Water-absorbing bead toys 'serious threat' to children: study

Water-absorbing beads, which are increasingly being marketed as toys and learning aids for young autistic patients, pose a serious risk to children, according to a new Australian medical report.

"The water-absorbing beads made from superabsorbent polymer can swell to 400 times their original size when immersed, causing a foreign body risk that can obstruct the gastrointestinal tract," the Medical Journal of Australia, a publication of the Australian Medical Association, said in a media release.

In an online report published by the journal, senior poisons specialist Dr. Rose Cairns from Westmead Children's Hospital in New South Wales and her colleagues identified "a rapid increase in incidents in recent years involving the ingestion of water-absorbing beads."

There have been reports of serious bowel obstruction in children who have swallowed water beads, including the death of a six-month-old overseas, the journal posted.

Water beads being promoted as "fairy eggs", "jelly beads", and "hydro orbs" continue to appear in toy shops despite the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission urging companies not to market the items as toys and alerting consumers to the risk, it said.

Those who have swallowed the beads should seek early medical help, the authors of the report said.