“Make sure the holidays are really a time of joy not tragedy,” Blumenthal said. That’s why the senators are working to increase funding and cut red tape for the main government watchdog, the U.S. “As more consumers are buying from third-party platforms, that they’re going to have the insight into where these products are coming from,” she said. “You don’t expect that to be a hazard,” Blackburn said.īlackburn also wants online retailers to combat the growing number of counterfeit toys made overseas by manufacturers that don’t always follow U.S. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, introduced a bill in Reese’s honor to require warnings and proper fastenings for these batteries. “Unfortunately, I’m not the first or the last parent to live this nightmare,” Hamsmith said. Unlike his neighbor, he did extremely horrid things to his toys instead of treating them with love and care, until he learned to his horror that the toys were really alive, which gave him such a fright that he vowed to change his ways. But it estimates that’s only 11 percent of the true total since it’s not required to record or report these cases. Sidney 'Sid' Phillips is the main antagonist of the 1995 DisneyPixar animated film, Toy Story. “Once these batteries are removed from emergency surgery, they actually can continue to burn, and hers did,” Hamsmith said.Īccording to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there were 3,500 button battery ingestions in 2020.
Hamsmith’s daughter, Reese, died before her second birthday from complications of swallowing a button battery. “I felt like the life had been taken out of me, too.” “She was blue, and she was lifeless,” Trista Hamsmith told the Senate committee. “They are very small.”įor some, ingesting one of the batteries can turn deadly. “They come out easily, can be swallowed,” he said as he showed a button battery to his colleagues. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT.īlumenthal said this battery in many toys, holiday decorations and other common household items sends thousands of kids to the emergency room every year. “These button cell batteries are a menace,” said Sen. WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Senators warn parents may want to check their kids’ Christmas lists twice before buying certain toys.Ī hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday focused on hidden holiday hazards, including toys with small parts that children can accidentally swallow.