Holiday Toys For Children Can Cause Severe Injury: Mattel Recalls 4.4 million Toys after Three Children Suffered Serious Injuries from Swallowing Small Magnets

Holiday time is toy time for children. Toy time is one of the pleasures of the season for kids everywhere, and for parents as well. We love to watch our children enjoying their new toys and we naturally enjoy assembling many of them into the wee hours of Christmas eve. I would urge people purchasing toys to take a careful look at the product, its moving parts, the size of small parts that may come loose or can be swallowed by small children. Please consider not only the child who is to be the recipient but also other children in the house for whom a toy with dangerous sharp or small parts is a potential disaster. It takes very little for a small child to ingest a sharp object or dangerous part when our heads are turned and quite a lot of medical care to reverse the consequences of that event--if they even are reversible.

In today's business environment, products are manufactured all over the world. The standards of many manufacturers are not what they once were, as the manufacturer and seller are primarily interested in selling the product and making their profit. This can be at the expense of our children.

We have learned that Mattel Inc. is recalling 4.4 million Polly Pocket magnet play sets because three children suffered serious injuries and were hospitalized after swallowing small magnets that fell off of the dolls. The Polly Pockets dolls and accessories contain magnets 1/8 inch in diameter. These magnets can fall out and children may swallow or inhale them. If children swallow more than one, the magnets will stick to each other, which can cause infection, blockage, or intestinal perforation.

The three children that sustained injuries from the Polly Pocket dolls each swallowed more than one magnet. The children suffered from intestinal perforation and had to undergo surgery.

As the holiday season approaches, consumers will be deciding what gifts to purchase children. To stay on the safe side, consumers can check the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s website and view a list of Toy Hazard Recalls.