If you have these crystal balls also known as Jelly Ball, Crystal Jelly, Baby Jelly, Baby Crystal and Crystal Soil at home and within reach of small children, you may want to get rid of them or move them away out of reach. These jelly balls are used to facilitate the growth of a plant or as a decoration in a pot.
The government has decided to ban their sale after receiving reports from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital of several cases of major surgery involving children aged one to five who were believed to have swallowed the "crystal balls." The ban takes effect from Friday, which is tomorrow.
Symptoms experienced from swallowing these jelly-like balls include vomiting, constipation, bloating of the stomach, abdominal pains, bowel obstructions and intestinal leakage.
Poland and Italy have banned the crystal balls last year.
Source: 'Crystal ball' seed-growing kits banned, The Star
yeah, i read from the paper last night.. and i didn't know that it's that fatal!! kids accidentally eat that, and it expands inside their intestines.. oh, scary!!
ReplyDeleteI have those!
ReplyDeleteScary. Lucky my son never have the urge to pop them in his mouth. o.O
Funny... there are many things which pose risk to kids. But with a warning sticker, they can be sold in the market. I don't see problem with the crystal balls...
ReplyDeleteSK, I believe it has a limit to its expanded size to maybe a marble. Still, they can have adverse effect since they don't get digested being rubbery and all. The children probably took more than one. They really do look inviting being colorful!
ReplyDeleteLina, horrors if your son did! Older kids can understand about inedible objects. Am sure those kids in hospital are the very young ones.
KS, I so agree with you. Probably a ban is too drastic. It might get unbanned the next day. Oops!
have those at home, but no kids around.. haha.. but to think of it, yeah very dangerous :/
ReplyDeletePretty Babe, those have been banned so you will not find them on shelves in Malaysia. Anyone caught selling them will be fined. Try Singapore.
ReplyDeletePretty Babe, another alternative would be marbles or those coloured resins sold in home improvement stores such as IKEA. Pebbles would work too for your plants. Lots of choices out there. Good luck!
ReplyDelete