Walmart.com Pedetid Magic Magnet Ball Sets Are Too Dangerous for Children, CPSC Warns

Federal safety officials are urging consumers to avoid using Pedetid high-powered magnetic toy sets, sold exclusively online through Walmart, due to a risk that children may accidentally swallow the small pieces, which may attract across intestinal walls and cause life-threatening injuries.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued the Pedetid magnetic ball warning on January 18, indicating the toy sets do not comply with federal regulations, because they contain high-powered magnets that are stronger than the agency permits, and can easily be swallowed by small children.

The sets contain ball-shaped stones made of rare earth metals, which have a strong magnetic force that allows the magnets to connect to each other, and form into various shapes and designs. The products are marketed as adult desk toys for building blocks or stress relievers, but they are often used as children’s toys and can cause devastating injuries if the small parts are swallowed.

While no injuries have been reported in relation to the Pedetid magnetic ball sets, severe injuries and deaths have been linked to other products with similar designs. Officials warn that if the powerful magnets are ingested, they can attract to each other, or other metal objects, and become lodged in the digestive tract. This can cut off the blood supply to important organs, lead to twisting, blockages, or perforations of the intestines, infections, blood poisoning, and even death.

Pedetid Magnetic Ball Warning

The Pedetid 5mm Magic Magnet Ball Sets contain 216 multi-colored magnetic balls encased in a clear plastic case with a tin storage box included. They were distributed online exclusively at Walmart.com through Pedetid Store, of China, and retailed for about $14.

According to the CPSC advisory, the agency issued a violation notice to Pedetid. However, the seller has not agreed to issue a recall at this time. The CPSC indicated it will distribute the magnet warning to known purchasers directly.

Consumers who may have purchased the sets are urged to immediately stop using them, take them away from children, and dispose of them.

The CPSC also encourages consumers to report any injuries or problems they experienced while using the magnet sets to www.SaferProducts.gov.

 Magnetic Toy Injury Risks

High-powered magnet ingestions and the devastating effects they have on children have been a concern among safety officials for a number of years. The CPSC indicates approximately 2,400 magnet ingestion injuries were treated in hospital emergency departments between 2017 and 2021, with at least seven deaths linked to ingesting the powerful magnets worldwide, all but two of which occurred in the U.S.

In 2014, the CPSC enacted toy magnet safety rules, in an attempt to ban certain toy sets from the consumer market. The rules imposed minimum size requirements for magnets to prevent swallowing risks, and certain strength requirements to reduce injury risks. However, the rules were challenged in court and overturned in 2016, allowing magnet sales to continue.

Following the ban reversal, research published in 2021 found that magnet ingestion injuries increased more than 400%. The CPSC reported more than 26,000 injuries that required emergency room treatment between 2010 and 2021. The findings prompted new federal safety standards for high-powered magnet products to be introduced in 2022, which requires loose or separable magnets to be a certain size and magnetic strength.

The CPSC issued two magnetic toy safety alerts for similar high-powered magnet products in December 2023, which warned consumers to stop using Life Changing Products 216-piece Magnetic Ball sets and TOCTOC Magnetic Ball sets. Officials indicate those magnet sets also do not meet mandatory regulations because they contain pieces that are small and create too strong of a magnetic field.

This is the second magnet set sold through Walmart to receive such a warning over the last month. A Relax magnetic ball recall impacted thousands of similar high-powered magnetic toy sets that were also sold online exclusively through Walmart. Those products also contained magnet pieces that the CPSC deemed are too small and too powerful.