It’s a macabre medical tale updated for our modern day. In a case report out today, doctors describe how a 13-year-old boy in New Zealand was hospitalized and required surgery after he ingested dozens of small magnets—magnets allegedly bought off the popular, China-based marketplace Temu.
Surgeons detailed the strange events in the New Zealand Medical Journal Friday. Though the magnets caused serious damage to his intestines, the doctors did successfully remove them, and the boy was eventually discharged from the hospital.
Magnet mishap
According to the report, the boy was admitted into the hospital four days into having generalized abdominal pain. He told the doctors that about a week earlier, he had eaten roughly 80 to 100 high-power neodymium magnets, measuring 5 by 2 millimeters, which were purchased from Temu.
Medical imaging soon revealed that the magnets had bunched up into four separate straight lines throughout his guts. What’s worse, these clumps had started to cause necrosis, or dead tissue, along his intestines. Doctors operated on the boy, removing both the magnets and dead intestinal tissue. After an eight-day stay in the hospital, the boy was sent home.
Though the surgery was successful, it may have long-term consequences, the doctors noted. In similar cases of surgical magnet removal, patients have later developed complications like bowel obstructions and abdominal hernias.
An online danger
These sorts of small, high-powered magnets are known to be a serious health risk for children or others who ingest them. And some countries have outright banned their sale locally in recent years, including New Zealand since 2013. The authors argue this case should be seen as an important reminder that there are still ways for children to get their hands on these potentially hazardous toys.
“This case highlights not only the dangers of magnet ingestion but also the dangers of the online marketplace for our pediatric population,” they wrote.
In its initial statement sent to Gizmodo Friday, Temu stated it was conducting an internal review into the matter. In a updated statement provided Saturday, following communication with the journal’s editors, the company stated it could not verify whether the magnets swallowed by the boy were originally bought from the website.
“As a precaution, we reviewed the photo of the magnets published in the Journal and checked listings of similar products on our platform. The magnets currently available are compliant with New Zealand regulations, and such products are also sold through other major online and physical retailers,” said the Temu representative. “While these products are lawful to sell, they can be dangerous if swallowed and we support efforts to raise public awareness about magnet safety.”
The spokesperson added: “As a third-party marketplace, Temu requires all sellers to comply with applicable laws and safety standards, and we act promptly to remove any listings found to be non-compliant.”
It is worth noting that Temu may not be the only online retailer from which these kinds of products could potentially be purchased.
Earlier this year, for instance, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning to consumers about buying small magnetic balls from the company Shenzhen Xiaoju Technology that were exclusively sold through Amazon. An investigation last year from UK consumer advocacy organization Which? (yes, that’s the name of the organization) last December also found that online retailers like eBay are still selling small magnet toys otherwise illegal in the country.
This article has been updated to include the age of the boy as well as a revised statement from Temu.