Feds Ban 'Buckyballs' Magnets 820
SicariusMan writes "Looks like warnings and other precautions were not enough to save Buckyballs Magnets. According to this report, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is concerned about the increase in children swallowing the rare earth magnets, and has issued its first stop-sale order in 11 years. Amazon and others have already agreed to stop selling the toys. 'Although the commission issued a safety alert in November, it has received more than a dozen reports since then of children ingesting the magnets, with many requiring surgery, it said. More than 2 million Buckyballs and at least 200,000 Buckycubes, a similar cube-shaped magnet, have been sold in the United States.'"
My stockpiling has paid off! (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks to Woot! I now own several million Buckyball magnets. I was waiting for the rare Earth metal market to skyrocket before cashing in, but this may be my chance. Hello Ebay!
Seriously (Score:3, Funny)
What's so special about these magnets?
Children can swallow any kind of magnet you find in toys.
It should be up to the parents to ensure the child is old enough not to swallow the damn thing.
Next up: crayons banned because kids stick them up their nose.
Re:Seriously (Score:4, Informative)
Accidental Poisonings (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if you swallow some balls, but not at once, you will need to go to the surgery.
Correct - you will need surgery but nobody has yet died. However if you look at the stats for accidental poisonings in the US [cdc.gov] you will see that there are 41,592 deaths every year. 91% of these are due to drugs which leaves 3,473 deaths every year due to non-drug related poisonings. It is not clear how many of these are due to kids swallowing household chemicals but you have to wonder why there is any need to ban something over 12 surgeries and zero deaths given the number of actual deaths from swallowing things.
Re:Seriously (Score:5, Informative)
A normal magnet, if swallowed, will just pass. And if it's big enough to have the same pull that these rare earth magnets have, it'll be uncomfortable enough during the swallowing that most kids won't do it twice, so that pinching thing likely won't happen.
Re:Seriously (Score:4, Insightful)
Blackmarket Buckyballs (Score:5, Funny)
Soon we'll be battling the Buckyball cartels in the streets of America. I say end prohibition now!
Re:Blackmarket Buckyballs (Score:5, Funny)
First they took away the Buckyball magnets from the Communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they took away the Buckyball magnets from the the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they took away the Buckyball magnets from the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for my Buckyball magnets
and there was no one left with any Buckyball magnets to speak out for me.
Or perhaps
Those who would give up Buckyball magnets to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Buckyball magnets nor Safety
Re:Blackmarket Buckyballs (Score:4, Insightful)
Man you guys banned kinder toy eggs aka kinder surprise [wikipedia.org]. ... And people smuggle them in from Canada, so....I guess you shouldn't have to wait too long.
Nice things (Score:4, Insightful)
Glad I already have mine... (Score:5, Interesting)
I have 7 sets of them. Well... technically about 6.7 sets. It's hard not to lose one here or there when you play with them nearly daily. I'm just glad that I got them now, before the ban... they are my third favorite toy, behind my computer and my phone. I make bracelets out of multiple colors as transient art (lost as soon as they stretch out and get rearranged), play with them on my desk, and use them as temporary tie tacks if I leave my mine at home.
Yes, tie tack. Don't knock it, it works!
Re:Glad I already have mine... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's hard not to lose one here or there when you play with them nearly daily.
QED
How many... (Score:5, Insightful)
The article states that dozens of children have swallowed the magnets and 12 required surgery. There are over 60M children age 14 and younger in the US. Isn't this a bit of an over-reaction? I'm curious as to how many children have had problems after swalling coins and other items that people may have on their desk (ie paper clips, thumb tacks, etc.)?
Seems the shootings in Colorado hurt a lot more people, but for some reason, they haven't banned the sale of bullets.
Re:How many... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Seems the shootings in Colorado hurt a lot more people, but for some reason, they haven't banned the sale of bullets."
The makers of BuckyBalls don't have the billions of $$$ of NRA lobbying PAC behind them, otherwise you never would have even heard of the 12 kids requiring surgery...
Re:How many... (Score:4, Interesting)
As I have never heard of this being a specific problem here (Europe), and these Magnets are available, I strongly suspect this is a political stunt that banks on the amazing irrationality of the US population.
The basic problem is that children of a certain age like to swallow things that are bad for them. Its the parent's responsibility to make sure they do not.
