If your children have the popular NeeDoh cubes, you will want to remind them not to microwave the squishy toys despite what they see online.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it has had about half a dozen reports of children and teens heating up the toys and getting burns when the cube burst, sending them for emergency medical treatment, The New York Times reported.
The toys are similar to a stress ball that, according to Schylling, the company that produces the NeeDoh, is “gratifying, super soft, super stretchy dough filled groovy glob.”
A 9-year-old boy from Illinois microwaved the toy before going to school after a friend suggested it. The cube exploded, splashing the hot goo onto the child’s face and hands.
The boy ended up having second-degree burns and had to be transferred to a burn center, the Times reported.
The trend isn’t new, however, as Fox News reported that 13-year-old Eli Blackmon now says he was 11 when he first found out about microwaving NeeDohs to soften them.
Still, he tried microwaving it.
“I thought it was harmless because an adult tried it and nothing happened,” Blackmon told Fox News. “When I took it out, my older sister held it for a few minutes, then I was playing with it. As soon as I squeezed it, it burst and the hot gel exploded onto my neck, chest and hands.”
He suffered third-degree burns from the gel.
Pediatric surgeon Dr. Duane Duke explained that the plastic used on the NeeDohs cannot withstand heat, KYW reported.
“The burn is a chemical burn, because these things contain a chemical substance that has some sugars in it that heats up to quite a high temperature and can cause a burn very quickly,” Duke explained.
Schylling president Paul Weingard said the company is working with TikTok to “remove influential content containing NeeDoh product misuse,” The New York Times reported.