Several major retailers, including Amazon, Target, and Walmart, announced on Wednesday their decision to discontinue selling a particular product following reports of serious safety concerns.
The product in question, a well-known brand of water beads called Orbeez, has been linked to various incidents over the past few years, including causing harm to children and creating plumbing issues. This decision was reported by ABC News.
According to reports, children have experienced injuries and fatalities due to incidents involving Orbeez, such as swallowing the tiny beads or inserting them into their ears or nose. The National Capital Poison Center highlights that these dangerous polymer spheres can expand to the size of a tennis ball when in contact with water, increasing in size by approximately 150 to 1,500 times their original volume.
“It’s a miserable, miserable feeling to lose your child. No parent should ever have to go through that. And if we can just save a few kids by sharing, then it’s worth it for us to share,” Taylor Bethard, whose daughter died after swallowing Orbeez, said.
French YouTuber Cyril Schreiner allegedly caused damage to his toilet and bathroom drains by filling them with Orbeez, as reported by Pedestrian.
In response to this incident, three major retailers issued statements to "Good Morning America" expressing their stance against selling Orbeez products, as covered by ABC News.
“In the interest of safety, Amazon will no longer allow the sale of water beads that are marketed to children, including as toys, art supplies or for sensory play,” an Amazon statement said. “We work hard to ensure the products offered in our store are safe, and we have teams dedicated to developing and updating our policies, evaluating listings, and continuously monitoring our store to prevent unsafe and noncompliant products from being listed.”
“At Target, our top priority is the safety of our guests. Given growing safety concerns, we will no longer sell water beads marketed to children.” a Target spokesperson said.
“The safety of our customers will always be a top priority,” a Walmart spokesperson said. “We decided to voluntarily stop selling expanding water bead toy and craft items marketed to young children and have already taken steps to remove them from our stores and online.”
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