Plea for ‘child-friendly’ button cell battery: every year 2,000 children worldwide die after ingestion | Science & Planet

Two centimeters in diameter, smooth and shiny: the well-known button cell battery is usually found in your car key, kitchen scale and also in sound books, greeting cards and many toys. And unfortunately: toddlers regularly swallow the small shiny discs. Physician-pulmonary surgeon Tjark Ebels of the University Hospital of Groningen (UMCG) and ENT specialist Freek Dikkers regularly see children on the operating table who have swallowed a button cell battery. “These are operations in which we try to save what can be saved,” says Dikkers. “My grandson is four years old and that is an extra motivation for me to make myself strong for this.”

Every year, around 2,000 children worldwide die after swallowing a button cell battery. To counter this, the Dutch doctors have been researching the development of a child-friendly button cell battery in recent years, together with Professor Marnix Wagemaker and research technician Frans Ooms from Delft University of Technology. Their work has now resulted in a joint patent application from TU Delft, the University of Groningen and the UMCG. The team developed a ‘fused button cell battery’ that automatically cuts the battery’s power within minutes of taking it.

“When a button cell battery is swallowed, the electrical charge generated by the battery will immediately begin dissolving tissue. As a result, a child sustains permanent damage or dies, in the worst case,” says heart-lung surgeon Ebels. “A lot of suffering is prevented by this power cut. We are now focusing on the actual development of the battery, so that the child-friendly variant will become the new standard.”

The doctors saw that the danger often comes from used batteries, which parents deliberately collect to take to a recycling point. “Don’t leave empty batteries lying around, but take them away immediately or collect them somewhere your child really can’t reach,” is the advice.

And if it does happen that your child swallows a battery, take your child to the hospital immediately. “If you are there in time, we can help your child properly and limit the damage.” The Poison Control Center still recommends that you take the packaging of the battery or the device it came in with you if possible. This helps doctors determine which type it is and what its chemical composition is.