Call for nationwide ban on water beads as parents recount ER visits
CBSN
Sold as children's toys and some resembling candy, water beads are colorful, water-absorbing balls. Yet the products can also be hazardous to young children and even potentially deadly if swallowed as they can grow many times their size once inside a child's body, advocates and a federal agency warn.
That's why parents and the chair of the Consumer Products Safety Commission are backing a congressman's plan to propose legislation banning water beads marketed for kids.
Often bought for older siblings, expanded water beads have been found in the stomachs, intestines, ears, noses and even lungs of infants and toddlers, Consumer Reports said in a recent report. CPSC estimates there have been 4,500 visits to hospital emergency rooms due to water beads since 2017.
