Watch out for hurtful "net celebrities" children's toys
[Talk about health]
Magnetic buck balls, jelly-like crystal mud, luminous balloons... these "net celebrity" toys that have emerged in recent years are likely to become "weapons" for harming children.
According to media reports, in the past summer, many children in Guangdong, Hubei, Xinjiang and other places suffered gastrointestinal injuries due to accidental swallowing of buck balls and even required surgery.
What other children's toys need attention?
Where are their safety hazards?
This reporter combed through the consumer reminders issued by the Defective Products Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration, selected some of the children's toys that are currently popular in the market but potentially dangerous, analyzed the safety hazards of popular science, and called on the whole society to pay more attention to the safety of children's toys.
The two-year-old daughter had frequent stomach pains recently. The parents thought it was a gastrointestinal problem. As a result, she was sent to the hospital for examination and found that the girl had four intestinal perforations in her body.
Parents are both scared and puzzled, why do children get perforated intestines?
It turned out that there was a magnetic bead toy named "Buck Ball" that was swallowed by the girl by mistake. The hospital finally took out the magnetic bead from the girl through an emergency operation... This is a recent media report. The hospital has been more than a month in the past. Seven children who swallowed a buck ball by mistake were admitted.
This is not the only report of children's toys hurting people, and buck balls are not the only children's toys that hurt people.
Magnetic buck balls, jelly-like crystal mud, luminous balloons... These are novel or fun, "net celebrity" toys that are caught on fire by online social platforms, and often become dangerous goods that harm children.
The Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation is responsible for conducting defect investigations and public opinion monitoring of various products on the market, issuing consumer reminders, and recalling defective products.
The reporter combed and found that children-related products including toys accounted for almost two-thirds of the consumer tips published on its official website.
The Quality Development Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation introduced this year’s Children’s Day children’s product safety education theme activity that since 2008, my country has implemented 1,189 recalls of children’s products, accounting for 49.6% of the number of consumer product recalls, and the number involved is close to 6 million. An average of every two consumer product recalls is a children's product recall.
These children's products such as toys with defects in design or quality, in order to attract children, excessive pursuit of fun and neglect of safety.
Especially for novel toys that have attracted attention on the Internet and have a "net celebrity" effect, security risks cannot be ignored.
Buck ball and magnet pen, small magnetic beads, "pierce the intestines"
Buck ball is a magnetic bead with a diameter of about 5 mm. Multiple buck balls can be combined into various shapes with the help of magnetic force. They are promoted by businesses as "educational toys" and are popular with children and parents.
There is also a magnet pen with a similar design to Buck Ball, which is also an emerging Internet celebrity product in recent years.
In addition to the normal writing function, this pen is inlaid with magnets at both ends, coupled with matching steel balls, can use magnetism to achieve a variety of combined play.
However, such fun creative products as Buck Balls and Magnet Pens actually pose great safety risks.
The Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation once announced such a case: When a 13-year-old boy in Guizhou was playing with a magnet pen in the classroom, he sucked a magnet into his mouth and used another magnet to attract the magnet in his mouth. Two magnets enter the abdomen along the esophagus one after another.
Upon examination at the hospital, it was found that the two magnets were tightly attracted to each other through the gastric muscle layer, and a 0.1 cm perforation was also drilled.
“This kind of magnet injury cases are not rare, and most of them are concentrated in children around 1 to 10 years old.” The Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision pointed out in the consumer reminder that the possibility of small magnetic parts such as magnetic beads being swallowed by children. Larger, if it enters the trachea, it will cause the danger of suffocation; if it enters the digestive tract, it will cause vomiting and abdominal pain in the slightest, and it will cause gastrointestinal damage; especially when two or more magnets are swallowed, the magnet will be separated from the digestive system The walls adhere to each other and continue to generate pressure, which may cause gastrointestinal perforation or intestinal obstruction, which can be life-threatening in severe cases.
Under normal circumstances, these small magnetic parts need to be removed by surgery, causing permanent damage to the child's digestive system.
The Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision reminded that there are many kinds of magnet pens on the market, but most of them are three-no products. Not only do they have no factory name and product certification, but also no warning instructions on the pen body and packaging. Can not get effective protection, it is recommended not to buy such products.
Crystal mud and other "mud" toys borax poisoning, should not be underestimated
The charm of magnet toys lies in the creative experience of combined play. Similar to this, "mud" toys also have this function.
