
"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. Making button cells safer requires two things: preventing accidental ingestion and being able to spot if a button cell has been ingested. Also: The best rechargeable batteries you can buy For a few years now, several button cell manufacturers have been coating their batteries in Bitrex, a harmless chemical compound that's the most bitter substance known."
"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). Another step that manufacturers have taken is to make the packaging hard to open without using scissors. This makes it much harder for adults and children alike to access new batteries."
"Battery maker has taken things a step further with its Color Alert line. In addition to hard-to-open packaging and a liberal application of Bitrex, a patch of dye has been applied to the battery to make it more obvious if it has been in someone's mouth. The Color Alert line covers common button cell sizes such as , , and ."
Lithium button cell batteries can lodge in the esophagus or airway and cause severe burns, tissue damage, or death within two hours of ingestion. Approximately 3,500 button cells are swallowed annually in the US, mostly by children. Prevention requires making batteries harder to access and using deterrents to discourage chewing or swallowing. Manufacturers coat batteries with Bitrex, an extremely bitter, harmless compound, and increasingly use hard-to-open packaging. Energizer’s Color Alert line adds a food-grade marker dye patched on the battery to make oral exposure more visible. Common button cell sizes are included in the Color Alert range.
Read at ZDNET
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