Mom speaks out on dangers of water beads, urges ban after daughter’s injury: “It breaks my heart”

Water beads could look innocent and enjoyable, however the authors of a brand new report — together with a mother whose daughter was critically injured by them — are calling for a ban on their sale.

When Ashley Haugen’s daughter Kipley was a toddler, she developed a rash and was throwing up. Medical doctors could not work out what was unsuitable. It turned out she had ingested the small, water-absorbing beads her older sister was taking part in with. The beads can broaden to 100 occasions their measurement when uncovered to water. 

“Throughout surgical procedure, they discovered the water beads had prompted a blockage inside her small gut,” Haugen advised CBS Information. “As a result of the water beads had been marketed as non-toxic eco-friendly and biodegradable, all people thought that she can be advantageous.”

However within the weeks that adopted, Kipley started having hassle with coordination and responding to instructions. Medical doctors confirmed she was experiencing developmental delays, resulting in a prognosis of poisonous mind encephalopathy.

Kipley’s case was not too long ago been revealed within the journal Pediatrics. Haugen is without doubt one of the first mother or father advocates to co-author a case report within the journal. The authors are additionally calling for warning labels in regards to the dangers of ingestion on all merchandise containing water beads.

“Water beads are product of poly acrylamide and acrylamide is a identified neurotoxin. Our client merchandise and the chemical substances used to make them usually are not effectively regulated,” Dr. Elizabeth Friedman, the Medical Director for Environmental Well being at Kids’s Mercy Kansas Metropolis, advised CBS Information. 

Kipley, now 8 years outdated, is not alone. Greater than 7,800 ingestion accidents had been handled in U.S. emergency departments from 2016 to 2022, in accordance with information from the Shopper Product Security Fee. In 2023, 10-month-old baby died after swallowing water beads.

“It breaks my coronary heart, what occurred to Kipley. And for me, it has been very therapeutic to have the ability to know that that ache has a objective,” Haugen stated. 

Haugen runs an advocacy web site known as That Water Bead Girl to assist households whose youngsters have been injured by customers merchandise. 

Kipley had this message for lawmakers: “Please work collectively to ban water beads. A lot of children like me acquired damage.”

“Kipley has made loads of progress. She nonetheless has challenges, however she is a tremendous little advocate,” her mother added.