According to ABC News, the pea-sized magnets are made for car wheel bearings and computer hard drives, but are also sold for jewelry and art projects.
ABC News also reported that the rare-earth magnets were “so powerful that Christin could magically pull a pen up the wall while standing in a neighboring classroom at school.”
It was all fun and games until the seventh grader downed the hazardous magnets. Rivas knew that the magnets were deadly if ingested, so she tried making herself regurgitate.
"I told my teacher, and she sent me to the clinic and they called my mom,” she said.
She was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children for surgery before they could cut her small intestine open and remove the magnets.
"I do feel it was one of those stupid kid moments," said Rivas, who lives in Melbourne, Fla. "I was going to the bathroom and I put them in my mouth because I didn't want to put them on the floor. I wasn't quite thinking. The kid on the other side said something that made me laugh and swallow them."
The Daily Mail reported that surgeons also removed part of Rivas’ colon and her appendix, and spent five days in the hospital following her surgery.
According to ABC News, the 14-year-old is now home and “doing well,” says her mother, Barbara, who would like to see the magnets banned.
“They are an attractive nuisance, like a swimming pool with no fence around it or leaving the keys in the car when kids are around,” said Barbara. “You can’t cite a kid for being a kid. That’s what they do. Parents should be aware of the potential dangers.”
From ABC
