That isn't actually deceptive though, if the question is of how the government should be spending its time and getting involved with our business. If buckyballs are a relatively rare novelty toy with a clear warning label but a minuscule number of injury cases nonetheless, while a number of other products are more popular and are hurting more kids, then why should the government screw around with buckyballs at all? Aren't there better places they could be intervening?
Cars are regulated.
You need a license to drive them.
The fact that most accidents are caused by licensed drivers[0], though, is an interesting discussion point.
[0] I don't have any data to back this up, it just seems reasonable...
You don't need a license to own a car or to drive it on your own property or to transport it (without driving it) from point A to point B. A 10-year-old can legally own a car and can legally drive it on private land. It's only driving on public roads that requires a license. So if we regulated magnets (or, heck, guns) the way we regulate cars, anybody could buy as many as they wanted of the regulated product and use it pretty freely.
I'm all for regulating toys, and this toy has been adequately regulated. It has a big warning label saying that it's not for kids, and that it's dangerous if you swallow it. The step that goes too far is trying to ban them outright.
You're quite right I am being somewhat deceptive to make a point. However to my knowledge there are no deaths related to Buckyballs, and the rate of ingestion is something like 0.0000048%.
Agreed. Some other factors...these are a toy, having no other useful function. And, perhaps they could be designed to be more safe. There are lots of other magnet toys that are more safe.
- Bicycles (Over 500 deaths a year)
- Battery powered toys (Roughly 2500 battery ingestions a year, Roughly 2% Fatality Rate)
- Bottles, Pacifiers etc. (2200 ER Injuries per year)