Small, powerful magnetic balls that are sold online only at Walmart as construction block and stress relieving products have been recalled because of the risk of swallowing as reported by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) announced on Thursday.
When it announced the recall the commission cited hundreds of hospitalizations as well as more than seven fatalities that could be linked with similar items.
Consuming magnets can be dangerous as they could attract each other and then become stuck within the digestive tract, the commission stated.
“This can result in perforations, twisting and/or blockage of the intestines, infection, blood poisoning and death,” the recall announcement added.
The commission reported that they “estimates 2,400 magnet ingestions were treated in hospital emergency departments from 2017 through 2021.”
The commission also has information on “seven deaths involving the ingestion of hazardous magnets, including two outside of the United States,” the commission stated.
The commission also pointed out that magnetic ball sets that are sold at Walmart “do not comply with the requirements of the mandatory federal magnet regulation because the sets contain one or more magnets that fit within CPSC’s small parts cylinder and the magnets are stronger than permitted.”
The Relax magnetic balls are available as set of 216 multicolor balls, which measure 5 millimeters in each. The sets of more than 4200 are currently being recalls, according to the commission.
They are produced in China and are sold through a company named Joybuy, NBC News said, however, no one from Joybuy was able to be reached for comments on Thursday.
The balls were available between February 2022 through April 2023 they cost from $14 to $15, as per the commission.
