Safer Button Batteries Are Here. Why Are Deadly Ones Still Being Sold?<\/a><\/p>\nButton batteries are small and commonly found in key fobs, remote controls, toys, greeting cards, thermometers, and other household products. <\/p>\n
Consumer Reports investigative reporter Lauren Kirchner says the danger is unique because when a button battery comes into contact with saliva or other fluids in the body, it can trigger an electrical reaction that causes severe burns in as little as two hours.<\/p>\n
After her daughter\u2019s death, Hamsmith created a nonprofit in Reese\u2019s name and helped push for passage of Reese\u2019s Law in 2022. The law requires child-resistant packaging and more secure battery compartments.<\/p>\n
But a Consumer Reports investigation found that about one-third of button-battery products purchased online still had batteries that were dangerously accessible.<\/p>\n
Some manufacturers have added bitter coatings and blue dye to help discourage swallowing or make ingestion easier to spot. <\/p>\n
Energizer has also introduced a new battery called Ultimate Child Shield, which uses material designed to prevent the chemical reaction that can cause internal burns if the battery is swallowed.<\/p>\n
Consumer Reports says parents should check toys, remotes, key fobs, thermometers, light-up clothing, and other household products for button batteries. <\/p>\n
Keep loose batteries locked away, and make sure battery compartments are secure and child-resistant.<\/p>\n
If you think someone has swallowed a battery or put one in their ear or nose, treat it as a medical emergency, even if there are no symptoms. Call the Battery Ingestion Hotline at 800-498-8666 or Poison Help at 800-222-1222 immediately.<\/p>\n
All Consumer Reports material Copyright 2026 Consumer Reports, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Consumer Reports is a not-for-profit organization which accepts no advertising. It has no commercial relationship with any advertiser or sponsor on this site. For more information, visit consumer.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Button batteries power many everyday items around the house, but they can pose a serious danger to young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,367262,84960,5457,94641,451,2066,21035,3,148,2785,452,453],"class_list":["post-871673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-button-battery","tag-child-safety","tag-consumer","tag-consumer-reports","tag-headlines","tag-money","tag-morning-show","tag-news","tag-parenting","tag-safety","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}