Hi Everyone,

I am a Mom who's child was nearly strangled with a toy called a water yo-yo. My daughter is only one of 267 children who have had this happen to them. There has been a total of 380 injuries reprted to the Consumer Product Safety Commission about this toy, and yet they will not even recall this toy. I am working with another Mother, who's son also was nearly strangled with the toy, to try and get this toy banned from the U.S., like it is in 5 other countries. Until that happens, I have been trying to warn as many parents of the dangers of this toy as I possibly can. Please visit my website called, "Dangers of Water Yo-Yo's" at:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8dw6z/

This site has been shown on NBC and ABC of Philadelphia. I am also working with the New Jersey Congressman Robert Andrews on trying to get this toy banned. I hope the information on this site will help keep your children safe. I hope all of you have a safe and fun 4th of July!

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 11:35 am:

bump

By Christylee on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 12:01 pm:

Thanks for the info, I've never even heard of them.

By Rayanne on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 12:31 pm:

I've seen those before. My cousin has one. I don't think that I would ever let a little kid have one. My cousin is 18. I think that they are good for adults. They actually releive stress for me.

By Cat on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 12:36 pm:

Wow. Who'd have thought. My 10yo had one of these that he got at school. It lasted less than a day when it popped. We never got around to replacing it, and now I'm glad we didn't.

By Mommmie on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 12:37 pm:

What is a water yo-yo?

By Bellajoe on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 12:37 pm:

We actually had one of those. It looked fun....but once we had it i did see how dangerous it is. I pray that it doesn't take a child to actually die from being strangled with it for them to ban it.

Thanks for the info.

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 12:44 pm:

A couple of links with information:

Hazards of YoYo Balls

CPSC Investigates Yo-Yo Water Balls

By Mommmie on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 01:34 pm:

OH! Thanks for the links. I do know what those are. They are the b-day party favor of choice these days!

By Brandy on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 01:44 pm:

Thanks for the information.We actually had one and i accidentally busted it about a week or so ago ...

By Kate on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 03:11 pm:

I can't believe they are still out there! I heard about them being banned more than a year ago. Are they really still being sold? How are they the birthday party favor of choice if they're banned?

By Mommmie on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 03:21 pm:

Not banned here. Saw them for sale just last week.

By Palmbchprincess on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 03:54 pm:

What are they???

By Mommmie on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 04:23 pm:

That link up above has a picture of one.

By Trina~moderator on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 04:26 pm:

I read safety warnings about them a couple years ago and have avoided them since.

By Kaye on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 04:56 pm:

Oh my gosh, we have two of these. I just asked the kids to bring them to me. So they have been playing unsupervised. One of them has no water left, apparently the cat bit it and drank it...geesh, I guess maybe the water isn't that toxic, but the stragulation risk is scary. My son is cool with it, my daughter very sad, I promised to replace it, but she still is not happy with me.

By Schreff03 on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 05:02 pm:

I am the mother who started this message. This toy was never banned in the United States. It has been banned in 5 other countries. Not only has this toy nearly strangled 267 children, but so far at least 3 children have suffered severe eye injuries that have required lens implants. Please take the time to look at the site that is mentioned in the first message. I hope it will answer alot of your questions. And if you have any questions that were not answered, please feel free to email me from the website.

By Schreff03 on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 05:08 pm:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8dw6z/

Please copy and paste the above URL into your address bar at the top of your page and you can get to the website

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 07:45 pm:

It doesn't look like anything my 14 or 12yo would want anyway.

By Annie2 on Thursday, July 1, 2004 - 09:02 pm:

Thanks for the info. We had a few of these when they first came out but they popped in a few days. I also thought they were recalled a year or so ago.

By Palmbchprincess on Friday, July 2, 2004 - 12:00 am:

I looked at the site, but those things look like the slime balls that you throw at the wall. Is that the same thing? I'm sorry to sound like an airhead, but my kids are too young to play with these, and I'd never heard of them before. They look gross!! Where do you get them?

By Schreff03 on Friday, July 2, 2004 - 12:05 am:

You can get them pretty much anywhere. There are a few place that have stopped selling them, Toys R Us being one of them. They are very sticky like the things we would throw on the wall. The cord can stretch up to 4 feet and when you put together the cord going around the neck and the stickiness and the weight of the water ball, it is very hard to ripp off the neck. It is like wrapping a rubber band around your finger, that is how this toy wraps around the neck. The "rubber" is made out of a deisil material (I know that is spelled wrong, but it is 12am here!!) Hopefully Lisa and I will have more info on what this toy is made out of very soon. I will let you know when we find out! :o)

By Tink on Friday, July 2, 2004 - 01:15 am:

I had no idea! We put these in our kids' Easter baskets over a year ago and, in the first hour, my youngest got it wrapped around her neck and tangled in her hair. Luckily, I had a pair of scissors in my hand and I cut it off of her neck in a matter of seconds! They went in the garbage the next minute but I didn't realize that this was a common problem. I just assumed it was a freak accident. She wasn't hurt and not really even scared because it was so loose on her but it could have been much more traumatic. I'm so sorry that your daughter has been hurt by this.

By Schreff03 on Friday, July 2, 2004 - 08:14 am:

Tink, It is not to late to file your report about what happened with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. A mother got in touch with us a year after her son had 3 eye surguries and she was able to file a complaint. The more complaints that the CPSC gets, the easier it will be to prove that this toy needs to be off the market. I would also love to be able to add your story to the website. If you would like to have it added, you can send it to us throught the website. There is a link on the left side of the website that says "Comments, Questions or your Water Yo-Yo stories...Contact Us!" Your story is basicly the same as mine. My daughter had it wrap around her neck within 4 hours and my husband was right there. He was able to rip it off her neck, but her face was turning blue by the time he got it off. I am very glad that you child is also ok!!!