Girl swallows 30 magnets, steel balls

Tag : Balls Of Steel

The parents of an eight-year-old US girl who survived surgery afterswallowing 30 magnets and steel balls from a toy want themanufacturer to recall the building sets from all stores.
Haley Lents was taken to an Indiana Hospital last month after shecomplained of stomach pains and an X-ray revealed that she hadswallowed magnets which had torn her intestines in eight places,the Associated Press reports.
She had ingested 20 steel balls and 10 magnets from her Mega BrandsMagnetix MagnaCase building set because she thought they "lookedlike candy".
Haley's father Jason Lents said the family will meet with aConsumer Product Safety Commission investigator to discuss how toprevent this from happening to other children.
"We're going to work toward getting them out of the schools and offthe shelves, " he said.
Mr Lent told CBS News that he did not understand how his daughtercould have swallowed the balls because they had "taught her not todo stuff like this".
Haley spent two weeks recovering in hospital after the emergencysurgery.
Toy company Mega Brands spokesman Harold Chizick said the toy wasnot the same product that was recalled in March and it came withwarnings regarding age-appropriate use.
"I think if a child would swallow 30 of any toy, an action figureor anything, they would require surgery," he said.
"This is a very isolated incident."
The company had recalled about 2.4 million Chinese-made toys inwhich the small magnets could fall out.
They had also issued a warning saying if more than one magnet wasswallowed, it could attach to the other and cause "intestinalperforation, infection or blockage" which may be fatal.