<Anchor> As



the time at home is prolonged due to Corona 19, many people are worried about children's housecock play.

It is a product that swells dozens of times when put in water, and there are increasing cases in which infants and toddlers swallow it and even undergo surgery.



Reporter Park Soo-jin covered it.



<Reporter>



This product I am holding is a toy called water beads or crystal clay.



When immersed in water, these small grains swell like this.



I've been soaking it in water for about a day and I can see that it grows more than 7 times its original size.



Recently, the number of infants and toddlers visiting hospitals by swallowing these water beads used as ornaments for hydroponics or gardening has recently increased remarkably.



[Ho In-Gol/Severance Children's Hospital Pediatric Surgery Professor: I was wondering if there were 1 or 2 people a year, but last year alone, there are already 3 or 4 people.

There were also children who had surgery to remove (swallowed water beads)...

.] This



is a photo of a 12-month-old baby who swallowed water beads.



Compared to the normal, the intestine is swollen and stretched to both sides.



Water beads swell up and block the small intestine, causing intestinal obstruction.



Infants and toddlers may not be able to mix in the stool because the intestine is thin.



[Parents of 12 months old baby who underwent intestinal obstruction surgery: Only one pill fell, but I just caught it and swallowed it.

I went to the emergency room right away because my baby vomited at dawn because I couldn't digest it.]



Water beads are divided into products that are licensed for hydroponics or horticulture, and products that have strict children's safety standards, that is, KC certification, by strict adherence to materials and expansion standards. .



The problem is that water beads without KC certification are also being promoted for children's play and toys.



Even small bead-shaped magnets with a diameter of 5 mm are very dangerous for infants and toddlers.



When I look at the intestine of a 20-month-old child who swallows several bead magnets, the magnets move around while sticking to each other in the body.



[Ho In-geol/Severance Children's Hospital, Professor of Pediatric Surgery: They stick in different chapters.

It becomes necrosis between the intestines and the intestines.

A perforation (hole) occurs...

In the case of this child, it was too dangerous to cut the gut.]



Of the 115 child accidents related to magnetic toys last year, 104 were swallowing accidents.



Doctors advised that infants under the age of 3 should not be given something that could be swallowed easily, and that they should check whether they are KC certified, even if they are playing.



(Video coverage: Park Hyun-cheol, Video editing: Kim Jun-hee, CG: Jeong Hyun-jung·Son Ho-seok, VJ: Shin So-young)