Please do *not* buy your kids Hoo Jit Zu toys

[pensfan]

@savedfree Good bot

 

[d2west]

@zombimansimp Whoa! So the ones that get left in my yard every summer are actually good for my lawn?!

Assuming animals don’t eat them

 

[zombimansimp]

@d2west I would say neutral if your lawn is wet enough. Good if your lawn is dry in the areas where the orbeez were left. At least temporarily. Until they degrade.

 

[aeternusnox]

@d2west They are treated with a bittering agent. Apparently wildlife is smarter than most people’s kids and don’t follow through with eating something that tastes disgusting

 

[snowysouthflorida]

@joshlynn888 A couple of things.

Water beads can possibly continue to expand after ingesting, so no, they are not harmless to pass as that could lead to a blockage even if they are “fully expanded”.

Also, they can be aspirated, which is incredibly dangerous.

They can be found with ultrasound.

The material itself is not toxic, however, the material used in its construction most definitely is, and there could be residues from it leading to brain damage from acrylamide monomer poisoning.

 

[joshlynn888]

@snowysouthflorida I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from, while they can sometimes be found on ultrasound, it’s not consistent enough for it to always be done.

 

[wayfarersoul1978]

@joshlynn888 I hate those orbeez commercials. It looks like such a useless and stupid toy

 

[frogalone]

@joshlynn888 So I already got one of these as a Christmas gift for my kid, but I just looked at a "what's inside" video on YouTube for the one I purchased, one of the DC Heroes of Goo Jit Zu toys, and there are not Orbeez or water beads inside, it's this weird goo material. So not all of them are applicable to this PSA.

 

[enriss]

@joshlynn888 My 3 year old got a ball filled with these things.

It lasted 2 hours, and the orbeez were all over. Never again! Nope. No way.

Too scary.

Thanks! This is a good safety tip!

 

[jlfow]

@enriss This makes me feel better about telling my 3yo daughter she couldn’t have one while we were shopping the other day.

 

[enriss]

@jlfow Nope, don't feel bad! That nice, sturdy looking plug comes out really easily.

Tell her they can give her a bad boo boo, or a big owie, however you do. If something is dangerous, you can explain why in simple terms, I tell my little fella.

 

[elisac]

@joshlynn888 I don’t understand how water beads can block intestines.

 

[joshlynn888]

@elisac Some of them get very sticky and clump together, some of them can actually get quite large, and some kids just eat a lot of them. The “good” ones crumble when pressed on, and are less of an issue, but those seems to be the exception and not the rule. Since they are not easily broken down (if at all), it’s not much different from swallowing a number of marbles.

 

[night_fury]

@elisac They're also (as far as I know) very hard to see on imaging like x-rays.

 

[afireinsidewater]

@elisac There's a mom on Tiktok who almost lost her one year old because she swallowed one water bead, and it swelled so much in her intestines that it completely blocked them. Baby ended up having to have multiple surgeries to repair everything.

I'm definitely not purchasing anything like that any time soon. My 3 year old still puts everything in his mouth.

 

[foxfire]

@joshlynn888 We have tons of goo jit zu’s for over a year and haven’t had any issues. But I can see it becoming an issue if they break. Thankfully ours haven’t. I think one sprang a leak and we tossed it. But my 5 year old loves them.

 

[katrina2017]

@joshlynn888 I see the price of these things and can’t imagine why anyone would pay because anything with that gooey texture is dirty and garbage in minutes .. thanks for the warning

 

[kentuckycats]

@joshlynn888 I had to look up the Goo Jit Zu toys and my son has a Captain America one he keeps losing. I think this time is can just stay lost.

 

[soulsearchingservant]

@joshlynn888 This gave me the push I needed to go toss the orbeeze in our cupboard. I was feeling guilty about it but the kids forgot about them anyways…

 

[katrina2017]

@joshlynn888 One of the babies in our 2021 birth group was in PICU after ingesting ONE BEAD. Just one! I already asked family not to gift any toys with water beads whatsoever.