7,800 accidents caused! This product is banned from sale on Amazon and other platforms

Recently, three major American e-commerce platforms, Amazon, Target and Walmart, announced that they would stop selling toys called Water Beads.

Water Beads are sensory toys for children and may seem harmless at first glance, but there have been increasing reports of injuries or deaths related to them in the U.S. in recent years, leading to calls for them to be removed from shelves.

According to a previous notice released by the CPSC, this toy looks harmless and like candy. In addition to being a children's toy, it can also be used as an agricultural tool.

However, it is made of highly absorbent polymers, which are small in size and highly absorbent. It can expand up to 100 times when soaked in water. If it falls on the floor or in a playground for infants and young children, it is almost unnoticeable. If it is accidentally ingested by infants and young children, it will continue to expand after entering the digestive tract, causing vomiting, dehydration, intestinal obstruction, and even life-threatening.

Amazon said it has updated its sales policy for "Water Drops" to third-party sellers and will check the listings of related products on the platform.

Amazon also stated in the statement that for safety reasons, it will no longer allow children's water beads to be sold, whether as toys, art supplies or sensory games; we work hard to ensure that the products we provide are safe, and the company has a dedicated team to develop and update the platform's sales policies, evaluate sales listings, and supervise all sellers on the platform to prevent unsafe and non-compliant products from entering the market.

  When Git recalled the Buffalo Games children's water bead sets sold on the platform in September this year , it stated that water beads for children aged 12 and under would be banned from appearing on online websites and offline stores.

A Target spokesperson said that on the platform, the company's top priority is to ensure the safety of customers, and given the growing harm caused by such products, the company will no longer sell such children's toys.

Walmart also said it would remove the product from its offline stores and website. In a statement, Walmart said it always puts customer safety first; the company decided to proactively stop selling water bead toys and crafts for children and has removed them from its website and stores.

It is reported that according to CPSC statistics, water beads have caused about 7,800 safety accidents between 2016 and 2022. In July of this year, this product also caused the death of a 10-month-old baby.

Electronic commodity platform

USA

Prohibition of sale