Deadly TikTok trend prompts calls for ban on tiny magnetic balls
- Youngsters are wearing the small metal objects as fake facial piercings, with some ending up needing surgery after swallowing the items by accident
- England’s top children’s doctor wants the magnets banned altogether, warning of long-term physical problems and internal scarring
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has issued a plea for a ban on the sale of magnetic balls due to a deadly trend on the video platform TikTok.
Tiny magnetic balls, which are typically sold as toys, have become the focus of a recent TikTok viral challenge, which has seen hundreds of teenagers wear them as fake facial piercings.
For the so-called magnet challenge, which the NHS is calling a “viral prank”, a growing number of young people have been making videos with two small metal balls on their tongues and wiggling their tongues around, making it look as though they have a tongue piercing.
The NHS initially issued a patient safety alert after at least 65 children were admitted to British hospitals for urgent surgery after swallowing magnets over the last three years.
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The danger is that the magnetic objects are forced together in the intestines or bowels, squeezing the tissue and cutting off the blood supply. Ingesting more than one can be life-threatening and cause significant damage within the space of hours.