BANNED! magnets for our beloved armies (australia)

[krittoris]

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

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 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?