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KOMO TV (Seattle): Government Investigating Safety of New Magnetix Toys (4/27/06)

April 27, 2006

By Michelle Esteban

SEATTLE – A KOMO 4 News investigation helped lead to a nationwide recall of Magnetix toys after magnets from a popular toy killed a local boy and hurt others.

Now, we’ve learned the feds are investigating the toymaker’s new and improved version of the same toy.

Kenny Sweet, Marcel McNeil, William Finley, and Kyle Booke — their parents says all of them were hurt by a toy.

“He was hours from dying,” says Joe Booke of Oak Harbor, Washington. His son Kyle was hospitalized for a month.

We brought three local families together.

All of them rushed their children to the emergency room with what they thought was stomach flu.

“He was hours from dying, we’re just like, we have no clue. I almost lost my son, Kyle,” says Joe Booke.

“We’re in constant agony that our son is gone,” says Penny Sweet.

The King County Medical Examiner ruled that tiny magnets from a Magnetix toy building set killed Penny Sweet’s son, Kenny, on Thanksgiving Day. He was just a toddler.

“When I think of how they could have saved my son’s life, and how they turned their back on our children, it’s unforgivable,” insists Sweet.

All four children accidentally swallowed small magnets that came loose from the Magnetix construction sets.

Their parents told us that in each case, the magnets sealed in the toy’s plastic rods and panels came fell out.

The magnets were so strong that they attracted to one another and twisted the small intestine, caused an obstruction and that ruptured the intestine. Deadly bacteria leaked into their bodies.

Our report on Kenny’s death triggered a federal investigation.

And, in March, KOMO’s findings helped persuade the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall nearly 4 million Magnetix toys nationwide.

New Version On The Shelves

But Magnetix toys are still on store shelves. According to the toymaker, they are a new and improved version.

Toymaker Rose Art and parent company Mega Bloks said they didn’t think there was a problem with the original toy. But, they say they made improvements just before and after Kenny’s death.

They insist the newest version — in stores after the recall — is different and safer.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating that claim.

“I’m making a big pyramid,” says 9-year-old Isaiah Padgett of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He loves the toy.

His mother, Jennifer Padgett bought a set of those “new” Magnetix for Isaiah.

“The first time I got them only a couple fell out so I thought maybe that’s just the way they are, maybe we’ll get a new set. As I played with them more fell out, I kept wondering why?” asked Isaiah.

Jennifer bought a second set of the new version. “The second set broke as well,” she said. She called in a complaint to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

“It bothers me as a consumer I’m thinking that they’re putting profits before the safety of children,” says Padgett.

The Magnetix toy that was recalled and the new version on store shelves look alike. You can’t see the changes.

So we went to Livingston, N.J. to ask the toy manufacturer to show us the difference. But Rose Art turned us down, they say they’re just not ready for a sit down interview.

In a written statement, they said the new product has been enhanced three separate times. The first time in late summer, that was right after Mega Bloks acquired RoseArt. The company says quality enhancements are standard procedure for them after acquisitions.

“Is the Magnetix on the shelf now safe?” We went to Bethesda, Maryland to pose that question to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Enhancements Made

“Rose Art has said it has made a better product and the CPSC is investigating to see how much better that product is,” said Julie Vallese, spokesperson for the CPSC.

RoseArt said it added glue to the toys and enhanced what they call “magnet welding.”

The company also changed the warning label. The information on the product box used to recommend the toy for children age three and up. The new boxes say children playing with the toy should be at least six years.

“If the stuff I’ve seen on the shelf is new and improved, there is no change,” says Mechelle Booke. Her son Tyler swallowed magnets and had emergency surgery in March. “His intestines are severely damaged, they’re never gonna be the way they were before,” says Booke.

“I’m a dad with my son, I want him to grow up and play baseball and football, and now the doctors telling me he’s got a high possibility of having hernias his whole life,” says Joe Booke.

A Redmond engineer hired by the attorney for the local families compared the toys and sees no improvement. He says the glue sticks only to plastic and won’t hold magnets in place.

Mega Bloks says it can’t comment on data it has not seen, but is confident in its own testing methods.

“We take the company’s word for it at the onset, but through our investigation we’ll have to look or prove whether this product is better,” says CPSC’s Vallese.

But that’s not all CPSC is investigating.

Another Case In Redding

Until I told them, the feds had never heard about what happened to 4-year-old William Finley of Redding, California last August.

William swallowed three of the magnets and had emergency surgery. William’s parents said their son nearly died.

On Oct. 31, they sent Rose Art a letter, telling them their son “ingested a magnet.”

The company signed for it three days later, but the Finleys say RoseArt never responded.

“It made us feel a lot like my son didn’t matter,” says William’s father, Adam.

Mega Bloks told me: “There was nothing in this letter that raised a red flag… only one magnet was swallowed… it was a minor incident.”

“They can’t brush this stuff under the rug,” says Tod Marks, who writes for Consumer Reports.

I asked, “If you are company ‘A’ and you know someone has been injured by using your product do you have to tell somebody?”

“Not only do you have to tell them (CPSC) if they’ve been injured, but if you have an incident report where no one was injured but something was amiss you are obliged to report,” says Marks.

The only comment CPSC would make about it, “when in doubt, report,” says CPSC Public Affairs Acting Deputy Director Scott Wolfson.

The company got the Finley’s letter in November.

Kenny Sweet, of Redmond, died three weeks later.

But RoseArt said that prior to Kenny’s death, they had no record or knowledge of “a similar occurrence” involving Magnetix.

“I will never understand, no one will be able to explain to me, how it’s OK to allow this to happen,” says Penny Sweet.

RoseArt insists the injuries were avoidable.

They tell KOMO 4 News nothing they can do replaces the need for adult supervision.

At the time of the recall, the feds said they had 34 complaints nationwide about Magnetix. Now they say there are more, but they won’t say how many more.

We’ve also learned Kenny Sweet’s death could change the toy industry.

The American Society for Testing Materials writes the book on voluntary toy standards. They are now asking if we need warning labels on all toys with magnets.

Rating: 1 / 5

My kids love Magnetix, but I am unable to order them online because you do not ship to Canada. This problem occurs a lot. Someone should fix that. I find it very frustrating when I try to order something and then it tells me they are “unable to fullfill my order because we can’t ship outside the USA”.
Rating: 1 / 5