New Kids (Toy) on The Block: Water Balz

We recently reported on the Consumer Product Safety Commission new safety ban on Bucky Balls.  Well, now, there’s a new allegedly “dangerous” toy ball on the market.  This time, it’s a product called Water Balz, marketed by DuneCraft Inc.

These brightly colored balls are about the size of a marble, but they can grow to the size of a racquetball when placed in water.

You can watch the product in action here.

What makes Water Balz so “dangerous?”  Well, much like the Bucky Balls, they don’t mix well with toddlers who treat them as food.  Two Texas parents recently found this out when their toddler ingested one of her older sister’s Water Balz.  When the toddler started having stomach problems, the parents suspected she had eaten one of the Water Balz.  Their concerns grew when they read the label, which explained that the balls expand up to 400 times if placed in water.  The parents took the girl to the hospital, but over the next 48 hours, the girl’s belly grew bigger and bigger, and her symptoms didn’t resolve.  Finally, the doctors operated.  In so doing, they cut open her intestine and discovered a bright-green Water Balz nearly an inch and a half across. Reportedly, the young toddler has fully recovered.

For now, no lawsuits have been filed over Water Balz.  We suspect that will change in the future.  Water Balz again raise the age old question for toys that cause injury.  Namely, whether the injuries are due to some inherently defective nature of the product or poor parental supervision.  I don’t think anyone would dispute that ingesting a chemical ball designed to expand in water creates a substantial risk of harm.  But the real question is, given that the product is not intended for ingestion, is it an unreasonably dangerous product?

Obviously DuneCraft’s CEO, Grant Cleveland, doesn’t believe Water Balz are unreasonably dangerous.  He told Reuters that said he was sorry to learn of the incident, but placed the blame squarely on the parents.  Said he:  “An eight-month-old has no business being near that product. Trying to turn it in to a public risk is absurd.” He also noted that the Water Balz product already carries warnings on the label and that the product is only recommended for kids over 3 years old.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.  It is not surprising, however, that some attorneys have already put out the APB for Water Balz plaintiffs.