In recent years, a seemingly innocuous toy has been causing serious injuries in children across the United States. Water beads, those colorful, marble-sized spheres that expand when soaked in water, have become increasingly popular as sensory toys and decorations. However, a new study reveals a disturbing trend: emergency room visits related to water bead injuries in children have more than doubled in just one year.
Water beads, made from superabsorbent polymers, can expand to hundreds of times their original size when exposed to fluids. Originally marketed as soil alternatives for plants, they’ve found their way into children’s play as sensory toys, decorations, and even ammunition for toy “gel blaster” guns. However, their harmless appearance hides a serious threat, especially to young children who might mistake them for candy.
The study, published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, analyzed data from U.S. emergency departments over a 16-year period. The results are eye-opening: In 2022 alone, there were an estimated 3,300 water bead-related emergency room visits involving children and teenagers. This marks a staggering 130% increase from the previous year.
What makes these tiny spheres so dangerous?
When ingested, water beads can expand to many times their original size inside a child’s body, potentially causing intestinal blockages or other serious complications. They can also pose risks when inserted into ears or noses, leading to painful and sometimes damaging outcomes. In one tragic incident not included in the study, a 10-month-old child died after ingesting water beads.
“The number of pediatric water bead-related emergency department visits is increasing rapidly,” says Dr. Gary Smith, senior author of the study and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in a statement. “Although swallowing objects and putting them into an ear or the nose are common among children, water beads pose a unique increased risk of harm because of their expanding properties, and they’re hard to detect with X-rays.”
The research team found that children under five years-old were most at risk, accounting for more than half of all emergency room visits related to water beads. Ingestion was the most common type of injury, followed by insertion into the ear canal. While most cases were treated and released from the emergency department, some required hospitalization, especially among the youngest patients.
One particularly concerning finding was that children as young as seven months-old were among those injured. This challenges the notion that current safety measures, such as warning labels for children under three, are sufficient to prevent accidents.
The study’s findings have caught the attention of consumer safety advocates and lawmakers. In response to growing concerns, major retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target, have announced they will stop selling water beads marketed to children. Additionally, legislation has been introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to ban or restrict the sale of expandable water beads.
However, the researchers argue that current safety standards and regulations may not go far enough. The existing toy safety standard, ASTM F963, which limits the size to which water beads can expand, doesn’t account for the possibility of multiple beads forming a gelatinous mass in the intestines. It also doesn’t address injuries from insertion into ears or noses.
“Serious outcomes have occurred to children younger than 18 months, and one-fifth of the water beads swallowed in this study were among children younger than 18 months with the youngest child being 7 months old. Therefore, using intestinal measurements for 18-month-olds is not adequate,” Dr. Smith points out.
Study authors are calling for a more comprehensive approach to regulating water beads. They suggest focusing on the core characteristic that makes these products dangerous: their ability to expand when exposed to fluids. Drawing a parallel to regulations on high-powered magnets, which focused on magnetic strength to reduce ingestion risks, the researchers propose limiting water bead expansion to no more than 50% of their original size.
Source: https://studyfinds.org/water-bead-injuries-children/?nab=0