Hey everyone, it’s Whatever Wednesdays and this should be a short post about “Button Batteries Again”.

Stock Photo from: Pexels

Button Batteries Again?

Yea.

I’ve talked about it before, but button batteries are a pretty severe hazard. The TL;DR is that kids find them and eat them and these button batteries. Then these button batteries can conduct current in the gastrointestinal tract which can lead to significant injury, even perforation. This may require extensive surgery to fix if there is perforation or tracheoesophageal fistula. As such, whenever I use button batteries I make note to never lose them and when I dispose of them, I put them in a ziploc bag to prevent little hands from getting them. Additionally, just about all toys that use them now also utilize screws for the battery compartment. They’re secured for a reason, so please use them!

However, today I found myself needing more button batteries because my tire pressure was low. I went to go find my digital tire pressure gauge and of course, the batteries in the gauge are dead so I had to run out and buy new CR2032s.

So I went down to the store to buy some and noticed something:

The packaging is different now (at least for Duracell).

There are lots of warnings about not letting little kids near the batteries. Additionally, the packaging is double sealed, meaning both side of the batteries are sealed in plastic. The norm is just one side is sealed in plastic and you pop out the batteries from the cardboard side. These Duracell CR2032s were plastic sealed on both sides making them virtually impossible to get out of the package without scissors. As such, it’s pretty much impossible for little kids to get them out of the packaging by themselves.

More so than that, after you get it out, the bottom side of the battery has a sticker covering it, which has to be removed before use. I imagine this is to help prevent current from passing through it if somehow a child was to swallow it after it was taken out of the package. I’m not sure if this will outright prevent current conduction, but it may buy some more time to diagnose and remove the battery before serious injury occurs.

Overall, I think this is a good change and I applaud it.

That said, I still think you should exercise precautions and replace these kinds of batteries away from your small children. Additionally, try to dispose of them in some kind of sealed bag, like a ziplock bag or something. I do realize this may seem a little wasteful. However, eating these batteries is potentially life-threatening and I think it warrants this extra precaution.

Just so you know, I didn’t have a scissors with me and it took me a good 10 minutes to get it the batteries out the packaging with the screwdriver I brought with me. The plan was to get the batteries, replace them in the digital tire pressure gauge and go to the gas station. Nowhere in my plan was the need for scissors.

TL;DR

Button batteries are still dangerous.

However, packaging seems to be getting better… which is good.

That said, please still exercise proper precautions when changing them.

-Sensei

Agree? Disagree? Questions, Comments and Suggestions are welcome.

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