• What toy set included a literal spinning metal saw blade?
What toy from the 1960s could reach temperatures of over 600 degrees?
From choking hazards to explosions, here are 15 of the most dangerous toys ever sold to
kids.
15 – Aqua Dots • “Choking Hazard” can be applied to
basically any toy of a certain size, because kids will put basically anything in their
mouths and be happy about it.
• But the problem with Aqua Dots wasn't the choking hazard.
It's that they were coated in the DATE RAPE DRUG.
• The chemical that made the little dots stick together actually broke down in the
body as GHB, which knocks adults unconscious...
but just straight-up poisons children.
Two children who ingested the dots ended up comatose and one was hospitalized for five
days.
14 – ‘Hang Ten’ Mini-Hammock • This is a toy that was named perfectly
– just not for the reasons they wanted.
• Though really, it was more of a “hang twelve.”
As in TWELVE CHILDREN who were killed by these things by asphyxiation.
• One more was nearly choked to death by it, but escaped with only severe, permanent
brain damage.
13 – Rollerblade Barbie • It was actually a pretty good idea to
have a Barbie doll that shoots sparks out when she rollerblades.
• It looked cool.
• It also used a piece of flint to create said sparks.
And as such, it was really good at setting fires in places where fire isn't supposed
to be.
12 – Model Dockyard Locomotive • The first self-propelled toy train ever
made dates all the way back to 1843.
• It used a tiny little steam engine.
Kids had to fill the tank with kerosene or alcohol, and then IGNITE IT WITH FIRE.
• Back then, the toy trains were known as “piddlers.”
Because as they moved along the ground, they left a little trail of liquid behind them.
Kerosene-laden, flammable liquid.
11 – Fidget Spinners • There are plenty of ways to make a fidget
spinner dangerous if you try hard enough.
• But you probably didn't think lead poisoning was going to be one of those ways.
• A small number of fidget spinners tested dangerously high for lead content, some of
which were even sold at Target.
10 – Zulu Blow Gun • The problem with a blow gun that shoots
out little plastic darts probably isn't the problem you'd think.
• The shooting itself wasn't the problem – at least, except for the kids who tried
to replace the plastic darts with needles.
• No, the problem was with the blowing itself.
Kids would inhale deeply first, and end up sucking the dart through the pipe and choking
on it.
9 – Metal Playgrounds • If you grew up in a certain era, you probably
remember how it was a really bad idea to go down the slide on a hot summer day.
• Because that slide was metal, and in the hot summer sun, the slide was about 150 degrees
Fahrenheit, and would literally give you third-degree burns.
• Eventually, they figured out playground equipment that could be used for cooking wasn't
the best choice for 5-year-old kids.
8 – Clackers • You may have seen the little plastic balls
that loudly back and forth, back and forth.
And today, they're not dangerous.
• But in the 1970s, when they were first marketed as a toy?
• They kinda-sorta... exploded.
• When clacking them back and forth, they would frequently shatter into shrapnel like
a couple of little grenades.
They would often explode and fire shrapnel directly into the eyes of people playing with
them.
7 – Empire Little Lady Stove • Toy stoves and ovens existed long before
the Easy-Bake Oven.
• It's just that a lot of toy stoves before were neither Easy – nor SAFE.
• One such stove was the Empire Little Lady, which heated up to 600 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT.
That's not even a toy stove – it's just a smaller version of a real stove.
So children can play with a stove their size.
6 – Aqua Leisure Inflatable Baby Boats • You'll never guess what the problem was
with “inflatable baby boats.”
• Did you guess “drowning?”
Of course you did!
• The leg straps in these boats would tear, dropping the children into the water.
• Luckily, of the 31 babies this actually happened to, none of them were hurt before
the product was recalled.
5 – CSI: Investigation Forensics Lab Kit • Kids love playing detective, so a branded
CSI forensics kit makes sense – you know, for all those kids who watch CSI every week.
• The kit contained dust for fingerprinting.
And that dust contained asbestos.
Enough asbestos to cause cancer, in fact.
• Maybe the point of the CSI kit wasn't to play the detective, but the victim.
4 – Toys R Us Writing Set (1988) • The adorable little submarine had everything
you might need for writing and stationary work.
• You've got scissors, a tape dispenser, a pencil sharpener, and a razor blade.
• You heard correctly.
It had a hidden, removable razor blade that's basically a spy weapon.
You know.
For kids.
3 – Blast Balls • There wasn't much to these things.
You get two balls in a package.
You smack them together.
They make a loud sound, like a cap gun, and create some sparks.
• And that's literally it.
That's the whole toy.
• They didn't have time to fail because of simply being a dumb toy.
The sparks started catching kids' clothing on fire before the toy could die a natural
death.
2 – Powermite Working Power Tools • It's exactly what it sounds like.
These are just power tools.
Real ones.
Small ones, for small hands, but real ones.
• Oh, but they're like, kid-safe versions of the tools, right?
Totally powered down to the point of being useless?
Plastic blades and all that?
• Nope!
• This kit came with a fully-functional metal power drill, router, orbital sander,
and CIRCULAR SAW.
Just an ACTUAL SPINNING SAW BLADE.
• The saw came with an extra blade, but unfortunately, not extra fingers.
1 – U-238 Atomic Energy Lab • It actually gets worse than the power
tools.
• Back in the 1950s, with the advent of nuclear energy, people thought it would be
a good idea for people to understand the basics of radioactivity and nuclear energy.
• So they literally just sold uranium to kids.
• The U-238 Atomic Energy Lab is a science kit, which actually included radioactive isotopes
for kids to experiment with.
It came with a Geiger counter and everything.
• Admittedly, the radioactive material was weak, so it isn't as though it could have
been used to build a bomb or anything...
but it was still RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL.