Water beads, often used as sensory toys for children or as home decor, have been linked to child deaths overseas and to “serious harm” to children in the UK, the The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM).
Urgent safety warning issued over water beads gifts for children Often marketed as toys, water beads have been linked to child deaths overseas.
“Any one of these three objects could be found under your tree or in a stocking this festive season, hidden in gifts that are intended to bring joy to a child or vulnerable person, but which, if swallowed, could result in critical illness and the need for emergency medical treatment,” Dr Malik said.
The RCEM safety flash also highlights concerns about the potential for children to swallow button or coin batteries and magnets, which can lodge in the food pipe of young children causing serious harm or death due to a chemical reaction which erodes tissue.
Dr Salwa Malik, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, asked parents to “think twice” about gifting these goods, having seen the “devastating and detrimental” of their effects firsthand.
