Death - By Button Battery !

Some of the fastest growing product segments of today are powered by what are called " button batteries ".  These are lithium batteries smaller than the fingernail on the average persons little finger and if swallowed they react with stomach acids to cause death.  This is a danger the parents of small children fear because their bright, shiny appearance is attractive to little kids who lack the ability to tell Mum and Dad what they have done.

This is a fast increasing danger.  The button battery is gaining in power and being used in an ever greater range of products which are decreasing in size.  We can now expect to find them in TV remote controls, cameras, watches - and bathroom scales.  But the biggest danger is that as they become ever cheaper they are starting to appear in greeting cards, toys and all sorts of novelties appearing in low cost imported goods markets.

That cute, talking birthday card is probably powered by a button battery and whether it is adequately secured raises a very valid question.  This novelty market mostly originates overseas and the safety aspect only becomes an Australian concern when the product passes through our customs barrier. Our safety laws allow unsafe products to be seized and destroyed where offered for sale, but often by then the damage has been done.

Those big old batteries we are used to seeing are also dangerous, but they are generally too big to swallow.  In households with kids who also share with an elderly person who uses hearing aids there is an obvious danger. Battery replacement is a frequent need and if disposal of a used battery is unsafe it can be as deadly as a fully charged one.   Elderly people suffering from Dementia should not be tasked with changing batteries in their hearing aids.

So far this year there have been  nine cases of serious injury reported in Australia and about twenty children have swallowed button batteries. About one elder each week reports in that they have swallowed a battery from their hearing aid and in every case that requires immediate hospital action. The problem is that the ever increasing use of button batteries can only increase these statistics exponentially and some deaths seem inevitable.

There is a call for a crackdown on imported goods at our customs barrier.  It will be a huge task to inspect each and every import to check that the way any battery is secured meets an Australian safety standard and that needs to be clearly gazetted in vivid detail.  Ideally, removal of a battery should require the use of a tool that would not be readily available to children.

Perhaps the most important need is to educate the public that those shiny little batteries are not harmless.  That something so ubiquitous is deadly if swallowed is not universally known and in many households they are treated very casually.  If nothing else, their packaging should carry a clear warning of that danger !