It's the hottest new toy fad sweeping the nation---fidget spinners. The small three-pronged spinners have become the must-have toy for children in recent months, with some schools banning them in classrooms because of the distractions they've caused. But a Houston woman has brought new attention to the potential safety hazards of fidget spinners. Kelly Rose Joniec posted about her 10-year-old daughter accidentally swallowing a piece of a fidget spinner, resulting in the girl needing surgery to remove the part from her esophagus. The Facebook post generated tens of thousands of comments and was shared more than a half-million times.
The girl is now recovering, but the viral post has raised questions about the safety of these fidget spinners. Toy industry veteran Chris Byrne with TTPM.com tells KTRH that these spinners have only recently exploded in popularity. "Very few of these are branded, people are rushing them into market, a lot of the kids are buying them directly from Asia, so they are bypassing standard toy testing," he says. "By the time people do all the testing, (the fad) will be passed, so people are rushing them into market to try and make a quick buck."
Byrne recommends parents check packaging and make sure they are buying a reputable brand of the toy. "You would usually look for something made by a manufacturer that conforms to the ASTM ratings and has been tested," he says. "There is a company, Zing, that has one called SpinZipz, that has been approved as a toy in the U.S."
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