CPSC Sets New Safety Standard for Small Magnets, Magnet Sets
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is issuing a new product safety standard to address hazards associated with ingestion of high-powered magnets, it said in a Sept. 21 final rule. The new standard sets a maximum strength for magnets that fit inside the CPSC’s small parts cylinder and that are to be used for entertainment, jewelry (including children's jewelry), mental stimulation and stress relief. Toys and magnets sold to educators, researchers, professionals and commercial or industrial users for those purposes are exempt. The final rule takes effect Oct. 21.
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“The CPSC has determined that unreasonable risks of injury are associated with small, powerful magnets that, when ingested, can interact internally through body tissue, which can lead to acute and long-term health consequences or death,” it said. The commission had issued a safety standard for magnet sets in 2014, but the rule was vacated by a federal appeals court for failing to fully address the costs and benefits of the standard.
Under the new final rule, each loose or separable magnet in a product that is subject to the rule and fits entirely within the CPSC’s small parts cylinder must have a flux index of less than 50 kg2/mm2. “The flux index is determined by the method described in the ASTM F963 Toy Standard,” the CPSC said.
The safety standard defines a subject magnet product as “a consumer product that is designed, marketed, or intended to be used for entertainment, jewelry (including children's jewelry), mental stimulation, stress relief, or a combination of these purposes, and that contains one or more loose or separable magnets, but does not include products sold and/or distributed solely to school educators, researchers, professionals, and/or commercial or industrial users exclusively for educational, research, professional, commercial, and/or industrial purposes.”
The magnets can come in a variety of shapes or sizes, as well as a variety of compositions, the CPSC said. They are typically small magnets that can be used to create jewelry or sculptures or be used as desk toys or building sets. Magnet sets are typically used as construction or manipulative items for entertainment, such as puzzle working, sculpture building, mental stimulation or stress release.
Though some magnets may be children’s products subject to the new standard -- jewelry sets, for example -- children’s products that are toys “are exempt from the rule because they are already required to comply with ASTM F963-17's requirements addressing the magnet ingestion hazard,” the CPSC said. ASTM F963-17 defines “toys” as objects “designed, manufactured, or marketed as a plaything for children under 14 years of age,” the CPSC said.