MARKETED as toys and learning aids for autistic children, water beads which have the capacity to swell to up to 400 times their original size (pictured), are the subject of a parental warning in the Medical Journal of Australia.
The NSW Poisons Information Centre (NSWPIC) at Westmead Children's Hospital has highlighted a rapid increase in incidents in recent years involving ingestion of the water-absorbing beads.
Since 2004, 129 incidents involving the beads have been reported to NSWPIC, with the vast majority (112 or 87%) since 2013.
Serious bowel obstruction and other complications have occurred in children who have swallowed the water beads.
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