"Lithium button cell (sometimes called coin cell) batteries are everywhere, from car key fobs to . And while they seem innocent enough, if ingested, they can cause severe injury from esophageal or airway damage in less than two hours, which can, in the worst cases, result in death. Each year in the US alone, some 3,500 button cells are swallowed, mostly by children. I've encountered one such injury myself, and seen a number of examples in first aid training materials, and it is no joke."
"A thimbleful in an Olympic-sized swimming pool can make all the water bitter. This substance is added to a wide array of products to prevent ingestion, from bleach and antifreeze to Nintendo game cards. And let me tell you, this stuff is awful (if you don't believe me, you can actually request a free taste test kit from the maker."
Lithium button cell batteries are common in everyday devices and can cause severe esophageal or airway injury within two hours if swallowed, potentially resulting in death. Approximately 3,500 button cells are swallowed annually in the US, mostly by children. Manufacturers have applied Bitrex, an extremely bitter but harmless chemical, to many batteries to discourage ingestion and have made packaging harder to open to limit access. Energizer's Color Alert adds a food-grade dye patch to batteries to make mouthing or ingestion easier to spot. Combining bitterant, secure packaging, and detection dye aims to reduce accidental ingestion and improve rapid identification.
Read at ZDNET
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