Preventing Children from Swallowing Parts from Neodymium Magnet Sets (Call for Attention and Request for Cooperation)

1. Overview

Many serious accidents are happening where children swallow parts from magnet sets containing strong neodymium magnets and require open abdominal surgery to remove them.
Based on Article 23, Paragraph 1 of the Consumer Safety Act, the Consumer Safety Investigation Commission conducted an investigation into accidents where children have swallowed parts from neodymium magnet sets. Then on March 24, 2022, it stated its opinions to the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry based on Article 33 of the Act. These included the request to ask online marketplaces to cooperate for keeping the magnet sets away from children.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has taken action by calling on people who purchase the magnet sets to pay due attention to the risks, calling on retailers who sell them via online marketplaces to take suitable measures, and calling on the major online marketplaces to cooperate as well.

2. Calling on people who purchase neodymium magnet sets to pay due attention to the risks

Many accidents are happening where children swallow parts from magnet sets containing powerful neodymium magnets and require open abdominal surgery to remove them.
Consequently, if you purchase a neodymium magnet set, please be very careful to keep it away from children.
If you suspect that your children might have swallowed a part from such a magnet set, please seek medical attention immediately.

3. Measures to be taken by retailers who sell the magnet sets via online marketplaces

If you are a retailer who sells the magnet sets via online marketplaces, please take the following measures to prevent children from swallowing parts from them:

• Requests regarding product descriptions and labeling for neodymium magnet sets sold via online marketplaces (in Japanese)(PDF:486KB)

1. In the product descriptions and labeling for the magnet sets, state that the recommended age for their use is 14 years and above.
2. Warn that the magnet sets should be kept away from children, clearly stating that many serious accidents are happening where children swallow parts from them and require open abdominal surgery to remove them.
3. Do not represent the sets as suitable for children’s use or for use in early childhood education.
   Specifically, do not use the following: wording such as "children" or "parents and children"; wording that suggests use by children, such as "toy," "intellectual training," or "education"; or illustrations or photographic imagery of children.

4. Calling on online marketplaces to cooperate

As a further step toward preventing children from swallowing parts from the magnet sets, METI has issued a call to the major online marketplaces asking them to cooperate as follows with the measures aimed at retailers who sell the sets via their online marketplaces on June 24, 2022.

• Overview of the call for cooperation to prevent further accidents where children swallow parts from neodymium magnet sets (in Japanese)(PDF:485KB)

(1) Inform retailers selling the magnet sets of the following points, and ask them to comply:

• Clearly indicate that the sets are only suitable for use by people aged 14 years and above.
• Warn that the magnet sets should be kept away from children, clearly stating that many serious accidents are happening where children swallow parts from them and require open abdominal surgery to remove them.
• Do not represent the sets as suitable for children’s use or for use in early childhood education.
  Specifically, do not use the following: wording such as "children" or "parents and children"; wording that suggests use by children, such as "toy," "intellectual training," or "education"; or illustrations or photographic imagery of children.

(2) Follow up on the retailers' compliance with (1). For example, check their sales pages.

References

• Consumer Safety Investigation Commission's website page that describes accidents where children swallow parts from neodymium magnet sets
• Products (magnet sets) defined by the Consumer Safety Investigation Commission when stating its opinions:

A) Magnet sets that consist of loose or separable magnets of sizes that children could swallow. Specifically, each magnet is defined as spheres (magnetic balls) up to several mm in diameter and cubes (magnetic cubes) up to several mm on a side.
B) Magnet sets that consist of neodymium magnets, which are very powerful.
C) Magnet sets that consist of many spheres and cubes (e.g., several dozen or more) as a single set.
D) Magnet sets sold for children by (e.g.) advertising them as "puzzles" or "toys."

Division in Charge

Product Safety Division, Industrial and Product Safety Policy Group