THE DANGERS OF PARTY BALLOONS
We recently celebrated my daughter’s two-year birthday and, of course, decorated the house with balloons. No children’s birthday party is complete without balloons and although they are very popular with kids, they can also be extremely dangerous. Which is why I wanted to do a post on the potential dangers of balloons:
CHOKING HAZARD
Children can choke on balloons if they breathe them in whilst trying to blow them up. This happens when a child takes in a deep breath before inflating the balloon and accidently sucks the balloon back into his or her mouth. A child can also choke if they swallow deflated balloons or pieces of popped balloons they may chew on. If a balloon pops in a child’s face the child can also inhale the balloon pieces as they fly through the air.
Latex is a dangerous material to choke on as it can fit tightly in the throat and cause a complete airway obstruction very quickly. Whilst foil balloons are usually blown up with helium they can also become a choking hazard if deflated balloons or broken pieces are swallowed. There was a widely reported incident in 2016, where a three-year-old suffocated after putting the foil balloon over her head.
BURSTING HAZARD
Balloons can pop without warning. They can pop if children play with them roughly or if little children chew on them. Poor quality balloons can also pop more easily even if they aren’t being rough-handled. Children can also trip over balloon strings and fall onto the balloons popping them. If balloons pop near a child’s face they can cause serious damage to the eyes as well as cuts to the face.
STRANGULATION HAZARD
This may be an overlooked hazard. The colourful strings and ribbons that are tied to balloons can become a strangulation hazard as children become tangled.
ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND
- Keep uninflated balloons away from children
- Do not let children blow up balloons
- Inflated balloons should be kept out of reach of children
- Children should never play with inflated balloons
- Always supervise children when inflated balloons are around
- Throw away deflated and popped balloons immediately
- Throw away balloon strings immediately when balloons deflate and pop
In the United States the Child Safety Protection Act requires a warning to be placed on any latex balloon or toy containing a latex balloon. This warning states that children under eight years of age are at risk of choking or suffocating on uninflated or broken balloons. Similarly, in the EU, children under the age of eight are actually legally banned from blowing up balloons without adult supervision.
However, children as old as 10 years have been found, on autopsy, to have suffocated from a balloon, which makes it difficult to define what age is actually safe for kids to handle balloons.
I think its important to stress to your kids that party balloons are not toys. They are purely for decoration and should always be properly secured and disposed of after use.
RESOURCES
CPSC (2012) CPSC Warns Consumers of Suffocation Danger Associated with Children’s Balloons. [online] Available from: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/5087.pdf [Accessed 6 September 2018].
Francis, P.J. & Chisholm, I. H. (1998) Ocular trauma from party balloons. British Journal of Opthalmology, [online] 82 (2). Available from: https://bjo.bmj.com/content/82/2/203.1 [Accessed 6 September 2018].
Meel, B.L (1998) An Accidental Suffocation by a Rubber Balloon. Medicine, Science and the Law, [online] 38 (1), pp. 81-82. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/002580249803800113 [Accessed 6 September 2018].
