this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45088835

A 13-year-old boy in New Zealand swallowed up to 100 high-power magnets he bought on Temu, forcing surgeons to remove tissue from his intestines, doctors said on Oct 24.

After suffering four days of abdominal pain, the unnamed teen was taken to Tauranga Hospital on the North Island.

“He disclosed ingesting approximately 80 to 100 5x2mm high-power (neodymium) magnets about one week prior,” said a report by hospital doctors in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

The magnets, which have been banned in New Zealand since January 2013, were bought on online shopping platform Temu, they said.

An X-ray showed the magnets had clumped together in four straight lines inside the child’s intestines.

“These appeared to be in separate parts of bowel adhered together due to magnetic forces,” they said.

[...]

Surgeons operated to remove the dead tissue and retrieve the magnets, and the child was able to return home after an eight-day spell in hospital.

“This case highlights not only the dangers of magnet ingestion but also the dangers of the online marketplace for our paediatric population,” said the authors of the paper, Dr Binura Lekamalage, Dr Lucinda Duncan-Were and Dr Nicola Davis.

Surgery for ingestion of magnets can lead to complications later in life such as bowel obstruction, abdominal hernia and chronic pain, they said.

[...]

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[–] black_flag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 180 points 1 day ago (5 children)

This is fucking stupid. A 13 year old is old enough to read the "don't fucking eat this you dumbass" labels on the packaging. Do you know how useful neodymium magnets are? You're gonna just ban them cuz this kid's dumb enough to swallow a hundred fucking rare earth magnets and didn't go to the doctor for half a week? Stupid

[–] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 56 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Next they're going to ban CR2032 button cells

(I was gonna put a /s at the end but I can vividly imagine that happening now :/ )

[–] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Not sure if you're aware, but Duracell and probably others coat button batteries in a chemical that tastes bad in order to discourage ingestion.

I see where these regulations are coming from, but we can't just ban away anything that could be harmful. I just recently bought a bunch of magnets like these for a using in 3D printed models. I don't have any kids, but I do have pets and so they're stored away in their own case and not left around. People just need to be responsible. I mean, we don't ban bleach but you sure as hell shouldn't drink it!

I was at a company picknic this summer and was watching people trying to play a pitiful version of Lawn Darts. The darts were weighted but would just bounce off the ground and ruin a good shot. Lawn darts, or darts of any kind, simply don't work as a game when you take the pointy end away. I will say though, that a company outing where there's people milling about is not a good place to play lawn darts, so I wouldn't have used the real ones here even if you could.

Proper product packaging, like we use in medicine canisters, and perhaps an extra disclaimer/waiver on purchase is the way to go on these things IMO.

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[–] ms_lane@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (6 children)

In Australia CR2032s have a double wall thick plastic blister packaging that is basically impossible to open.

You need scissors AND some time.

[–] michaelalf@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

This is an example of a sensible control. Double walled, difficult to open packages may be a small inconvenience for adults, but it makes it near impossible for a toddler to open. Button cell batteries are seriously dangerous if swallowed.

Banning neodymium magnets is fucking stupid, and unfortunately the world seems to be heading in the direction of banning everything in the name of "safety".

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 39 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Yeah stop banning everything that can hurt you because ONE person does something stupid. Like we say in my language, one time is zero times. Everything can hurt you. If many people start doing it, maybe it's time to consider a ban.

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[–] One_Honest_Dude@lemmy.world 104 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I am so confused. Why did he eat them? Magnets are banned in New Zealand since 2013? Are they marketed as special eating magnets?

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 60 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Small high-powered magnets, specifically

Small strong magnets are harmless to play with – but if they are ingested or inhaled, they can become attracted to each other and join up in the digestive system. If left untreated, this can result in major tissue damage, sepsis and even death.

So basically banned for this exact reason.

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's fine if you only eat one, though. Just make sure it's out before eating another one. 🤷‍♂️

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 day ago

This is exactly what I do and it's never bothered me.

[–] ook@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Sniffing magnets get you fucked up.

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[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 65 points 21 hours ago (4 children)

The real question that remains unanswered: why the fuck did that boy try to earn a Darwin Award? One or two would be an accident, 100 is done on purpose

[–] AceOnTrack@lemmy.blahaj.zone 34 points 21 hours ago (5 children)

I get an unsupervised toddler eating something they shouldn't have been able to get to in the first place...

A 13 years old should at least have a functional brain.

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[–] Redex68@lemmy.world 54 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Not gonna lie, banning 5x2mm magnets is insane. They're very useful, I've seen countless DIY projects or 3D print models that use them and in general they're just handy. It seems insane to me to ban them for such a reason. There are infinite ways in which children can hurt themselves, should we ban stoves because they can get hot? That ban sounds a bit too much to me.

[–] RecallMadness@lemmy.nz 18 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The ban was specifically in the context of toys.

We banned toy magnets. Magnets for other purposes are still completely legal.

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[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 10 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Exactly. I never heard of a magnet ban in my life.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 14 points 22 hours ago (2 children)
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[–] dumbass@aussie.zone 49 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Even I know not to eat magnets ffs.

[–] Poem_for_your_sprog@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] dumbass@aussie.zone 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 42 points 1 day ago (14 children)

That's unusual for a teenager to do, I'm curious why he did that. My first guess would be a developmental delay vs a dare?

[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Teens eat Tide pods on what's essentially a dare.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (3 children)
[–] andyburke@fedia.io 46 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Because our children being fucking dumb enough that 86 of them ate LAUNDRY DETERGENT is an issue.

[–] Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It’s true that since the Tide Pod Challenge began, the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPC) has received 86 reports of teenagers intentionally ingesting laundry detergent. Yet at the end of last year, the AAPC reported that over 10,500 children under the age of five were exposed to laundry pods in 2017 (for example ingesting, inhaling, or absorbing the detergent). If we are going to have a mass panic about poisonings, ten thousand children are clearly in greater danger than less than a hundred teens. So why was it that only the Tide Pod Challenge that made pearl-clutching headlines across the globe?

I think the bigger problem is that adults focus on issues that are marketed to us than the issues that actually exist

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[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago
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[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 41 points 1 day ago (11 children)

Yea I feel like Temu is not at fault here, but rather, a lack of parents and a lack of brain

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[–] CaptainBlinky@lemmy.myserv.one 28 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Why are kids eating magnets now?

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[–] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 27 points 22 hours ago (6 children)

I am almost afraid to ask... but why eat magnets?

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[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 23 points 17 hours ago
[–] Archangel1313@lemmy.ca 22 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I have very little sympathy for any 13 year old dumb enough to eat magnets. I have zero sympathy for any 13 year old that ate a hundred of them.

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[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

Bullshit propaganda to try to soften age restrictions coming in to fkin everything.

[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 14 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Was scratching my head wondering what got him into swallowing so many of those magnets for no other logical reason in the first place, except maybe because of some online Tiktok dare where logic is thrown out of the window.

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[–] Wilco@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 day ago (3 children)

And they laugh at the USA because Kinder eggs with toys in them are banned.

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[–] SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works 12 points 15 hours ago (5 children)

Magnets are banned in New Zealand?

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[–] lemmefixdat4u@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Where they banned in all their various applications? Because I had a scare when my 2-year-old granddaughter found a box with a magnetic latch and the magnet had been torn out. We thought she ate it. But after scouring the area we found it, and it's a thin neodymium magnet. Went through the whole house making sure boxes like that were out of her reach.

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

One magnet is harmless. The problem is when you eat more than one, and they pinch their way through the intestine.

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