Australia: warning to parents about button batteries

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has advised parents to avoid purchasing gifts this Easter that require button batteries or to make sure the battery compartment cannot be opened by their children. The warning comes as about 20 children are admitted to hospital every week across the country with suspected button battery ingestion, according to reports from the Office of Fair Trading. Button batteries are found in many items and toys, including Easter decorations, and pose a potentially fatal risk to children, who tend to put them in their mouths and accidentally swallow them. However, choking is not the only danger: when the batteries meet saliva, they can produce a chemical reaction that provokes serious burns to a child’s oesophagus and internal organs.
Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington welcomed the Commission’s warning about the batteries and remarked that they could cause significant harm despite their small size. She added that the Office of Fair Trading undertakes rigorous actions to protect consumers from potential hazards, but families should also cooperate to help safeguard public safety. The Commission also urged parents to store the batteries in safe places and dispose of them immediately after use in a child-resistant container. In case a child ingests a battery, they should look out for symptoms like gagging or choking, chest pain, bleeding from the gut, and unexplained fever.