Come to think of irrationality, the number of children getting killed by improperly secured firearms is much higher. Not there is an item nobody with children should leave lying around. Apparently a significant number of US parents are too dumb to realize this. This looks very much like an education problem to me, not a problem of the objects themselves.
Re: (Score:3)
Easy solution. Sell buckyballs as ammo.
Re: (Score:3)
The problem is if you swallow more then one, they bond through an intestine loop and you can't egest them normally.
That's just step 1 of the problem. Step 2 is the pressure between them wearing/tearing a hole through the intestine, which can be quickly fatal if not caught in time.
Re:How many... (Score:4, Funny)
I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly;
I guess she'll start a PAC and sue the blue sky.
Alternative Toy (Score:5, Funny)
Looks like I'll just have to get my kid Lawn Darts for Christmas instead.
You know what is also dangerous for children? (Score:5, Insightful)
Uranium [amazon.com] and bleach [amazon.com]
Re: (Score:3)
The "also viewed" list of products on that uranium page leaves some questions. I want to know who out there is simultaneously shopping for uranium, milk, "The 2009-2014 Outlook for Wood Toilet Seats in Greater China", a UFO detector, fresh whole rabbit, a horse feeder, a David Hasselhoff "best of" CD, and a home testicle self-exam kit.
The list of products that people actually bought is a little more scary. 3 of those products (iron oxide, aluminum powder, magnesium ribbon) are all you need to make thermit
Re: (Score:3)
The list of products that people actually bought is a little more scary. 3 of those products (iron oxide, aluminum powder, magnesium ribbon) are all you need to make thermite. Which I guess answers the long-standing question I've had since making thermite in high school about where I can get the ingredients easily. Might as well add a little uranium to the mix and see what happens.
Yeah I'm sure ordering the ingredients for an incendiary device from Amazon wont get you put on all kinds of fun lists.
a nice company, too (Score:5, Interesting)
Me and my brother recieved the silver Buckyball cubes as Christmas gifts a few years back. These things are a blast to play with.
When one of the balls on my brothers set shattered, we called one of the listed numbers for the company to ask about maybe purchasing a replacement ball. The person on the other end was extremely interested in how this happened (apparently they hadn't had a report of a ball shattering before), and offered to send us an entire new set for free. On Christmas day. This was excellent, excellent support for an awesome product.
It's sad to hear about this.
Re:a nice company, too (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh huh. So tell us how the ball shattered.
I'm not saying.. (Score:5, Funny)
Zen Magnets (Score:5, Informative)
I think the sales of Zen Magnets are about to increase...
(For those who don't know, Zen Magnets are *exactly* the same thing as buckyballs except for a very slight increase in quality and price. That would also mean they'd be more dangerous due to higher magnetic strength.)
So much for free enterprise (Score:3)
12? (Score:3)
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the following items are common choking hazards:
Hot dogs and sausages
Chunks of meat
Grapes
Hard candy
Popcorn
Peanuts and other nuts
Raw carrots
Fruit seeds
Apple chunks
Coins
Toys with small parts
Small balls and marbles
Balloons
Arts and crafts materials
Ballpoint pen caps
Watch batteries
Jewelry
How about some actual truth? (Score:5, Informative)
It's simply a labeling issue:
http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml10/10251.html [cpsc.gov]
Actually, Headline Is Correct (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, your link is from 2 years ago. The correct current link is here [cpsc.gov].
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an effort to prevent children from suffering further harm, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff filed an administrative complaint today against Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC, of New York, N.Y., alleging that Buckyballs and Buckycubes contain a defect in the design, packaging, warnings, and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury to the public. The Commission voted 3-1 to approve the filing of the complaint, which seeks, among other things, an order that the firm stops selling Buckyballs and Buckycubes, notify the public of the defect, and offer consumers a full refund.
So no, this is not a labeling issue. They already corrected the labeling issue. This is about stopping all sales of Buckyballs. Headline is correct. Posting to undo my upmod of your comment because it turns out you are wrong.
This might be a good thing (Score:4, Interesting)
I was totally confused... (Score:4, Interesting)
To clear up some confusion I found the source on CPSC's own site [cpsc.gov]. It's slightly more informational than the Reuters summary... But I'm still confused.
I bought tiny fridge magnets from The Container Store that are actually tiny neodymium cubes [containerstore.com], are they banned also? Are they exempt because they're not toys?
