Magnetic toy recalled after Redmond death
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, March 30, 2006
WASHINGTON – A Redmond child died and four others suffered serious injuries after swallowing tiny magnets found in building sets sold nationwide, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday in announcing a recall of 3.8 million of the toy kits.
The commission said it has received reports of 34 incidents involving the small magnets included in the Magnetix magnetic building sets, including the X-treme Combo, Micro and Extreme versions.
A 22-month-old boy, Kenny Sweet of Redmond, died in November after he swallowed magnets that twisted his small intestine and created a blockage, federal officials said. Three other children between the ages of 3 and 8 suffered intestinal perforations that required surgery and hospitalization in intensive care. And a 5-year-old boy inhaled two magnets that had to be surgically removed from his lungs.
Sweet’s family is suing the manufacturer in King County Superior Court. Two other Northwest families, whose young sons had the magnets surgically removed from their intestines, have filed complaints in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The magnets are fitted inside plastic building pieces and rods but can fall out, posing a danger to children who inhale or swallow them. Should a child ingest more than one of the magnets, they can attract each other and pierce or block the intestines.
The sets contain 20 to 200 plastic building pieces and 20 to 100 steel balls that are half an inch in diameter. The building pieces are red, yellow, blue and green and come in 1 1/2-inch squares, 1-inch triangles and cylindrical rods. Some plastic building pieces have “Magnetix” printed on them.
The toys were sold from September 2003 through this month at Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, Fred Meyer, Design Science Toys Ltd., A.C. Moore and other stores nationwide. They cost between $20 and $60.
The Chinese-made sets were imported by Rose Art Industries Inc. of Livingston, N.J.
“We were deeply saddened to learn of reports of children being harmed by ingesting small parts,” Vic Bertrand, chief operating officer for Rose Art’s parent company, said in a statement Thursday.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said consumers should stop using the sets and return them to Rose Art for a free replacement product. Consumers with questions can contact Rose Art at 800-272-9667.