In recent years, various soft, sticky, jelly-like "mud" toys have become popular around campuses and online platforms.
They have different names, such as "Crystal Mud", "Slimes", "Bubble Mud", "Cotton Mud", "Poke Mud" and "Snow Mud", but they have common characteristics-colorful, soft to the touch, and can be changed. This kind of shape can also be used to blow bubbles, draw pictures, etc. It is very popular among children.
However, they are not real mud, but are made of many chemicals.
These "muds" contain a substance that may be harmful to health-borax.
According to the Defect Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision, the polymer material polyvinyl alcohol dissolved in water and the cross-linking agent borax (also known as coagulant aid) undergo a chemical reaction, and the dissolved polyvinyl alcohol is pulled together by the anions of borax. , Forming a hydrogel with a network structure; on this basis, adding hand sanitizer, lotion, pigment, beads, clay, etc., becomes a variety of "mud" toys such as crystal mud.
These "mud" toys are bright in color, similar to jelly, and usually come with a straw, which is nominally capable of blowing bubbles.
When children use a straw to blow bubbles, there is a risk of borax poisoning when the product comes into close contact with the mouth.
The Defective Products Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision explained that borax is extremely harmful to human health. Excessive intake within a short period of time can cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, depression, convulsions, skin flushing, and circulatory failure.
Long-term excessive intake can cause accumulated poisoning of multiple organs, causing damage to the liver, kidney, brain, lung and other organs.
The toxic dose of borax for adults is 1 to 3 grams, the lethal dose for adults is 15 to 20 grams, and the lethal dose for children is 5 grams.
At present, many countries prohibit the use of borax as a food additive, and limit the intake of boron.
The national standard (GB5749-2006) of my country's "Sanitary Standard for Domestic Water" stipulates that the limit of boron in drinking water is 0.5 mg/L.
The EU's requirement for boron content in toys with materials such as liquids, paints, and gels is 300 mg/kg.
The Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision conducted tests on 10 randomly purchased finished crystal mud products and found that the boron content of 8 products exceeded 300 mg/kg, and the highest one reached 1336 mg/kg, far exceeding the boron content of other countries. The safety limit of the content.
If children eat these crystal mud to blow bubbles by accident, there is a risk of borax poisoning.
Perhaps it is because they realize that this kind of toys that directly add borax is easy to be found, some businesses have launched so-called "non-toxic crystal mud" products, adding some daily chemical products to the glue containing polyvinyl alcohol to replace borax, such as Washing powder, laundry detergent, shower gel, guar gum, etc.
"This is actually very confusing, because these daily chemical products themselves actually contain borax, and children also have the safety hazard of accidental ingestion and poisoning during children's play." The Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision pointed out in the consumer reminder that any containing borax All of the toys do not meet the regulations of our country.
The Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision also specially reminded that self-made "mud" toys are more dangerous than finished products. Children will be directly exposed to large doses of borax and other chemical ingredients during play.
Prolonged contact with these chemicals on the skin can easily cause chemical burns, allergies or cumulative poisoning; if children abuse the preparation container during play, such as drinking water from a cup filled with borax, or fail to wash their hands in time after playing, they will easily eat borax or other Chemical ingredients lead to the danger of poisoning.
For toys such as crystal mud, especially self-made "mud" toys, the advice given by the Defective Products Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation is: Do not buy!
Internet celebrity balloons will glow or explode
This summer night, bright and colorful balloons can often be seen in squares or parks, which are very popular with children.
This kind of balloon initially attracted attention on social media on the Internet, and was called by many people as an internet celebrity balloon.
However, although net red balloons are beautiful, they are hidden dangers.
According to media reports, an internet celebrity balloon explosion occurred somewhere in Jiangsu, and 4 people were hospitalized with burns of varying degrees.
How could a balloon explode?
How serious is the harm?
According to the Defect Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision, this light-emitting balloon is mainly composed of transparent balloons, colorful light strips and battery boxes, and its structure is very simple.
The surface of the transparent balloon is wrapped with a string of thin multicolored LED light strips, and a small battery box is tied to the end of the traction rope. The battery is placed in a plastic box, and the power supply is directly connected to the light strip. Turn on the switch to emit light.
The balloon itself is a pressure vessel, coupled with this design and construction, the safety risk is higher.
