4 ms·

Good for them! I bought an extra set because of their legal battle a couple of years ago. They're sitting on my desk right now. I'm glad they've won, it's a p

Good for them! I bought an extra set because of their legal battle a couple of years ago. They're sitting on my desk right now. I'm glad they've won, it's a poke in the eyes against ineffective prohibition, and a win for personal responsibility. I'd prefer that there was a regulation on these such that they were only available to adults, however. They can cause terrible injuries that require surgery in uninformed and impulsive children.

mvid 8y ago
How would that regulation even work? The children who would be eating them aren't old enough to be buying them, or anything for that matter.
- mehwoot 8y ago
  Just that they need to have a visible warning. If you go to Zen Magnet's website there are big warnings telling you that if you eat these you could die and that you definitely don't want to give them to children. I think that's reasonable.
hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
> I'd prefer that there was a regulation on these such that they were only available to adults, however. They can cause terrible injuries that require surgery in uninformed and impulsive children. I agree. There seems to be a category of products that are definitely safe in the right hands, but they do look particularly "overly innocuous" and, while I don't think they should be banned, they should at least require some sort of "We're not kidding around, these can actually kill you" warning in big, bold letters. A couple years ago I read about a teenager who died after ODing on caffeine powder he bought on Amazon. While there were lots of tasteless "Darwin award" comments when this happened, it's not hard to think that someone would think a spoonful of caffeine powder would be like a couple of NoDoz, instead of actually being like 30 cups of coffee. Seems like there is a middle ground between outright banning these products and completely unregulated sales of potentially dangerous items like this.
- JackCh 8y ago
  The FDA banned pure caffeine powder but as far as I can tell caffeine pills are still legal and widely available. I go easy on the stuff these days, but when I was younger I once took way too many (10 pills equivalent to 20 cups of coffee IIRC) and was sure I was going to die. I understand the problem with loose powder is it makes it more difficult to get a precise dosage, but easy dosage pills won't help much if you're a dumbass who doesn't respect caffeine. Ultimately personal responsibility needs to be emphasized.
- natosaichek 8y ago
  When I ordered a set of magnets, it did come with a bright warning (https://images1.westword.com/imager/one-of-the-warning-labels-that-comes-with/u/original/6527906/feature_warning.jpg https://images1.westword.com/imager/one-of-the-warning-label...)
  - rjbwork 8y ago
    Yeah ditto, but that wasn't regulated afaik until the Zen fight.
  - tomatotomato37 8y ago
    That's a pretty crap warning to be honest, it looks like a promotion for a company/product name OMFG more than anything. Replace all that with the six words "DO NOT EAT, YOU WILL DIE", and it would be brutally effective
    - JackCh 8y ago
      No way, that's not good enough. We can't trust adults to read. The packaging needs vivid color photographs of autopsies for maximum emotional impact. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cigarettes_brazil.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cigarettes_brazil.JPG
    - mcphage 8y ago
      IF YOU EAT THIS YOU WILL DIE, AND IT WILL HURT THE ENTIRE TIME YOU ARE DYING.
pvg 8y ago
uninformed and impulsive children Those are usually just called 'children'.
- thomasfedb 8y ago
  Couldn't agree more. Disappointed to see the innocence of childhood mischaracterised in such a negative light. Children deserve our care and protection, not our scorn.

mvid 8y ago

How would that regulation even work? The children who would be eating them aren't old enough to be buying them, or anything for that matter.

mehwoot 8y ago
Just that they need to have a visible warning. If you go to Zen Magnet's website there are big warnings telling you that if you eat these you could die and that you definitely don't want to give them to children. I think that's reasonable.

hn_throwaway_99 8y ago

> I'd prefer that there was a regulation on these such that they were only available to adults, however. They can cause terrible injuries that require surgery in uninformed and impulsive children. I agree. There seems to be a category of products that are definitely safe in the right hands, but they do look particularly "overly innocuous" and, while I don't think they should be banned, they should at least require some sort of "We're not kidding around, these can actually kill you" warning in big, bold letters. A couple years ago I read about a teenager who died after ODing on caffeine powder he bought on Amazon. While there were lots of tasteless "Darwin award" comments when this happened, it's not hard to think that someone would think a spoonful of caffeine powder would be like a couple of NoDoz, instead of actually being like 30 cups of coffee. Seems like there is a middle ground between outright banning these products and completely unregulated sales of potentially dangerous items like this.

JackCh 8y ago
The FDA banned pure caffeine powder but as far as I can tell caffeine pills are still legal and widely available. I go easy on the stuff these days, but when I was younger I once took way too many (10 pills equivalent to 20 cups of coffee IIRC) and was sure I was going to die. I understand the problem with loose powder is it makes it more difficult to get a precise dosage, but easy dosage pills won't help much if you're a dumbass who doesn't respect caffeine. Ultimately personal responsibility needs to be emphasized.
natosaichek 8y ago
When I ordered a set of magnets, it did come with a bright warning (https://images1.westword.com/imager/one-of-the-warning-labels-that-comes-with/u/original/6527906/feature_warning.jpg https://images1.westword.com/imager/one-of-the-warning-label...)
- rjbwork 8y ago
  Yeah ditto, but that wasn't regulated afaik until the Zen fight.
- tomatotomato37 8y ago
  That's a pretty crap warning to be honest, it looks like a promotion for a company/product name OMFG more than anything. Replace all that with the six words "DO NOT EAT, YOU WILL DIE", and it would be brutally effective
  - JackCh 8y ago
    No way, that's not good enough. We can't trust adults to read. The packaging needs vivid color photographs of autopsies for maximum emotional impact. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cigarettes_brazil.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cigarettes_brazil.JPG
  - mcphage 8y ago
    IF YOU EAT THIS YOU WILL DIE, AND IT WILL HURT THE ENTIRE TIME YOU ARE DYING.

pvg 8y ago

uninformed and impulsive children Those are usually just called 'children'.

thomasfedb 8y ago
Couldn't agree more. Disappointed to see the innocence of childhood mischaracterised in such a negative light. Children deserve our care and protection, not our scorn.