BANNED! magnets for our beloved armies (australia)

[krittoris]

http://www.productsafety.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/997517/fromItemId/997511

the link provided is saying that Australians will have small magnets banned sometime this month due to the hazard of children swallowing them??

im on the side that thinks this is unfair, simply because if you are responsible with your modeling equipment, knives, razorblades eg, then a child should not be able to get the magnets in the first place.

oh well. time to stock up.

[Necron2.0]

I call BS on this. Are they going to ban Legos then? After all, they're small, inedible and a child could choke on them. How about banning hard candy?

[Cpt Codpiece]

once again the australian gov prove tyhat you have life too easy down under :D i mean who wants a christmas bbq on a beach anyway, there is too much space so the family wont drive you insane LOL

but yeah this sucks for you lot, seems like another silly health and saftey BS law.

[Kawauso]

Man, the government down under is nuts between things like this, game ratings and attempts at internet censorship.

Really sucks that you guys have to put up with this now on top of how damned expensive things are, to boot.

[Gir]

Aussie magnets are still selling tiny rare earths.

[Sean_OBrien]

are marketed by the supplier as, or supplied for use as any of the following:

a toy, game or puzzle (including but not limited to an adult desk toy, an educational toy or game, a toy, game or puzzle for mental stimulation or stress relief)
a construction or modelling kit
jewellery to be worn in or around the mouth or nose.

Most the loose magnets won't be impacted by the ban. It would only apply to things like magnetic jewelry clasps, Buckyball toys and other small items which are marketed to children.

Loose magnets are generally sold as engineering or educational materials.

[magickbk]

We are fairly close to this here in the US. Buckyballs gave up and is discontinuing their product. You can still order small magnets from scientific supply or online though and I assume also in hobby stores, it really is a standard consumer law for toys and such, and not like a drug ban.

[DrLove42]

1 Lone Magnet is not a health hazard.

2 is. If they are int eh body they can attract to each other through the intestinal wall and cause massive internal ruptures and blockages. They are in fact very dangerous to swallow

[Blusox69]

DrLove is right, I saw a documentry just the other day where a small child had swallowed several magnets and they effectively pinched her bowl together. The surgeons couldn't seperate them and she ended up with several holes in her bowl. She survived but it was a close run thing.

Having said that our tool kits are full of knives and toxic paints and even with magnets removed are still deadly if left in the reaches of a small child. I'll rank this along with the UK government telling us to drink water when it's hot.

[bfmusashi]

But is Australia going to ban button cell batteries?

[Beagle]

1 Lone Magnet is not a health hazard.

2 is. If they are int eh body they can attract to each other through the intestinal wall and cause massive internal ruptures and blockages. They are in fact very dangerous to swallow
Wouldn't it be easier to ban swallowing more than 1 magnet?

[Kawauso]

1 Lone Magnet is not a health hazard.

2 is. If they are int eh body they can attract to each other through the intestinal wall and cause massive internal ruptures and blockages. They are in fact very dangerous to swallow

I don't think anyone will argue that if domrone (i.e. children) swallows magnets they can be very dangerous.

But banning something because it could be dangerous is a child swallows it is an absurd knee-jerk reaction. Kitchen knives are dangerous, as are electrical sockets, irons, stoves, the hot water tap, etc. but instead of banning them the reasonable thing to do is be a responsible parent. As Beagle said, you may as well just ban swallowing.

[inquisitorsog]

I don't think anyone will argue that if domrone (i.e. children) swallows magnets they can be very dangerous.

But banning something because it could be dangerous is a child swallows it is an absurd knee-jerk reaction. Kitchen knives are dangerous, as are electrical sockets, irons, stoves, the hot water tap, etc. but instead of banning them the reasonable thing to do is be a responsible parent. As Beagle said, you may as well just ban swallowing.

Again: Neither the US or Australia is planning on banning rare earth magnets.

They are planning to ban certain types of packaging/marketing for rare earth magnets. Specifically, those types of marketing that leads to them being used in a casual manner.

[Kawauso]

Wouldn't the rare earth magnets often used for minis fall under at least these two of the criteria determining what the ban means?:

"This ban applies to magnets that:

are small enough to fit into the small parts cylinder used in the mandatory standard for toys for children up to and including 36 months of age.
have a magnetic flux of 50 or more.
are marketed by the supplier as, or supplied for use as any of the following:
a toy, game or puzzle (including but not limited to an adult desk toy, an educational toy or game, a toy, game or puzzle for mental stimulation or stress relief)
a construction or modelling kit
jewellery to be worn in or around the mouth or nose."

I mean I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems pretty straightforward that the ban would apply to such magnets, would it not?

[inquisitorsog]

a construction or modelling kit

Nothing I've seen stops said supplier from merely selling rare earth magnets as nothing but rare earth magnets without mention of purpose.

[weeble1000]

It has to do with the BuckyBall phenomenon. Folks are becoming concerned about tiny magnets being in products marketed or sold to children.

Having a small child myself, imagining the utter helplessness of waiting to see if your child is going to die from swallowing some magnets without much of anything to do about it medically is rather horrifying. Rationally, the risk of swallowing magnets is minimal, but it is a scary thought, so it provokes a strong reaction. Plus, children like to put little things in their mouths, so it is an easy scenario to imagine.

In fact, thinking about it now, I am definitely going to go home and secure my rare earth magnets better. Into a child-proof medicine bottle they will go.

[Kawauso]

Of course it's a scary thought, and of course parents should take precautions.

But it's a really bad idea when laws are made or changed because of the latest moral or social panic. Gut reactions out of fear are never the way to go where policy is concerned.

[bfmusashi]

We recently did our first Emergency Room visit with the wee man (croup). My magnets worry me but they rank very very low. For reference my kid's over 2'4" at 19 months and really wants the kitchen knives. I really can not stress how low magnets rank when you've seen your baby holding an 8" chef's knife like he just became the once and future king.

[Sean_OBrien]

I mean I don't have a dog in this fight, but it seems pretty straightforward that the ban would apply to such magnets, would it not?

The wording indicates that it must meet the two first measures (small and strong) and one of the three purposes.

Most magnets that are used for pinning are not sold as toys or as parts of model kits - they are purchased through specialty dealers who sell for educational, research and engineering purposes. There shouldn't be a problem with those companies continuing to sell the vast majority of their inventories even after the ban goes into effect.

[jonsgot]

http://www.productsafety.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/997517/fromItemId/997511

the link provided is saying that Australians will have small magnets banned sometime this month due to the hazard of children swallowing them??

im on the side that thinks this is unfair, simply because if you are responsible with your modeling equipment, knives, razorblades eg, then a child should not be able to get the magnets in the first place.

oh well. time to stock up.

Does that mean they will take mine off me in customs?

[krittoris]

its not passed yet, it says they will be banned end of this month or next month i think.

plus i dont know how much customs will know about magnets at this point in time :p