How about just plain neodymium magnets [stanfordmagnets.com] direct from suppliers? Are they banned also or are they exempt because they're not labeled as toys?
How about a hobby brushless motor kit [hobbyking.com] that comes with neodymium magnets? Is that banned also or is that exempt because even though it's a toy the magnets are supplied with the purpose of installing them in the motor?
So many unanswered questions... I think it would be easier to require all kids to wear muzzles to keep their mouth closed at all times. It would solve all the issues where kids choke on things or eat poisonous/dangerous materials, and has added benefit of muffling their annoying whiny cries.
Don't Tread On Me (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
It happens a lot because they're legal in Canada, actually.
But you don't want to carry them over the border - the guards can get pretty damn nasty over a bunch of toys.
Last week: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Kinder+eggs+surprise+includes+harrowing+stop+border/6956919/story.html [vancouversun.com]
Re:Only in America! (Score:5, Insightful)
Something that can be dangerous when grossly misused can be outright banned.
Unless it's a weapon
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
They're designed to make a profit for the guns/bullets manufacturers.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Funny)
How about a ban on stupid trailer-park dumbass kids who ruin it for the rest of us?
They already tried that. You may have heard of "Planned Parenthood [wikipedia.org]"...
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Funny)
Yes, because as everyone agrees, the federal government should be in the business of picking and choosing which genes get passed on based on your biased opinion and pushing birth control and abortions onto the unworthy.
I'm sorry your quest to create an utopian super race of humans are being thwarted by those selfish religious nuts but hey, look on the bright side, government funding of planned parenthood was only a small portion of their overall budget so Margret Sanger's dream of Eugenics will still be somewhat in place.
Re: stupid trailer-park dumbass kids (Score:5, Insightful)
I modded you flamebait, but decided I'd rather tell you to your face that this comment is every bit as ignorant and prejudiced as any I've heard uttered by the so-called trailer trash I've encountered. I don't know if this really reflects your beliefs or you're just trying to be controversial, but at face value that's stereotypical trailer-trash talk.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's a shame this post was modded down. I'd personally prefer to reward dudes with mod-points who decide against using them just to say "I disagree".
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The bigger shame is that the parent comment to mine has been modded +5 Insightful... not even +5 Funny, but Insightful. WTF? What does that tell us about the current average Slashdot moderator mindset? Is it tribalism, crazyjj's buddies all mindlessly modding him up, or is it inbreeding?
Re: stupid trailer-park dumbass kids (Score:5, Insightful)
It's summertime. The self-centered teens have nothing to do but bitch about how everyone's keeping them down.
Re: (Score:3)
Indeed
We need an incentive for lazy ass parents not to take a mile when the government gives them an inch.
The only place this slippery slope is going to end is with parents doing fuck-all to teach their kids about safety and ya know actually supervise them and letting Big Nanny decide everything.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
Fucking crazy. Some schizophrenic lunatic can buy thousands of rounds of ammunition of the Internet, but God forbid anyone should buy a Buckyball magnet.
Re: (Score:3)
You seem to be arguing that people less responsible than a well adjusted adult should not be given dangerous things to play with.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
Responsibility begins before purchase.
If the child is old enough and responsible enough to save up money and pay for their own toys, he/she is not within the group of children likely to die by these magnets. In any other case, the parents (or some other presumably responsible adult) are purchasing the magnets.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a case of parents who don't read warnings and let their kids have access to something that clearly isn't safe for them.
Parents would probably read warnings if they were only displayed on products that are actually dangerous. In the US, for fear of lawsuits, everything comes with a long list of warnings. It's like the boy who cried wolf: Parents are trained to ignore warnings. (I once bought a toy for my three year old that was labeled "EU: Not suitable for children under 3. US: Not suitable for children under 5.")
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not that simple. I have an 11 year old, 3 year old and 18 month old. The 11 year old is obviously allowed to have such toys. She is required however to make sure they are picked up and stored in her bedroom and has been told that if I find parts laying around that the younger ones could get a hold of I will throw them out without warning or even telling her about it. I have followed through on that many many times.
However, a few months ago when changing my son's diaper, I found he had swallowed and subsequently passed, a silicon button that was part of my daughter's iPod cover. One of these: http://amzn.com/B0086YLNVW [amzn.com] Apparently one he saw laying around before I did.
