Button (coin, watch, hearing aid) batteries are dangerous for kids to swallow — not just as throat obstructions, but because the batteries actually circuit across saliva and can cause serious, even lethal, internal burns. Even apparently dead (i.e., without enough power to make your widget work) can cause this problem.
These kind of batteries are in a ton of household goods, from flashlights to calculators to remote controls to bathroom scales, etc. If they are items that your young'uns might get hold of, make sure the battery compartments aren't something they can get open.
This isn't the first time I've head this problem recently. Here's hoping people take it seriously.
Reshared post from +Les Jenkins
For those of you with small kids, make sure coin batteries stay out of their reach.
Autopsy Shows Toddler Died From Consuming A Battery
A Las Vegas toddler died a few weeks ago, and the reason for his death wasn’t immediately clear. His illness began when he started coughing blood, and doctors couldn’t figure out what was making th…
Add magnets to that list of things that don't enter your mind as particularly dangerous.
Two readily available powerful magnets can stick to each other across a loop of intestine causing it to die from blood loss. Kids swallowing magnets should have you heading to emergency.
We need to get right to work banning batteries like we do office toy magnets.
Well, honestly, I think button batteries are overused (and so wildly different and subject to varied nomenclature that it drives me nuts when I have to replace them), so I wouldn't mind seeing them less used.
I qualify both as products that should be commercially available, though, with lots of caveats on the box.