companies are offering more complex products that introduce new hazards.Ĭhildhood play always has come with risks. Yet the number of products the CPSC oversees, everything from chain saws to baby cribs, has exploded. Bipartisan neglect since then has left the agency with fewer than half the number of employees it had in 1980 - deeper cuts than in any other federal health and safety regulator. The Reagan administration gutted the CPSC in the early 1980s, less than a decade after its inception. Combined with skimpy budgets and reduced staffing, the provision undermines the agency's power. That law gives manufacturers great sway in how government officials regulate children's products. In refusing to answer questions about Magnetix, the agency cited a provision of federal law that protects manufacturers' reputations. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, declined to explain why it didn't act sooner on warnings about any of these unsafe children's products. To date, at least 27 children have suffered serious intestinal injuries after swallowing loose Magnetix magnets. It recalled those only after another baby suffocated.Īs the agency slowly moved to address dangers of Magnetix toys, injuries mounted. But the agency did not act on reports that yet another style of playpen posed the same hazard. The safety commission also recalled several types of playpens after they collapsed and suffocated babies. In the meantime, more kids suffered disfiguring injuries. For instance, the safety agency waited years to respond to consumer and attorney complaints that soapmaking kits were landing children in hospital burn units.
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