Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
PICTURE: PEXELS
A safety alert has been issued by doctors over tiny water beads that may be gifted to children during the Christmas period.
These 'toys' have been deemed 'fatal' by doctors if ingested by young children.
The beads "can expand up to 400 times their original size when exposed to liquid", causing serious harm and death among children if ingested.
The popular beads are sold under a variety of names including jelly balls, water balls, sensory beads and water crystals.
Button batteries have also been included in the warning to parents as they are fatal to young children
If swallowed, water beads expand and can block the gastrointestinal passage, which may then require surgery. The beads can also cause choking and have harmed children in the UK, with reports linking them to deaths globally. Water beads can be difficult to detect and do not show up in X-rays.
READ NEXT: Man arrested over death of young mother in hit-and-run in Rathkeale
"Having seen the effects first hand, which can be devastating and detrimental, we are asking people to please think twice about the dangers these pose while selecting and gifting presents this season," Dr Salwa Malik, vice president of the RCEM, told PA Media.
Today the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has warned of the dangers that water beads can pose to children and vulnerable adults if swallowed. This follows our safety alert issued in September. Water beads should be kept away from children under 5 years of age, and… pic.twitter.com/n6p0oDQy13
— Office for Product Safety and Standards (@OfficeforSandS) December 23, 2024
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
