The Chicago Tribune's investigative reporting staff stays busy uncovering public safety issues...as in this December Chicago Tribune article about magnetic jewelry marketed to our small children:

Some magnetic earrings targeted to pre-teens by Claire's Stores and others	Earrings shaped like baby ducks which use magnets having a strong flux density

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: HIDDEN HAZARDS

Magnetic jewelry an overlooked danger

Expert: Earrings marketed to kids 'fall through the cracks'

By Maurice Possley | Tribune staff reporter

December 20, 2007

 

The federal government brands magnets in toys a deadly hazard to children because the tiny, powerful objects can fall out and cause serious, even fatal, internal injuries when swallowed.  Yet the Consumer Product Safety Commission has not taken steps to regulate even more powerful magnets when they are sold in loose form as backings on children's earrings, the Tribune has found.

 

The earrings consist of a small decorative part -- such as a cupcake, a faux diamond, a dolphin -- with a magnet inside. They are held in place by putting a loose magnet behind the earlobe.  Independent tests of more than a dozen magnetic earrings done for the Tribune showed that the earring magnets all were at least as powerful as magnets found inside toys that have caused the death of one child and scores of other injuries. Some of the magnetic earrings were more than five times more powerful.  But because the earrings are not considered toys, new regulations for magnets do not apply. If they did, the jewelry could not be legally sold, according to a CPSC spokesman, Scott Wolfson.

The Tribune found reports of more than two dozen instances in the U.S. and Europe in recent years where magnets from earrings have been swallowed, aspirated into the lungs or become stuck together on either side of a child's nose cartilage. Those youngsters had used the earrings to mimic nose, tongue and even navel piercings.  Most of these injuries did not result in hospitalizations. But, given the precedent of serious injuries caused by magnets in toys, some leading physicians are wondering why the CPSC is not taking action anyway.

"It's clear what the risks of magnets are," said Dr. Garry Gardner, a physician from suburban Darien who is chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on injury, violence and poison prevention. "I don't care whether they call it a toy or not, these are still a risk. Any magnet that can be aspirated or swallowed is dangerous."

 

...The new standard does not apply to magnetic jewelry, even if it is marketed to children.

 

...Complaints to the CPSC about magnetic jewelry include one incident that sent a 2-year-old boy to the hospital after swallowing a magnetic earring. Other incidents involved boys and girls ranging from 8 to 13 years old. One 13-year-old boy used magnet jewelry to mimic a tongue piercing and swallowed the magnet. A 13-year-old girl "sniffed magnet earring backs into nose," according to the agency's database.

 

Dangerous inside nose

 

Dr. Anthony Magit, a pediatric otolaryngologist in California, described how quickly a child can be injured.  "The magnets are fairly strong and instead of just holding the earrings on the outside of both sides of the nose, they pull together and get embedded in the septum and they can't get them out," he said. "It can happen in a day. The magnets burrow into the septum and cannot be pulled apart. They are so strong, you have to take them to the hospital to get them removed.  "There needs to be a warning."

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And now the Chicago Tribune's editorial staff followed up with this opinion piece, critical of the American product watchdog agency:

Fix the CPSC—and fast

March 22, 2008

Last August, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission tagged toys with potentially loose powerful magnets as the No. 1 "hidden home hazard" in America.
The magnets, when they fall from toys, are small enough to be swallowed by curious tots. They're dangerous enough to subsequently connect through layers of body tissue, rip through intestines like a gunshot, and cause severe injury or death. And stray magnets can be difficult for even vigilant parents to spot on a carpet.

All of this was confirmed in the story of 20-month-old Kenny Sweet Jr., the Seattle-area boy who died after swallowing aspirin-size magnets that had fallen loose from older brother Ben's Magnetix building toys set.

After the May 2007 chronicle of Kenny's death by Tribune reporter Patricia Callahan, toymaker Mega Brands announced that it was clearing store shelves of all but the newest models of Magnetix kits.

But according to the CPSC, Mega Brands had violated an April 2007 recall agreement with the CPSC by relabeling older sets of Magnetix toys. That made it appear as if they were the safest version, even though the CPSC insisted those sets be included in the recall. The CPSC also said the company gave stores confusing directions on which sets were covered by the recall. The Tribune reported Monday that the company had indications that other magnet toys in its lineup—Magna Man action figures, and Magnetix Jr. and Magtastik preschool toys—also were expelling loose magnets.

This week, more than a year after it first learned that magnets were coming loose from these products, Mega Brands issued yet another massive recall, this one covering 2.4 million toys. On offer for consumers: replacement sets—some of which would replace the replacement sets the company had distributed in previous recalls.

What took so long? Negotiations between the company and the CPSC over details of the latest recall. Under current statute, the CPSC has no easy way to order a recall without negotiating every word with the company involved. This despite the fact that there were 44 reports of magnets falling loose from the most recently recalled toys. One child had to have a stray magnet removed from his nasal cavity. Another had a magnet retrieved from his mouth.

Company spokesman Harold Chizick told the Tribune the delay was due to the company's desire to get things right. Initially, Mega Brands wanted to recall only certain pieces from its toy kits. Ultimately, the company decided to recall entire sets. "We wanted to avoid confusion," Chizick said. "Telling the consumer that certain parts were good and certain parts needed to be returned, it was just too confusing."

Why was a part-by-part recall even up for debate? Chizick's comment about that being "just too confusing" is correct but obvious.

The Tribune's series also has prompted a closer look at the CPSC, a sometimes-muzzled watchdog, by federal lawmakers and consumers alike.

Both houses of Congress have passed bills that would reform the CPSC by increasing its funding and staffing. Next stop: a Capitol Hill conference committee.

Our belief is that the final bill must include creation of a public Internet database, where citizens can search for information about potentially dangerous products. The Senate bill calls for such a database; the House bill calls merely for studying the issue. That's not enough. As the Magnetix case shows, while known problems linger, children remain in danger.

A CPSC that can't alert parents to dangerous products—or even make public consumer complaints about a potentially dangerous product—needs to be overhauled.

And fast.