It has been a long road since CPSC first corrected the hazard posed by small powerful magnets with a rule issued in 2014. Unfortunately, two judges on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, including current Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, vacated that critical safety measure. The result was horrifying: the number of children who suffered serious injuries from ingesting magnets nearly doubled, despite aggressive CPSC efforts to recall the most hazardous magnets. The judges created an avoidable tragedy. This is, unfortunately, a case study in how performative gestures to inhibit government regulation can put real-world families through trauma hardship. They disregarded CPSC expertise and hurt real people—mostly children—in great numbers.
Today, we have corrected this injustice yet again and can now return to keeping dangerous small magnets off the market and out of children’s intestines, where they can cause severe injury and death.
Estimated Number of In-Scope Magnet Ingestions Treated in Hospital Emergency Departments by Period.
|
Period |
Years |
Average Annual Injuries |
|
Pre-CPSC Rule |
2010 – 2013 |
2,300 |
|
During CPSC Rule |
2014 – 2016 |
1,300 |
|
After 10th Circuit Eliminated CPSC Rule |
2017 – 2021 |
2,400 |