Are “Fidget Spinners” a Choking Hazard?

Is your child mesmerized by the new “fidget spinners” being sold almost everywhere as a “stress reliever”?

I must admit that I don’t understand how these gadgets actually reduce stress, but a report out of Texas warns us that the fidget spinners may also be dangerous. More specifically, they may be a choking hazard for children.

Recently, the mother of 10-year-old Britton noticed her daughter choking in the back seat of the family’s car. Mom’s quick work to help her daughter, plus the efforts of ER docs at the local hospital, identified the culprit as a bearing from the fidget spinner with which Britton had been playing. The bearing had lodged itself in young Britton’s esophagus.

While emergency surgery proved successful in removing the bearing, no doubt saving Britton’s life or at least sparing her further serious injury, this family’s experience is enough to warrant a careful examination (or re-examination) by the Consumer Products Safety Commission of the safety of fidget spinners. The manufacturer must also take a hard look at its own product, as it is now on notice of a potential life-threatening danger which it presents.

The fact that the spinners are being marketed essentially as toys–given that children are the company’s advertising targets–makes the need for this examination particularly urgent. And in the meantime, parents must be very watchful of what their children are doing with the spinners.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/17/health/texas-fidget-spinner-xray-trnd/