I'm not saying that a ban on this toy is appropriate. I'm certain the packaging is appropriately labeled with age restrictions and warnings. It's just not as simple as "parents who don't read warnings".
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
If the child is old enough and responsible enough to save up money and pay for their own toys, he/she is not within the group of children likely to die by these magnets.
That doesn't mean that the child doesn't have a sibling that might swallow them.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
i had toys with small pieces when my younger sister was at the stage where everything went in her mouth and i was told not to let her near them. i was also given a piece of plywood to put across the entrance to my door so she couldn't get to them when i was using them. i was also banned from using them in the same room as her without parental supervision. never had a problem. i don't see why there is issue here just keep out of reach of small children and dumb-ass's
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Insightful)
Last I checked, the 2nd amendment doesn't say:
"...and the right of the people to keep and play with Buckyballs shall not be infringed."
Banning the sales of ammo would be unconstitutional, regardless of any statistic. Banning of Buckballs (not that I agree) would be within the dubiously used "Commerce Clause"
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Funny)
So what you're saying is that someone needs to make a gun that shoots Buckyballs, and then we can buy them again?
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Informative)
"So what you're saying is that someone needs to make a gun that shoots Buckyballs, and then we can buy them again?"
They already do!
A "T"-size steel shotgun pellet is about Buckyball size. I don't have a reloading press or any Buckyballs to load, but it would be interesting to shoot a few rounds loaded with nonmagnetic steel shot and compare their pattern on target to that of Buckyballs.
http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52612&stc=1&d=1318459735 [thefirearmsforum.com]
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Informative)
In addition, most gun related homicides stem from drug or gang violence - and a large percentage of those cases are using illegally obtained firearms.
Some of those "homicides" (depending on the statistic set you're using) may be self defense cases.
So, I'm going to argue that we shouldn't be banning magnets just because some kid is stupid enough to swallow one. I'm also going to argue that banning guns, opposed to banning Bucky balls, does more harm then good, if only because gun ownership does not correlate with homicide.. (Some recent numbers for you) [guardian.co.uk]
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Informative)
Automatic weapons are not banned. Whoever gave you that idea. I have two of them sitting beside me right now. Well, actually, they are locked in my gun safe but all you need to do is get a tax stamp for them. I suggest you stop imagining things and take a trip to the machine gun festival and see how many private citizens own fully auto weapons. You might be surprised to find that ordinary citizens can and do own explosives too.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
And I want to own Buckyball magnets. It's my choice, not the government's. Seems like a tyranny to me. You're the gun owner, get out there and water the tree of Liberty with a little blood.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Informative)
According to Alive Past 5 .com
The Top Five Causes Of Unintentional Injury involving children:
1. Car Accidents: Kill 260,000 children a year and injure about 10 million children. They are the leading cause of death among children and a leading cause of child disability.
2. Drowning: Kills more than 175,000 children annually. Up to 3 million children each year survive a drowning incident. Due to brain damage in some survivors, nonfatal drowning has the highest average lifetime health and economic impact of any type of child injury.
3. Burns: Fire-related burns kill nearly 96,000 children a year.
4. Falls: Nearly 47,000 children fall to their deaths every year, but hundreds of thousands more children sustain serious injuries from a fall.
5. Poisoning: More than 45,000 children die each year from unintended poisoning.
Looks like there is a whole lot more that needs to be banned, or re-labeled. Think of the children.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Funny)
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
The kids aren't dumb asses. Kids are kids. Young kids put things in their mouth, it's human nature. Dumb ass parents, and dumb ass owns of these magnets are why it happens.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Funny)
The best part is when the dumbasses say things like "we did much worse things in my day and *I* survived!". Of course you survived, you fucking asshole, all the kids who didn't aren't here to say they died.
Re: (Score:3)
The 3 year old boy who ate a bunch of them isn't a dumb ass - as you say, the parent is. The 12 year old girl who tried to use them as a tongue stud and accidentally swallowed them... well, that one's not so clear...
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
So if parents ignore age rating on a goddamned dildo, can we sue the manufacturer for child sexual abuse?
At some point, it comes down to "don't be an idiot". If you buy your kids a gun and they blow their heads off - don't blame Remington, try a frickin' mirror.
2 years old (Score:4, Insightful)
This kid was 4
You argument?
