Urgent recall of unsafe Halloween kids' items which can cause internal injuries or death
By Merryn Porter |
Parents and carers are being urged to avoid a range of Halloween products following concerns deadly? button batteries could become accessible and swallowed by young children.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued an urgent recall of 11 ?Halloween products through its Product Safety Australia website.
The products are distributed by Oceana International Pty Ltd and include various Halloween masks, headbands, jewellery, candles and decorations.
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The ACCC said the products do not comply with mandatory safety standards for items containing button/coin batteries, which were introduced in Australia in June this year.
The battery compartment in the products has not been adequately secured, meaning the button battery could become easily accessible.
"If young children gain access to button batteries and ingest them, they are likely to suffer severe internal burn injuries, which can result in serious injury or death," the ACCC said.
"Button batteries also pose a choking hazard to young children."
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The full list of items recalled includes:
- Light-up skull headband
- Light-up pumpkin headband
- 2A light-up bracelet
- 2A light-up earrings
- Assorted Halloween LED necklace
- LED pumpkin earrings
- LED pumpkin candle 12.5cm
- Light-up skull 7cm
- Light-up skull spider 79x34cm
- Crazed vampire mask with light-up eyes
- Glowing skeleton candy bowl.
You can view the full list and images here?
Consumers should immediately stop using the products and store them in a safe place, out of reach of children, before returning the product to the place of purchase for a full refund.
The Australian Government introduced four mandatory standards to reduce the risk of death and injury associated with the use of button and coin batteries.
The standards apply to both button cell and coin cell batteries, and to any products that contain them.
Button/coin batteries are flat, round single cell batteries that are typically up to 32mm in diameter and 1-11 mm high. They have been linked to a number of deaths in children both here and overseas.
When swallowed, they can become stuck in the oesophagus or elsewhere in the digestive tract.
Saliva triggers an electric current, causing a chemical reaction that can severely burn the oesophagus in as little as two hours, which in severe cases can result in death.
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