TALLMADGE, Ohio — Sumiah Hamdan is working to create tougher legislation on button battery safety here In Ohio after her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter lost her life when she swallowed a button battery in March.
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Hamdan said the button battery came from her daughter's squeeze toy, somehow falling out of its battery compartment.
Hamdan applauded new button battery federal safety legislation, called "Reese's Law," which will soon be fully enforced this fall. The new federal regulations are calling for more secure button battery product packaging, more prominent warning labels, as well as more securely designed battery-holding compartments.
However, Hamdan told News 5 she's collecting signatures on a petition and believes button batteries in all children's toys should be banned. Hamdan is calling on toy manufacturers to take more responsibility for the products they sell.
“What are the sales really so important that you need to sell toys with those?" Hamdan said. “If you can’t figure out another way to power those toys, are they really that important if they have such a risk of a screw coming out so easily — coming out on its own? The companies should be thinking, 'How are we going to be protecting these kids? not, 'Oh yeah, we need this to sell this product, and we can’t change it.'"
Hamdan has also established a GoFundMe account to help her family with the high cost of medical expenses.
Trista Hamsmith, creator of the Reese’s Purpose Foundation and Reese's Lawreached out to Hamdan to give her support and information. Hamsmith started Reese's Purpose and fought for tougher button battery federal regulations after her 18-month-old daughter Reese lost her life when she ingested a button battery at their Lubbock, Texas home in October 2020.
Hamsmith said Reese's Law was passed in August 2022, with tougher button battery safety packaging regulations already in place. Hamsmith said the designs for more secure compartments that hold button batteries in all products, and better warning labels, must be approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission by September of this year.
“The requirement of secure packaging when purchased in stores has gone into effect; retailers are allowed to sell their current stock," Hamsmith said. “With newly-designed button battery compartments, they’ve gone through testing, they’re going through research, it’s all about finding the absolute right fix.”
Hamsmith told News 5 that once the Consumer Product Safety Commission approves the new safety designs, Reese's Law provides manufacturers 18 months to bring the improved products to market.
Hamsmith believes it's unrealistic to ban all button battery use, even though she is optimistic safer power sources to replace button batteries will be created in the future.
Hamsmith is urging parents to check all children's toys and household products that utilize button batteries multiple times each month, and store loose button batteries in a secure container and out of the reach of children.
“I do a bi-weekly check; I know every product that has them; I check and make sure that it’s secure," Hamsmith said. “With loose batteries in a junk drawer, making sure that those are out of sight in a tight locked container, up high where the children can’t reach them.”
“If you do suspect a button battery ingestion, if the child is over the age of one, you can give them honey; it will help coat the battery, and get them immediately to the ER; do not waste time,” Hamsmith said.
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