A 13-year-old boy in New Zealand is recovering after doctors removed almost 100 tiny but powerful magnets from his intestines. He had bought them from Temu, a popular shopping app. The shocking part is that these magnets have been banned in New Zealand for more than ten years because they are extremely dangerous for children.
The boy suffered for four days with terrible stomach pain before being rushed to Tauranga Hospital. Doctors there found that he had swallowed between 80 to 100 small neodymium magnets about a week earlier. These magnets are not like the ones you stick on your fridge. They are incredibly strong and can pull toward each other even through layers of flesh.
When doctors took an X-ray, they saw something horrifying. The magnets had clumped together in four long lines inside his intestines. The force between them pulled parts of his intestines together, cutting off blood flow and killing tissue in several spots. This caused what doctors called “necrosis,” which means parts of his bowel started to die.
Surgeons had to remove the damaged sections of his intestines to save his life and take out all the magnets. It was a major and complicated surgery. The boy spent eight days in the hospital recovering, and though he is now home, he could still face long-term health issues like pain, hernias, or bowel blockages in the future.
These kinds of magnets have been banned since 2013 for a reason. They have caused many accidents involving children around the world. Yet somehow, they were still being sold on Temu, a platform that has already faced criticism in other countries for not properly checking dangerous or illegal products sold by third-party sellers.
Many people are now questioning how a company as big as Temu could allow something so risky to be sold so easily. The case has raised serious concerns about online shopping safety and product checks.
Temu has responded, saying they are sorry to hear about the boy’s surgery and that they have started an internal review to understand what went wrong. But for many people, that apology feels far too small after what this child went through.
