New Batteries Are Safe For Children To Swallow

WASHINGTON: Scientists have developed a special coating for small batteries which can prevent against injuries and deaths stemming from accidental ingestion, especially by children.

A Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) led team has developed a simple "coat of armour" to encase small batteries, rendering them harmless if they are ever swallowed.

Children, particularly infants and young toddlers, can ingest these batteries, leading to serious damage to their oesophagus as well as other gut tissue, and sometimes, death, researchers said.

Such incidents are on the rise, yet up until now, no solutions have been directed at the battery itself.

The new work offers a simple, cost-effective fix that if implemented, could dramatically reduce if not eliminate, this problem.

"To date, there has been no innovation to address this issue with small batteries," said Jeff Karp, BWH Division of Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

"To address this challenge we sought to develop something that would render the battery inert, specifically when it was outside of a device," said Karp.

Each year, roughly 5 billion "button" batteries are produced across the world. These small, disc-shaped batteries power everything from children's toys, hearing aids and laser pointers to remote controls and musical greeting cards.

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