The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with six retailers, is announcing the voluntary recall of all Buckyballs and Buckycubes high-powered magnet sets sold by these companies. CPSC continues to warn that these products contain defects in the design, warnings and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury and death to children and teenagers.
Imported by Maxfield & Oberton LLC, of New York, N.Y., Buckyballs and Buckycubes consist of sets of numerous, small, high-powered magnets. These sets vary in the number of magnets included and come in a variety of colors. Individual magnets in the set are about 5 millimeters in diameter. Individual magnets in Buckyballs are spherical and individual magnets in Buckycubes are cube-shaped.
About three million sets of Buckyballs and Buckycubes have been sold in U.S. retail stores nationwide and online since 2010 for between $5 and $100.
Consumers should take the high-powered magnet sets and all associated individual magnets away from children and teenagers and contact the retailer from which they purchased the product to obtain instructions for their remedy:
- Barnes & Noble, toll-free at (855) 592-2993 or online at www.barnesandnoble.com and click on “Product Recalls”
- Bed Bath & Beyond, toll-free at (800) 462-3966 or online at www.bedbathandbeyond.com and select “Safety and Recalls” under Customer Service, then click on Recall Information
- Brookstone, toll-free at (866) 576-7337 or online at www.brookstone.com and click on “Recall Information” under Shop Brookstone
- Participating Hallmark retailers, toll-free at (800) 425-5627 or online at http://www.hallmark.com/recall-product/
- Marbles the Brain Store, toll-free at (877) 527-2460 or online at www.marblesthebrainstore.com
- ThinkGeek, toll-free at (888) 433-5788 or online at www.thinkgeek.com/buckyballs/index.shtml
These retailers have agreed to participate because Maxfield & Oberton has refused to participate in the recall of all Buckyballs and Buckycubes.
In July 2012, CPSC staff filed an administrative complaint against Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC, of New York, N.Y., after discussions with the company and its representatives failed to result in a voluntary recall plan that CPSC staff considered to be adequate to address the very serious hazard posed by these products. This type of legal action against a company is rare, as CPSC has filed only four administrative complaints in the past 11 years.
CPSC has received 54 reports of children and teens ingesting this product, with 53 of these requiring medical interventions.