WILMINGTON, Del. — HD Premier Inc. on Thursday recalled nearly 120,000 of its 3-milimeter and 5-milimeter DigiDots magnet balls after fielding multiple injury reports among children, at least four of whom required surgery to remove the magnets.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is aware of other reports of children and teenagers ingesting other companies’ high-powered magnets and requiring surgery, including two deaths.
Per the recall notice, when two or more high-powered magnets are swallowed, they can attract to each other, or to another metal object, and become lodged in the digestive system.
“This can result in perforations, twisting and/or blockage of the intestines, infection, blood poisoning and death,” the recall notice stated.
The 3-milimeter magnets were sold as aggregated loose magnets in sets of 512 multi-colored magnetic balls, while the 5-milimeter magnets were sold as aggregated loose magnets in sets of 222 silver magnetic balls or 224 multi-colored magnetic balls.
The affected products were sold online at www.ilovedigitdots.com, www.amazon.com and other websites from March 2019 through January 2022 for between $20 and $30 per set, the recall notice stated.
Consumers are advised to stop using the affected magnets immediately, take them away from children and contact HD Premier to receive a prepaid label to return the recalled products. Consumers will receive a refund after the company receives the returned products.
Consumers may contact HD Premier via email at recall@ilovedigitdots.com or online at www.ilovedigitdots.com.