A test conducted by the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision found that Internet celebrity balloons are mostly made of plastic. Once exposed to high-temperature heat sources (such as stoves) or open flames (such as lighters), the balloons may deflagrate.
On the one hand, the surface temperature of the plastic melted at high temperature is very high, and the plastic liquid dripped by the melted plastic will cause serious burns and scalds if it sticks to the human skin.
On the other hand, when the balloon deflagrates, it will produce irritating toxic gas, which may cause burns and other injuries to the human respiratory tract.
In addition, since the wires are exposed, sparks may be generated during use, causing the balloon to explode.
Some experts pointed out that the gas inside the internet celebrity balloon may also become a safety hazard.
For safety reasons, balloons are generally filled with inert gases such as helium. Hydrogen has long been banned from being used to inflate balloons because it is flammable and explosive.
However, because hydrogen is cheaper than helium, some illegal businesses may still use hydrogen to inflate Internet celebrity balloons.
In an online celebrity balloon explosion reported by the media, experts analyzed it and pointed out that “from the perspective of the wounded’s description of the power of the balloon’s explosion, the balloon they bought was probably made of hydrogen as helium”.
The Defective Product Management Center of the General Administration of Market Supervision reminded that children should play such balloons under the supervision of their parents; when playing balloons, they should stay away from fire, heat and sharp objects, and do not use lighters to burn the balloon's traction line; it is best when the weather is very hot. Do not buy such balloons, because hot weather is more likely to cause balloon explosions; do not take the balloons in cars, subways, elevators, etc. Once an explosion occurs, the impact of the enclosed space will be very large.
Laser pointer can cause permanent damage to eyes, do not play with children
The light is dazzling, and there is danger hidden.
Internet celebrity balloons are like this, laser pointers are even worse.
I don't know when, laser pointers used as pointers in classroom teaching, conference explanations and other places have become many children's toys and dangerous toys.
As a result, there have been many reports in the media: "A 7-year-old boy lost sight of the eyes of a 7-year-old boy as soon as the laser pointer was taken", "An 8-year-old boy played with the laser pointer and caused permanent damage to his eyes", "The laser pointer sampling and testing of children online shopping exceeded the standard. Harmful vision damage is irreversible"... According to the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, based on product injury monitoring and online public opinion monitoring, there have been frequent incidents involving laser pointers in recent years.
Laser pointer, also called laser pointer, is a portable device that uses batteries and laser modules (light emitting diodes) to emit visible light beams. It is mainly used to accurately indicate targets at a long distance.
According to the degree of radiation hazards in my country, laser products are divided into the following levels: Class 1, Class 1M, Class 2, 2M, 3R, 3B, and 4.
The Defective Products Management Center of the State Administration for Market Supervision pointed out that if laser products are used improperly, they can cause serious damage to the human body, especially products of 3R and above.
Laser pointers sold on the Internet usually have very high power and can even light matches, cigarettes, clothing, etc.
The power is so high that it can ignite clothes. If you irradiate your eyes, you can imagine the consequences.
According to experts, due to the imaging characteristics of the eye, when the laser passes through the eye, the laser will be focused on a very small point on the retina, causing an instant increase in temperature and destroying the photoreceptor cells of the retina.
If the energy of the laser is strong enough, it will cause permanent damage without causing blinking reflections (usually less than 1 second).
It should be noted that lower power lasers may also cause damage to the eyes. Some high-intensity lasers can still cause great damage to the eyes even after being scattered by the surface of the object.
The eye tissues of children at the developmental stage are more delicate and the retina is thin, making them more vulnerable to injury.
The laser pointer not only causes direct damage to the eyes, but also interferes with normal vision and may cause other accidents.
For example, irradiating vehicles, airplanes, etc. with a laser pointer may affect the normal vision of the driver and the pilot and cause serious accidents.
Of course, the laser pointer is not unusable, but it should be used scientifically and safely. According to different use occasions and users, carefully choose the laser pointer of the corresponding radiation level.
The Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision reminded that the use of laser pointer products such as classroom teaching and conference explanations can be used for products below 3R.
The laser in children's toys should meet the requirements of Class 1 laser radiation power limit.
"The laser pointers sold as toys on the market are mostly higher than this limit, which poses great safety risks and cannot be purchased and played by children." The Defective Products Management Center of the State Administration of Market Supervision emphasized.
(Our reporter Chen Haibo)