The Dangers of Toy Slime (It Can Cause Cramping and Vomiting)

The Dangers of Toy Slime (It Can Cause Cramping and Vomiting)

From tummy and colon trouble to fertility worries, it’s bad news for this popular product.

Many parents know there’s nothing like handing over a ball of slime to the kids for some play. It’s gooey-good fun.

What few may be aware of though, is what it contains.

If you’ve made your own slime at home, you’ve got a good idea of what’s in it. Or, exact knowledge, to be precise. But if you purchased your goo off the shelf at the local store or purchase it on Amazon, you may be unaware that it could contain high levels of the chemical boron.

Why is this a problem? Boron is safe for consumers, in certain amounts. But when found in excess, it can cause short-term eye irritation, diarrhea, cramps and vomiting, and over the long term it could cause damage to fertility, and damage to unborn babies in expectant women.

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Boron is used in colorful toy slime to make it sticky and thick, and is sometimes recommended for use in homemade versions of slime.

According to the Daily Mail online, researchers found some dire results when testing slime marketed for kids online. Some products were found to contain more than 4 times the recommended amount of boron.

Alarmingly, in some cases, 8 out of 11 types of toy slime tested presented amounts of the chemical that were over the recommended limit.

Reports indicate that Amazon has pulled all problematic toy slime products from its site. Nonetheless, buyer beware. Your best bet could be to make the stuff yourself at home with other natural ingredients, and avoid the whole fiasco altogether.

Photo credits: Bigstock.com

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