The U.S. President signed Reese’s law in 2022, mandating battery safety after a child swallowed a button battery and died. Baby Reese’s mum Trista who motivated the law has continued her fight for child-safe batteries. A U.S. battery manufacturer is introducing a coin battery that alerts parents by releasing blue dye on contacting human saliva.
How The Coin Battery Alerts Parents
New York Times advises the modified coin battery containing lithium, is in tougher packaging that is very difficult to open. It should therefore be easier for parents to detect signs of tampering.
At the next level of safety, the battery has a ‘non-toxic bitter coating’ that discourages swallowing. This might create a disturbance among children playing with batteries and alert parents.
However, the most important aspect of the modified lithium coin battery is a ‘color alert technology’. This activates a blue dye when it contacts human saliva. A coin battery that alerts parents this way sends a clear warning to seek medical attention.
This innovation has arrived more than two years after media reports that ‘children were swallowing button batteries at an alarming rate’. We commend the U.S. battery manufacturer for their initiative, and hope they release their technology for all to share.
What Every Parent Should Know About Batteries
Several things happen quite quickly after a child, or an adult for that matter, swallows a lithium coin battery. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (see link below) advises as follows:
- The small battery sticks in the child’s throat.
- Their saliva first triggers an electric current.
- This current then causes a chemical reaction.
- This can severely burn their esophagus.
Their esophagus that passes food to their stomach may burn through, and paralyze their vocal cords. Severe, even fatal burns may follow.
Every parent should know that seeing the blue dye on their child’s lips does not mean the burning has stopped. It is saying they must take their child to an emergency room immediately, and without any delay.
More Information
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Honey After Swallowing Button Batteries
