A Kiwi grade-schooler amazed his classmates
with a remarkable feat of attraction. He suspended a spoon from his navel, held,
as if floating, by an invisible attachment. An American preteen was the envy of
her BFFs because she had a tongue bolt – achieved without the pain of piercing.
How did they do it? Gorilla strength glue? Superhuman powers? Neither, actually,
but rather a stalwart force present all around us but not usually within us. Fans of AMC’s Breaking Bad will recognize this force
as the same one that Walter White used to destroy the evidence police had linking
him to methamphetamine production. More mundanely, most of us will recognize it
as the molecular reaction that secures photos and to-do lists to our refrigerators. Magnetism. And although magnets are part of our daily lives, they are
not always harmless – in fact can exert very powerful and destructive forces on
the human body. You may not have heard about it yet, but around the globe
there’s a mini magnet problem. Here in the U.S., you might even call it an
epidemic, with reports of magnet ingestions in children ages 0 to 17 having
increased by approximately tenfold over the last ten years and resulted in
hundreds of injuries and at least one known death.
How can swallowing a magnet be worse than
swallowing a marble or a bead? The stick of the issue has to do the remarkable
force with which some magnets are attracted to one another – a force that can cause
a lot of damage to gastrointestinal tissue when magnets travel through the gut to
reunite with one another. Recently, a clinical report in the Lancet described two children (one aged
18 months and the other 8 years) with toy magnet ingestions. Both kids required
surgeries - one for significant
intestinal injuries caused by the magnets’ compressive “pull” forces – which can be up to 1300 Gauss (by comparison,
a typical refrigerator magnet exerts only 50 Gauss) – against the bowel wall.
A few months ago, the case of a ten-year old
girl who ingested two toy magnets she had used to make her own “tongue piercing”
received national news attention. While she avoided the pain of a real tongue
piercing, she ended up short her appendix in the process. In Portland this past
March, a three-year-old nearly died after swallowing 37 magnets. Inside her abdomen,
the balls snapped together to form a ring – and tore at least four holes in her
gastrointestinal tract.
In these instances, the common and concerning
characteristic was the ingestion of multiple neodymium (“rare earth”) magnets. These
neodymium magnets are a relatively new product – they were invented by General
Motors in 1982 – and are five to ten times more powerful than traditional
magnets. Still, solitary magnets, even of the neodymium variety, tend to pass
through the gut without major incident. But multiple magnets, or magnets paired
with other metal objects in the gut, pose a unique problem as, like young
lovers, they have an insatiable desire to find and press up against each other.
Some describe such magnets as “kissing magnets.” And, like love-struck fools,
kissing magnets will do anything to stay together, even, for example, pushing
right through the linings of internal organs. If you can picture your anatomy;
imagine two different loops of bowel with a magnet in each – straining to reach
each other. As the magnets are drawn together they bring the loops of bowel
tightly together and create connections or holes between them (known as
fistulas or perforations). So, if you have kids, magnets are no toy.
For some time, pediatricians and consumer
product safety groups have been warning about the dangers of kissing magnets.
In fact, in 2008 the Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) issued new standards for children’s products and toys containing
magnets. The standards require that the magnets be secured so that they will
not fall out of the toy or become unattached.
Despite this, we’re hearing about more and
more kids swallowing magnets – especially neodymium magnets used as “stress
relief” desk toys for adults. You may have seen these “Buckyballs” at your
local Brookstone or thought of getting a set for your spouse. The magnets are
generally sold in groups of 100 to 1000 and are replete with enticing shapes
and colors. Although the products are labeled and designed for adults and
contain prominent safety warnings, they can easily find their way into the
hands and mouths of children. And while youngsters with developmental delay are
known to be at higher risk for ingesting objects, many kissing magnet reports –
such as a couple of those mentioned above – have occurred in developmentally
normal children. As such, the CPSC has just recently filed suit to prevent the
sale of Buckyball magnets by retailers.
But, whether
such products stay on the market in the long-term or not, parents, caregivers
and teachers should be aware of the risks. Thus, here are some helpful tips.
First, be aware of the potential complications of magnets – just because they
are small doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of exerting a lot of Gauss. Second,
for those who might enjoy Buckyballs or related products – keep them at work
rather than at home. Third, if you suspect that a child has ingested magnets, get
him or her evaluated early – magnets show up quite clearly on x-ray but a
child’s symptoms won’t show up until later – when the damage is already done. Medical
providers and parents should be sure to report all cases of magnet ingestion. You
can visit SaferProducts.gov to report (anonymously if you prefer) injuries
related to magnets or other products. Accurate accounting of cases can
help with efforts to educate the public and maintain safety in consumer
products.
If you still
feel a strong need to impress and amaze your friends… forget the spoons, tongue
bolts, and Buckyball shapes. I suggest a different type of magnetism – one of
personality – not potential perforation.
