CPSC warns magnet fishers about dangerous high-powered magnets at home

A magnet-fishing magnet left on a kitchen counter, in a garage bin, or loose in a tackle bag is not just a bigger toy magnet. High-powered magnets are a safety risk to children from toddler through teen, and ingestions and inhalations are increasing, serious, and sometimes fatal.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates 2,400 magnet ingestions were treated in hospital emergency departments from 2017 through 2021, and seven deaths since 2005 are tied to hazardous magnets, including two outside the United States. When two or more magnets are swallowed, they can attract each other through internal tissue, causing injuries that often require surgery and can damage the stomach and intestines. A single magnet can also become dangerous if it draws in a ferromagnetic object inside the body.

Store the magnet, line, gloves, and recovered scrap in a closed container that children cannot open, and keep it away from loose screws, washers, nails, and other small metal pieces that can end up mixed together on a shelf or workbench. After a session, separate the magnet from any loose metal immediately, check the bag or truck bed for stray pieces, and put everything back where a curious child or visiting grandchild cannot reach it. If the gear travels in the car, keep it packed and secured instead of rolling around with everyday items.

The safety standard in 16 CFR Part 1262 applies to subject magnet products manufactured after October 21, 2022, and defines a hazardous magnet as one that fits in the small-parts cylinder and has a flux index of 50 kG2 mm2 or more. Toys covered by the separate toy standard are exempt. CPSC approved the new federal magnet standard on September 7, 2022, after the 2014 recall of Buckyballs and Buckycubes and a 2016 Tenth Circuit decision vacating the earlier mandatory magnet-set rule.

On June 18, 2025, CPSC warned consumers to stop using Lexibook Bio Toys Wooden Cat Magnetic Fishing Games because the magnets were stronger than allowed and posed a risk of serious injury or death if swallowed. The American Academy of Pediatrics says more than half of children treated for magnet ingestion needed admission and about 10 percent had potentially life-threatening injuries.