I poked my brother with a fork as a child. Which I guess may have to reslut in a ban on forks. I cut myself with a knife as a child. Which I guess may have to result in a ban on knives. I cut my lip on a soda can as a child. Which I guess may have to result in a ban on soda cans.
The responsibility of children eating things they shouldn’t is on the parents not on the rest of the world.
Why do I have to wait until you turn cold instead of just a couple of minutes after you die when your body is still warm? It’ll be more comfortable on my hands.
Aside from there being apparently nowhere else on the internet where this has been mentioned (I searched too, because this is one of those things that people love to make up so they can bloviate about “nanny states” and "personal responsibility), the fact that he mentioned a nonexistent agency also sent up a red flag. The fact that the poster then leapt to saying he’d been accused of lying when people asked for a source seals the deal in my view.
I wonder if a week from now this is going to end up an email forward on Snopes. Heck, maybe I should start it.
Did you read the second comment on that YouTube video? I know it makes me a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad person, but I laughed so hard at the ridiculousness.
No, it’s not funny that a baby died, it’s funny that someone chose to Youtube videos of the . . . murderer, I guess, then eulogized the baby on said Youtube page. Nothing is funnier to me than oddly placed RIPs.
There is a difference: If you poke your brother with a fork, there is only a slight likelihood of a major injury, let alone death. My understanding is that if someone swallows two of those magnetic balls, the likelihood of major injury is almost certain, and death is likely. It really is VERY dangerous.
Perhaps the OP meant the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)? Seems like a very strange story to make up out of the blue, so I’m inclined to think there’s some sort of truth to it.
Wouldn’t you have to swallow them far apart? Presumably, if you swallow them around the same time, they stick together and stay together until you pass them. But if one is in your gut and the other is somewhere else in your gut, they’ll tear through to get together.
Not taking a position on whether they should be banned, just looking for factual information on the nature of the danger.
I think they are pretty different from many hazards in that by the time you realise whats happening, they’re in a pretty bad way, and without detail its hard to believe how dangerous they really can be - its a more non-intuitive risk than for most things.
Banning isnt the answer though. Perhaps the hue and cry that comes up when its suggested is enough?
Yeah, I was thinking if there is an imminent ban, it would probably be because the mortal danger is hard to notice and/or diagnose. If a kid is choking on something, it’s pretty obvious. If a kid stabs his brother with a fork, the damage is apparent. Even with kids swallowing household cleaners or whatnot, there’s pretty clear symptoms and more importantly a clear suggested response. If a child swallows Bucky Balls and no one notices, they’re pretty screwed, and even if you take a child to the ER with severe GI symptoms, I expect they’ll run down a ton of stuff like appendicitis and poisoning before ever twigging to what’s really going on, and the kid might well be dead by then.
FYI, here is a press release from the CPSC warning of the dangers of small high-powered magnets. It mentions an awareness campaign and also says, “In an effort to reduce the incidents associated with magnets, CPSC staff worked with the toy industry and other stakeholders to develop a standard to prevent magnets from detaching from toys. As of 2008, this standard is mandatory, and it prohibits magnets and magnet components that are loose and of a size that could be swallowed to be in toys for children under 14 years of age.” So these magnets aren’t being banned, except in toys for kids under fourteen years old.
What % less fun would they be if they were only allowed to sell them in a size (unencased in plastic, just a lot bigger) big enough to be really hard to swallow? I can see that as a compromise.
No. The government doesn’t work that way. There is no way that a government agency is going to track down each manufacturer and importer of a product, visit them in person and threaten them as such for something like this, especially without leaving a paper trail. There have to be documents somewhere.
I’m not saying *you *are lying, but I’m saying your friend is lying or passing along an urban legend.
Go check out snopes and read hundreds of urban legends.
I have heard similar stories from herb suppliers, food items of questionable safety like raw milk and armadillo meat, betel nut and other exotic or legal drug suppliers, chemical supply houses that used to sell to the public, etc.
That government or law enforcement officials paid the suppliers a visit or call and told them action is coming, or that what they are doing is currently illegal(even when it isn’t), and that it is a friendly warning. Sellers and suppliers do often stop selling or restrict the sale after these rumors, so it does seem something happened at least.
There is a fundamental difference between this and the OP.
There isn’t a monolith “government.” There are local, state and federal levels, law enforcement, regulatory commissions, health department etc., etc., all of which operate with completely different circles and are staffed and structured completely differently in order to accomplish completely different goals and objectives.
Yes, local law enforcement will visit local establishments and give “friendly warnings.” Fire marshals, including my brother, will give friendly warnings and encourage establishments to comply with the law. It’s easier to do it as a friendly warning rather than go through all of the hoops, which they will do if the establishment refuses to comply. Undoubtedly local police give “friendly warnings” saying things are illegal when they are not.
But, the CPSC is not structured like this. They study products, and when they find them unacceptable, they ban them. With cheap manufacturing readily available in China, and anyone with a bank account and an email address able to become an importer, you simply can’t talk to three or four, or even 67 companies quietly and expect this to work. They know that.
If any of this were real, especially the “children dying” part, then the CPSC would be derelict in their duty to not ban the products. There is no reasonable reason for them to give “friendly warnings” rather than actual bans.
2 whole pages & not one Caine Mutiny reference?
"Ahh, but the strawberries that’s… that’s where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with… geometric logic… "