And if something is sold in a store, it makes it difficult not to have it in the house? Because the store owner forces you to buy it? Because you are incapable of thinking "mmm this toy clearly has a warning on it to keep it away from all kids, so lets not buy it for my kids".
Didn't you child proof the house when you got a kid? Use those childproof plastic stickers on all your outlets? Lock the cabinet with chemicals? Keep power tools out of reach? Close the front door so the kid can't escape? Not boil water without keeping an eye on it?
Parenting is hard work, don't want to do it, don't get a kid.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
How about a ban on stupid trailer-park dumbass kids who ruin it for the rest of us?
Why is this insightful? It's not the kids, or even their parents that are banning this stuff. They're a vocal minority. It's a government that wants to nanny us 24 hours a day banning things like this. "For the children" is just another variant of "the public good". Various levels of government want to regulate... or outright ban... everything from the size of your soda to the ingredients in your food.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not the kids, or even their parents that are banning this stuff.
It's the parents who killed their kids who are looking to blame others that are calling for the ban. The government didn't call for the ban. There wasn't an independent investigation that found them unsafe. It was parents begging the government to ban them that got them looked at. And the democratic government looked at the wishes of the citezens and responded.
The issue is either that democracy is bad, or the parents are to blame.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Insightful)
And the democratic government looked at the wishes of the citezens and responded.
The wishes of how many citizens, exactly?
I wish they'd do the same thing with the TSA and just get rid of it. If it was anything like this, a vocal minority could get rid of it.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Informative)
Can you name the parents that are stong arming the governemnt here?
Stephanie Thompson, for one. First hit on first google search. Did you even look, or are you just a (knee) jerk?
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Interesting)
No, "The Government" is responding to citizen concerns. The people who don't want something banned don't get together to stop it. It's the Citizen who allow this to happen.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Insightful)
How about a ban on stupid trailer-park dumbass kids who ruin it for the rest of us?
I found a load of these on the ground in a park. Never mind how they got there, how do you expect children to read the warning which isn't present with these things? Also, you, I and likely everyone else on /. put stuff in our mouths in a time when we were so young we don't remember what these things were (but our mothers tell us, usually at the most inopportune times) These things, for the amusement value vs. the hazard value are understandable. See some of the x-rays where a couple of these things pinch and then pass through stomach and intestine walls. I've ever received some darn painful pinches from them while idly playing with them.
I hate to see it happen, but these really are a danger to children.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
Never mind that nail, rock, and used condom over there on the ground. What if someone's kid picks that up and tries to swallow it? Lets ban all that stuff!
No. How about you teach your kid common sense and save the entire world the trouble of looking after them for you? I'm not going to run around the world slapping warning labels on stuff for your kid that may not even be old enough to read yet.
"Don't childproof the world - worldproof the child."
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Funny)
nail, rock, and used condom...
Call me old fashioned, but I always preferred rock, paper, scissors.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Funny)
Rock dulls nail, condom covers rock, nail breaks condom!
Re: (Score:3)
slowly ramping up responsibility with kids is the normal way of things.
And kids should be able to make mistakes. And suffer some consequences, but not the same level of consequences for a younger kid versus a teenager versus an adult.
Generally our society feels that having a section of a child's bowel removed is too large of a consequence for a child.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I've seen the x-rays.
The problem is that, if you have 2 of them, they don't pass through the intestine like the other stuff kids swallow. They pinch 2 sections of intestine together, crush them, and cause necrosis and blockage, and, like you said, perforation. The kids can die. They need fairly invasive surgery. There weren't too many deaths, but there were a few. The people who brought them to the attention of the CPSC were the emergency room doctors who were dealing with them.
The diabolical thing is that
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem is that, if you have 2 of them, they don't pass through the intestine like the other stuff kids swallow.
So, I, an adult without any children and none planned, am not allowed to own them for this?
That makes sense...
How many children die from accidental gunshots in households where parents are too stupid to secure their weapons, but I can buy guns at the local Walmart? Oh, can't ban those... Shucks.
This is a stupid ban, no matter HOW nasty they are inside children. I feel bad for the kids, really, but there is no need to punish everyone else for it.
I can see Zucker being cross-examined: "You did know that several children had died from swallowing these buckeyballs, didn't you?"
So people would have the same reaction to any firearm manufacture right? I can picture P. James Debney (CEO of Smith and Wesson) in court "You did know several children have been accidentally shot, didn't you?".
