In all, more than two dozen kids suffered life-threatening intestinal injuries after swallowing magnetic toy pieces. This flawed system put many children at grave risk. At that point, regulators became just another voice in a debate controlled by the toymakers themselves. The federal government's influence was even weaker during the next step, when new manufacturing standards were written in an attempt to ensure that such toys couldn't harm children. The resulting voluntary recall was so confusing that consumers had no way of knowing whether they were buying a dangerous toy. It did what the law requires: The commission first accommodated the toy's maker, negotiating the wording of the news release meant to warn parents. The commission did not sweep Magnetix off store shelves. What followed was neither decisive nor swift, but an illustration of how weakly most children's products are regulated in America. "I thought it was a defective product," Midgett said, "and should be recalled." In the weeks after Kenny's death, the alarm was finally sounding inside the agency's ranks. Parents and caregivers had warned the government of that very danger, but the safety commission failed to act. They connected inside Kenny's intestines, strangling his bowels. died on Thanksgiving Day 2005 after swallowing loose magnets from his older brother's broken Magnetix toys. He could see that it wouldn't take much for the tiny magnets to break loose, the way they had several weeks earlier in the suburban Seattle home of the Sweet family. To a child, the magnets behave like they're alive. He quickly understood why the toy was so popular. Consumer Product Safety Commission says he could feel the powerful attraction and repulsion of the embedded magnets. Remembering that day, the self-described "toy scientist" at the U.S.
Midgett connected and disconnected them as a child would. Inside a gray government cubicle littered with colorful construction toys, Jonathan Midgett played with pieces from a Magnetix set, one of the year's hottest sellers.
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