A 13-year-old New Zealand boy had part of his intestines removed after swallowing more than 100 high-powered magnets believed to have been purchased from the Chinese shopping site Temu, according to reports.
The teen was admitted to Tauranga Hospital on the country’s North Island after four days of abdominal pain.
He told doctors he had ingested between 80 and 100 small neodymium magnets about a week earlier — but surgeons later recovered closer to 200 from his gut, according to a case report published Friday in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
X-rays revealed four chains of magnets lodged in different sections of his intestines, pulling together and cutting off blood flow to nearby tissue.
Doctors said the pressure caused multiple patches of necrosis — areas of dead intestinal lining — requiring emergency surgery.
The operation involved removing the magnets and sections of damaged bowel. The boy, who was not named, spent eight days in the hospital before being discharged, doctors Binura Lekamalage, Lucinda Duncan-Were and Nicola Davis wrote in the medical report.
“This case highlights not only the dangers of magnet ingestion but also the dangers of the online marketplace for our pediatric population,” the authors said.
New Zealand banned the sale of small, high-powered magnets in 2013 after multiple cases of children swallowing them.
The magnets, made of neodymium-iron-boron and often marketed as toys or stress relievers, are up to 30 times stronger than ordinary refrigerator magnets and can snap together with enough force to pinch or perforate tissue if swallowed.
Despite the ban, the magnets remain widely available online, including through popular retailers such as Amazon, AliExpress, Trade Me and Shein. The Post has sought comment from the aforementioned companies.
The boy told doctors the magnets he swallowed were bought through Temu, one of the fastest-growing e-commerce platforms in the world.
Temu said in a statement that it was investigating the incident, though the company cannot definitively determine that the magnets in question were purchased through its platform.
“We are sorry to learn about the reported incident and wish the boy a full and speedy recovery,” a Temu spokesperson told The Post.
“At this stage, we have not been able to confirm whether the magnets involved were purchased through Temu or identify the specific product listing.”
The company added that it had launched an internal review and reached out to the New Zealand Medical Journal for details on the case.
“Our teams are reviewing relevant listings to ensure full compliance with local safety requirements,” the spokesperson said.
“Any products found to be non-compliant will be removed, and we will take firm action against any sellers found to have breached our platform rules or local regulations.”
Doctors said the magnets measured 5 by 2 millimeters each and had clumped into four straight lines inside the boy’s intestines. The magnetic pull caused sections of bowel to adhere together, effectively pinching the tissue between them.
The surgeons warned that patients who undergo magnet removal surgeries often face long-term complications such as bowel obstructions, hernias, or chronic abdominal pain.
University of Auckland researcher Alex Sims, who studies commercial law and product regulation, said the case highlights how difficult it is to enforce New Zealand’s decade-old magnet ban in the era of online marketplaces.
“While enforcement is problematic, as it is more difficult for the Commerce Commission to investigate and force overseas online marketplaces to stop the sale of small high-powered magnets, it is concerning if children are purchasing goods on online marketplaces,” Sims said.
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