Our GP Care Group 0-19 Service Development Lead, Jenny Gilmour highlights the dangers of super strong magnets, and why it’s important for parents to receive support and understand the risks.
Jenny said: “In recent weeks there have been numerous media reports of older children swallowing magnets after mimicking TikTok tongue piercing challenges or younger children swallowing magnets from jewellery or toys. Shockingly, some magnets sold on online marketplaces can be up to ten times stronger than the law allows. These super strong magnets attract to each other in the gut and cause the tissue to die, wreaking serious and lasting internal damage.”
A mum of a six-year-old girl who swallowed 23 magnets, said: “I want to warn parents about the dangers of their children playing with magnets. I want to reinforce how dangerous these magnets really are.”
The Child Accident Prevention Trust has partnered with the Office for Product Safety and Standards and the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons to give families useful advice and resources about how these magnet accidents are happening, and the best ways to prevent them.
Click the links below to find out more.
