Thread: Swallowing Dangers of Button Batteries

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Well today just seems to be battery topic day for me -- third thread on them. I'm working on removing batteries from my props and going through magazines for recycling today. Came across an article in my November Costco Magazine about the dangers of button batteries and kids (and I assume pets and other animals). The problem isn't so much from choking on them, but the burn that can result from them when in contact with saliva and other fluids. It actualy can within 2 hours of swallowing burn a hole through an esophagus, trachea, stomach, or nasal septem and lead to serious illness or death.

Here's the link supplied in the Costco Magazine from the National Capital Poison Center for more detailed information on this danger and what to do if this occurs to you or someone you know: http://www.poison.org/battery/. Guess this was apparently picked up by CBS' Early Show back in March of this year.

Hate to see any HF member have these little batteries end up causing something as serious as internal burns in their loved ones.

Thanks for the heads up. I pulled some out that need replacing. I don't think my cat will eat them but, it sounds pretty nasty. Never thought what stomach acid and battery acid could do together. ewww once toxic mix.

Oh my...! I never thought of that. Sounds nasty and as you say, although most adults (I hope) wouldn't eat a battery (although you never know what men will get up to, especially if someone dares them, LOL) kids and pets may do so accidentally. Thanks for the heads-up.

The other thing that the Costco article mentioned, that I didn't see picked up on the website link, was that the batteries didn't have to be leaking for this to happen, and even a weak or dead battery will have enough of a charge to do damage.

If you get the Costco Magazine the article is on Page 69.

Luckily there's no kids in the house, unluckily there are no longer any pets either. But the neighbor brings her dog when she visits so I'll have to double check that I didn't drop anything. This is why everything has those annoying screw-on battery lids now, even those that take larger/normal batteries (the worst offenders are the Innovative Brand Pumpkin Lights/Jack-o-Lights that you cannot remove the screw from while most others still have a latch so you can opt not to use the screw).

Tiny magnets are also a problem, as they can cause two sections of your insides to get stuck together.

Those infuriating tiny screws on everything keep the batteries safe from even adults...grrrr!
Our news recently did a story on these and showed putting one inside a hotdog...it began cooking in minutes. We tried it and it really does!

Wow-that is great info. We all seem to have tons of things that need batteries. From those little lites that lite up pumpkins to our props.
Every year I take each and every battery out of every single item. (Yes it is a giant pain)
I have a co-worker who's house burnt down. It was determined that the fire started in her little daughters room,
due to some toy with batteries under her bed. I store the majority of my Halloween stuff in my garage rafters
and if something started to burn I would never notice it until is was too late. Something to think about for sure....