My house has around 1000 things that are very dangerous to children (cleaners, knives, airsoft weapons, small parts and screws, cactuses, poisonous plants, solvents, magnets!, outlets, glass objects, plastic bags, gasoline, cigarettes, booze, lighters, other flammable liquids, R rated movies, metal music, a chainsaw, three or four machetes, a weed wacker, atheist propaganda, a Koran, the Communist Manifesto, and the complete works of Socrates/Plato), should I be expecting the police to swing by and arrest me for being "dangerous" soon?
EVERYTHING IS DANGEROUS. Ban it all.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Insightful)
"So people would have the same reaction to any firearm manufacture right?" ..well, check this shit out. ...by a Los Angeles policeman who was paralyzed from the waist down when his 3-year-old son shot him with his service pistol. ....Enrique Chavez claimed in his lawsuit that the Glock 21 lacked adequate safeguards against an accidental discharge because it had a light trigger pull and did not have a grip safety ...now Glock has to defend themselves against this moron.
cop allowed to sue Glock.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Judge-allows-paralyzed-dad-to-sue-Glock-3732408.php [sfgate.com]
ok - this is true. Glocks do not have a traditional safety that needs to be released before the trigger moves.
and put his son, Collin, in the back seat of his pickup truck to drop the boy off at his grandfather's house...
sounds tragic, right? wait -
Chavez had removed the child's car seat from the truck and had forgotten that he had left his Glock, which he always kept loaded, beneath the front seat, the court said.
go back to the beginning.. "son shot him with his service pistol."
SERVICE PISTOL. there's a reason LAPD picked Glock as their standard issue.. it's BECAUSE of the lack of traditional safeties and the light trigger pull.
he should sue LAPD for trusting him to carry a gun.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Informative)
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Insightful)
I couldn't disagree more. Buckyballs are not toys for kids. They're toys intended for adults, marketed for adults. Arguing that they should be banned because kids play with them and get hurt is just as nonsensical as arguing that the Ferrari should be banned because parents can give their five-year-olds the car keys and those kids can drive the car off a cliff. There is zero difference. Both are toys designed for adults, and clearly labeled as such.
These products already have prominent warning labels on their packages saying that these are dangerous when swallowed, and that they are not intended for children under 13 years of age. Most kids stop swallowing random objects by about age three, so that's a solid ten year safety margin. To the extent that some of them might have been sold prior to when that warning label was added, they should be held liable for any injuries resulting from those early sales. However, it is not the CPSC's responsibility to protect parents who are so clueless that they buy a product that is clearly marked for ages 13+ and give it to a two-year-old. The only way to achieve such a standard would be to ban all toys designed for children over three years of age. No sane person would say that this is a good idea.
As for younger kids getting their hands on them accidentally, it is the parents' responsibility to watch their kids, and to ensure that anything potentially dangerous is kept out of reach. You don't see people trying to ban household cleansers because kids can be killed by drinking them. You don't see people trying to ban all medications because kids can climb into the medicine cabinet and OD. And yet all of these are things that children of the very same age do. There really is absolutely no difference here. The products are properly labeled, so to the extent that there is a problem, in much the same way as we have poison control ads, the right solution is public service announcements to educate the public about the risks of kids swallowing magnets, not a ban on the products.
Oh, and more importantly, educate doctors, nurses, and poison control centers so that when you ask them if you should worry after a kid swallows one of these things, they immediately tell you to go count them and make damn sure the kid swallowed only one.
People trying to get products banned because of egregious misuse and abuse are what drives us rapidly towards being a nanny state in which anything interesting, useful, or fun is outlawed to protect us from our own stupidity. That isn't a world I want to live in.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Informative)
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Informative)
Better yet, a ban on idiots who don't read the facts of the case? also a ban on people who post these damn articles without any real facts in them.
This is ridiculous, and when a headline is ridiculous you should follow it to the source. Gather some fact.
The article is nothing but a set up baseless attack on Obama.
What has happened is the CPSC told the company that there are reports of injuries. Items like these should be marketed for "14 or older". The company labeled it 13+. The company could have simply change the labels on the new one being produced when the first found out, in 2009. The didn't in 2010, they didn't in 2011. The "Ban" is only on the ones labels 13+
For some reason, the company is stirring this into a much larger issue then it is,. Sine the company attacks Obama, I suspect Zucker did it intentionally. Why else wouldn't you change your label?
