Scimex: Parents are being warned of the risks posed to children by water
absorbing beads, which can be used in vases of flowers and are
increasingly being sold as toys and learning aids for autistic children.
The beads, which will swell to 400 times their original size, can block
kids gastrointestinal tract, and the number of incidents is on the
rise. Since 2004 there have been 129 cases involving the beads reported
to the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre, but the majority of
these cases occurred after 2013. The researchers say there have been
reports of serious bowel obstruction in children and the death of a
6-month-old child overseas.
