I have these. They are called Bucky Balls and they are amazing. A few years ago, the US Government deemed this toy too dangerous to be in the hands of US citizens, so they actually banned it here in the US. Apparently 4 children swallowed them and needed surgery as a result. However, more children die of falling out of bed or down stairs or on skateboards then swallowing Bucky Balls every year. But the govt went after them and they went out of business. Then, when the Govt sued them and demanded they do a recall of all previously purchased Bucky Balls, the 2 founders didnt back down and fought. Sadly, they lost but at least the fees they were supposed to pay got reduced (from many billions to about $375k). I bought 2 sets before the banning deadline. You can still buy these but they are not the originals and they may be made from a different type of magnet. The original company created a new campaign to help them offset their fees and created a larger magnet ball that cant be swallowed. It is here: unitedweball.org/ .I really believe the reason the Govt went after them was becasue the original Bucky Balls are made of Rare Earth mineral metal, which is what we use in our batteries for our cell phones, ipads and laptops. Since it is rare and our Govt creates wars to get this stuff (think Afghanistan), I believe they simply wanted to not have a small company use this precious rare earth mineral for something like a toy, which is too bad, because Bucky Balls are really cool. :)
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 00:24:24 +0000
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