A number of parents have taken to social media to voice concerns over the popular fidget spinners. They say they’re dangerous and need to be recalled.
Originally designed to help kids with sensory and attention disorders by occupying their hands in order to help improve concentration, it’s now having an undesired effect.
A concerned Mom, Johely Morelos, said that even though she warned her son about another child who had to go to the emergency room because she choked on a fidget spinner, her son ended up in a hospital, too, after he swallowed a piece of the gadget.
Morelos’ son, Cayden, had to have a disc from the fidget spinner surgically removed from his chest.
“It was super scary,” Morelos told Buzzfeed. “When they were putting a tube down his throat, he was throwing up blood. It was really scary for me to see he was in pain.”
Cayden recovered just days later, and Morelos is now working with a child safety advocacy group to push for the fidget spinners to be recalled and required to have a choking hazard warning.
Scott Wolfson. a Consumer Product Safety Commission representative, said the agency is following up on the case of a 10-year-old Texas girl who choked on a fidget spinner, as well as other cases of children swallowing loose discs.
“Choking risks to children are traditionally a priority for our agency, so we take that very seriously,” Wolfson said. “It’s early in the process for us, but we’re taking the issue seriously. We would encourage anyone that has an incident to use SaferProducts.gov to report it right away.”
“When a toy craze like the spinners hit, you may be tempted to buy one for your child when you see a street vendor has them, but the safety of products sold outside reputable retailer cannot be verified,” said Joan Lawrence, who heads up regulatory affairs for the Toy Association.