Water beads lead to 6,000 injuries, mostly among children, treated in ERs in 2023

Consumer advocates and regulators have warned about the dangers of water beads as toys for two years. Now, a new report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission shows that about 6,000 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms in 2023 for injuries related to water beads.

That stunning number was released in its annual report, Toy-Related Deaths and Injuries Calendar Year 2023. The report also reiterates the death of a 10-month-old baby in Wisconsin in July 2023.

Water beads can injure or kill children if they swallow a water bead, which is usually the size of a pea, and then it expands to the size of a golf ball. Water beads are colorful and look like candy. The expanded water bead can block airways, obstruct the digestive tract and leak toxins. Water beads can also be dangerous if stuck in an ear or up the nose.

The CPSC is currently considering rules to restrict water beads from being marketed as toys. Water beads are sometimes used as vase fillers or home decorations. Separately, two bills have been introduced in Congress, the Ban Water Beads Act  and Esther’s Law, named after the Wisconsin baby who died. The bills are aimed at protecting children who may play with water beads as sensory toys. Major retailers such as Amazon, Target, Walmart and Michaels said in December 2023 they’d stop selling water beads marketed as toys.

However, U.S. PIRG Education Fund in the 2024 Trouble in Toyland report documented cases where water beads were sold in 2023 as toys, and the exact same products are being sold this year with the words “toy” or “sensory play” removed from the label.