Consumer Product Safety Commission Bans The Sale Of Buckyballs – WTF!?!
For those of you not familiar with what Buckyballs are here’s the short form explanation – they are small magnetized balls of metal that let you create all kinds of different shapes and have some serious fun doing it.
However it seem that the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the United States has a different opinion about them and have issued a “stop-sale order”; which means that no-one in the United States is allowed to sell Buckyballs anymore, including Buckyballs.
The only real defense to this ridiculous decision is that yes, Buckyballs are small, and it is very possible that babies and small children could decided that eating them would be even more fun. It is here that the CSPC believes that there is a potential danger for the small magnetic balls to get trapped and pinch a child’s intestines.
However Buckyballs has made it very plain that their novelty item is only meant for adults – not children.
Buckyballs is continuing to sell their toy and have said this on their website about the matter
I’m sorry but this is just plain stupid, idiotic, nanny state heavy-handedness, and any number of other descriptive terms you might want to use.
The product is plainly sold as a toy for adults not children so let the onus of responsibility lie with them, as it should, not penalize a company into bankruptcy or just having to go out of business because some adults are to stupid, or lazy, to keep an eye on what their children are doing.
It would be different if Buckyballs didn’t make it clear that this was something only for adults but they do.
via Geekosystem