What the buck?

[drfish]

http://gizmodo.com/5929064/buckyballs-h ... y-the-feds

Really?

If I hadn't already had them for a couple years I'd be buying them right now for sure. I'm still tempted to buy the nickle bars though, or the cube ones.

Lets ban sue matches and scissors next.

Sorry if this needs to go into R&P instead...

Edit: Of course you need to take the sensationalist Gizmodo headline with a grain of salt but the fact remains even ThinkGeek has stopped carrying them... I also want to apologize for my awful thread title, it was half the reason I started the thread.

[SecretSquirrel]

My understanding is that this only applies to the packages labeled for ages 13+. Those with the required "ages 14 and up" label are apparently still ok.

I've played with them and they are cool and all, but not enough for me to buy. The square one's are useful if you have a magnetic surface and need to hold things up though.

--SS

[drfish]

That's interesting, where did you read that? Also, I have to admit mine were a gift but they've gotten a lot of use.

[UberGerbil]

This is not the first magnetic toy to be banned for this reason. There was a construction toy that used strong magnets as their assembly mechanism, but the pieces could be damaged in a way that caused the magnets to escape. There was at least one rather nasty death and a bunch of emergency hospital visits when small children swallowed the magnets (one isn't a problem, but two in the gut tend to want to snap together, pinching closed or tearing through whatever intestines might be in between -- and as the picture in this story shows, kids can swallow a lot more than two. I know: where are the parents. But it probably doesn't help that the buckeyballs look an awful lot like candy).

(BTW, when the Feds "file suit" like this it just means they're applying civil rather than criminal law, which is appropriate since I don't think anyone thinks there was any kind of bad intent or even willful negligence that would require criminal charges)

[Jason181]

From the USA Today article (emphasis added):

CPSC also charged in its suit that the packaging is defective because it is childproof and it's impossible for parents to tell if a magnet is missing.

Seriously?

Edit: After reading the complaint, the USA Today article is incorrect; the complaint states that it is defective because it is not childproof...

[superjawes]

And to think I got through the Steam Sale spending so little cash.... >.<

But the frustrating thing to me is not the recall, but rather the dumb-ass parents. I remember seeing these a few years ago, and I think they still had major, "THESE ARE NOT TOYS" warnings on the site.

[SecretSquirrel]

That's interesting, where did you read that? Also, I have to admit mine were a gift but they've gotten a lot of use.

I hit the CPSC website and found the 2010 release, not the 2012. My bad.

--SS