Why can swallowing two magnets be fatal?

Question

I read this in the Mattell Recall article today on Yahoo:

The CPSC said tiny magnets inside the dolls and accessories can fall out, and be swallowed by little children. When more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other, which can be fatal.

What happens exactly when two magnets attract each other and they have been swallowed? What makes it fatal?

Answer 1

The attraction between the magnets causes widespread jealousy thought the cellular world. The cells, red blood cells especially (because of their high iron content), commit suicide en mass when they realize they will never be able to experience the magnets happiness.

Answer 2

I have never heard of magnetic blood, must be some of that 6 million dollar man stuff. Depends on the size of the magnets. Like a penny, when a kid swallows one the only thing you can do is wait for it to come out the other end. Unless there is some way that the magnets might get hung up, that's what you would do again. If they might get hung up, then they would have to operate to get them out. And they will want to know how they got there.

Answer 3

The peristaltic movement of the intestines causes a twisting type blockage (strangulation) of the bowels at the site of the magnets. This may cause a tear or infection (sepsis), and possible death from septic shock, unless diagnosed soon enough for proper intervention.

Answer 4

first off they will make a blockage in their digestive track, this will cause bacteria to build up, not to mention the bowels back up too.
they can also come together and pink a part of the digestive track causing that part to die, and then all the bacteria in that part of the digestive track to enter the body, and a lot of the time, you can not save this person before it is to late..

plus they may cause suffocation if blocking the throat.

plus if the magnets come together and their poles are at opposites, the child may not know which end is up....

smile
good luck

Answer 5

Yes, Jamie is correct. If a section of intestine becomes trapped between the magnets, blood flow to that section will be cutoff-a very dangerous situation.

Answer 6

The magnetic field set up by both magnets could affect the cardiac pacemaker making it to stop with resulting cardiac arrest.This can be fatal.

Answer 7

magnets are made of metals-which contain toxic chemicals to the body

Answer 8

all i can think is that maybe they will stick together with some kind of stomach tissue between them, maybe cause a hole, also if they stick together while going down the throat, they can probably block the wind pipes, thats all i can think of

Answer 9

They could block the intestines

Answer 10

because they can cause perforations and or/blockage that can be fatal