" This recall involves the Buckyballs® high powered magnets sets labeled "Ages 13+""
http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml10/10251.html [cpsc.gov]
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry, it's you who didn't read the facts here. This administrative action is against _all_ buckyballs, not just the old 13+ ones (which were fixed in 2010)
You're looking at 2 year old actions and assuming they relate to today's one, but they're only tangentially related.
Here's the press release about the current action: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12234.html [cpsc.gov]
You'll note that in this release they point out that in both the previous actions, the company was cooperative. That is also pointed out in the actual complaint here: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12234.pdf [cpsc.gov]
The founder's bizzarre political allegations aside, they are not being misleading about the CPSC complaint.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
As I read it, it is just the inclusion in toys that are banned....we just have to shop at legitimate supplier sources and build our own toys now...no biggie.
And that legit supplier goes by the name eBay (though I have bought some RE magnets from other sources, it's effectively the mall.
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:4, Insightful)
yeah, fuck thinkgeek responding to a government stop sell. WTF are they supposed to do? You wan't to be pissed at someone? be pissed at the people who brought this concern to the government. Take that anger and get other poeple together to tell the government you don't want them banned. Oh, you won't do that because it takes work, and it's hard..and besides you have all those new steam games to play.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:First my beloved Viper fighter, now this (Score:5, Funny)
I had lawn darts. Flying Death From Above is what we called them, and that's the way we liked it!
Re:Is surgery really needed? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, the surgery is needed. If swallowed the magnetic balls stick together through the intestine walls, cutting off circulation and eventually punching holes in the intestines through which the intestinal contents leak into the abdomen. That's just a little fatal without surgery.
Re:Is surgery really needed? (Score:4, Funny)
Yes, the surgery is needed. If swallowed the magnetic balls stick together through the intestine walls, cutting off circulation and eventually punching holes in the intestines through which the intestinal contents leak into the abdomen. That's just a little fatal without surgery.
But why do you need to waste money on a surgeon?
Can't you just put the kid in an MRI and rip the magnets out?
Re:Is surgery really needed? (Score:5, Informative)
Generally if they're within innser-stomach distance from each other, they connect instantly and would pass through the digestive track together since it takes significant force to pinch them apart.
Their safety guidance [getbuckyballs.com] for medical professionals seems to suggest otherwise:
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
These are neodymium magnets that stick together quite strongly. If two are swallowed they run the risk of coming within close proximity to each other while passing through separate parts of the intestines and clamping them together. Only way to remove them at that point is surgery.
That's not to say the other things you mentioned don't run a risk of getting stuck, or that these will get stuck. By being rare earth magnets they set themselves up for causing problems in the twisty path of our lower digestive tract.
Re: (Score:3)
don't forget 1000-foot-tall straw men.
Re:Here come the lawsuits... (Score:5, Informative)
My understanding is that it is different, the intestine isn't blocked, but actually ruptured because the magnets pull through it.
Re:Here come the lawsuits... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Here come the lawsuits... (Score:5, Insightful)
We don't sell cribs or strollers that collapse on infants.
That's simply a bad product. I'm sure you could sue the company for that. These work as intended, however.
We don't sell poisoned dog food.
That would be intentionally harming them. Not a fitting analogy.
We don't sell toys marketed to children that can easily kill them.
I think we should be able to if they're just imbeciles and their parents don't pay attention.
It's just a toy, and it really isn't worth kids dying over it.
If it means banning it, it is. Just because you don't find it useful doesn't mean everyone else feels the same way. I believe "for the children" is a terrible excuse whether or not children really are in danger.
Re: (Score:3)
There are so many more dangerous things around the average household that it is simply baffling that there would be a ban on these.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Here come the lawsuits... (Score:5, Informative)
Buckyballs are *NOT* for kids!
They are marketed to adults. Designed for adults. There are 6 warnings on the package, instructions, plastic storage box, etc that is so expressive, it's to the point where I'm not sure a child should LOOK at it. Really, above and beyond on warnings that kids should not go near these things.
Re: (Score:3)
First I thought this was another nanny-state ban. But it looks like they are dangerous for small children.
That is a nanny-state ban. Banning something for all of us because a minority abuse it/get hurt by it.
Re: (Score:3)