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NEW YORK — The CEO of Buckyballs defended the product this week in the midst of an ongoing battle with the Consumer Product Safety Commission over whether the product poses a safety hazard to children.
Buckyballs are small, spherical magnets that can be molded into different shapes. The toys are not meant to be used by children, but a recent report by Johns Hopkins Children's Center found that increasing numbers of children and even teens are ingesting the magnets.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission in July filed an administrative complaintagainst Maxfield and Oberton, the manufacturer of Buckyballs, saying the company has refused to recall the product. The commission was able to persuade about 10 retailers to stop selling the toys, though.
Buckyballs CEO Craig Zucker has cried foul, though, laying out his complaints Wednesday on ABC's "Nightline."
Zucker said it is the first time in 11 years a company has challenged a recall proposed by the safety commission. He said the toy is not marketed to children, and warning labels make it clear it is not a children's toy.
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Zucker told ABC his company has tried to compromise with the commission, educating consumers about product safety and pointing out product warning labels.
"(Warning labels are) on the top, the side, the carrying case. It's on the instructions," he said. "I would say it's impossible to miss the warnings. They're all over the place."
The commission says the warning labels are ineffective, though, because once the packaging is removed, the warning is gone.
The issue has become a question of the role of government in the U.S., but in Australia, authorities have already taken more drastic steps than a proposed recall. Parts of the country enacted in the last week of August a temporary ban of the product in anticipation of a nationwide permanent ban.
