Toys So Dangerous, They Had To Be Banned Outright

Toys So Dangerous, They Had To Be Banned Outright

Nowadays, there's talk of banning TikTok and social media for teenagers in Europe, but what about the toys of yesteryear that were banned? These toys were so dangerous that the government stepped in to take them off the shelves for everyone's safety.

Aqua Dots

Before the diamond art of the modern day, there was the kids' toy, Aqua Dots. Arrange your dots into your desired design, then spritz them with water—voila! Artwork. The only issue with Aqua Dotswas that the tiny beads contained a compound known as GHB, which rendered several children comatose before 4.2 million units were recalled and banned in 2007.

Aoife and sandy's bindeez

mac morrison, Flickr

An Atomic Laboratory Kit Contained Actual Uranium

Yep. It was the late 1940s, after all. The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab was a kid's toy sold to science enthusiasts nationwide. It was designed to allow kids to recreate a nuclear reaction in their living room. There was a slight problem: It contained four types of uranium ore. If your child errantly removed them from their containers—hello, radiation poisoning.

Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory kit

Tiia Monto, Wikimedia Commons

The Magnets In Barbie & Tanner

You remember Barbie's pet dog, Tanner. In 2007, Barbie and Tanner were sold to teach young children responsible pet ownership by providing a "scooper" for them to pick up Tanner's "droppings" after he ate. The scooper's magnets could become loose, allowing kids to swallow them. If more than one was swallowed, the magnetic forces could perforate an intestine.

Barbie dolls in a basket

Unknown Artist, Pxhere

Don't Swallow Magnets, Kids

You may think it self-explanatory, but Buckyballs were another magnetized object that allowed kids to build molecular models using magnets. Unfortunately, in 2012, after 1,700 kids had been to the hospital having ingested these magnetic beads, the toy's designers, Maxfield & Oberton, were forced to recall the magnetic bead kits and the product was discontinued.

Magnet Balls cylinder

Eviatar Bach, CC0, Wikimedia Commons