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A 13-year-old teenager from New Zealand had parts of his intestines removed after he swallowed up to 100 high-powered magnets purchased online. Doctors performed a major surgery to remove them after the boy suffered stomach pain for four days at Tauranga Hospital on New Zealand’s North Island. They discovered that the magnets had joined together to form four chains inside his intestines. According to the New Zealand Medical Journal, doctors said that boy had swallowed “approximately 80–100 5x2mm high-power neodymium magnets” a week prior to his hospitalization. The boy remains unidentified. He was discharged after spending eight days in the hospital. New Zealand banned the sale of small, high-powered magnets in 2013 after the government warned that children could suffer serious injuries if they swallowed them, whether out of curiosity or while playing with them as “mock jewellery.” The authors of the New Zealand Medical Journal outlined that enforcing the long-standing ban remains challenging, as the magnets can still be easily purchased through online marketplaces. “While these laws can be enforced locally, it is more difficult to regulate products supplied by overseas merchants on large-scale online marketplaces,” the authors said. “These platforms are easily accessible especially by children, with purchases being inexpensive and not always requiring age verification,” they added. The report said the magnets had been purchased via the Chinese online marketplace Temu. In a statement to US broadcaster NBC News, Temu said it has not yet been able to confirm whether the magnets in question were purchased through its platform. “We are sorry to learn about the reported incident and wish the boy a full and speedy recovery,” Temu’s spokespersons said. “We take product safety very seriously and continuously monitor our platform to ensure sellers are complying with the safety regulations of the markets they are doing business in,” they added. The marketplace said it had reached out to the New Zealand Medical Journal for more details on the case. Its teams are reviewing relevant listings to ensure they meet local safety standards, adding that any noncompliant products will be removed and sellers violating platform rules or local laws will face firm action.
