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Protect Children From Choking Hazards
Final signature count: 5,907
5,907 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: The Autism Site
Stop preventable injury and death! Support button battery safety legislation and save children's lives!
Trista Hamsmith lost her daughter, Reese, when she swallowed a button battery in October 20201.
Reese endured many surgeries and scopes and was intubated under sedation for 40 days. She was just 18 years old when she lost her life on December 17, 20202.
“Every day we are reminded of just how much our family lost - through countless tears when we find something of Reese’s when least expected and sleepless nights seeing her face in our dreams,” Hamsmith said2. “The greatest cost of all, though, is missing the brightest light in our lives and the immense pain that no family should have to endure.”
According to the National Capital Poison Center, there were 4000 button battery ingestions reported in the U.S. in 20203.
It is estimated that only 11% of all cases are reported, meaning this is happening to 36,000 children annually4.
These tragedies can be prevented.
Australia recently passed National standards related to button battery safety in consumer products5.
The US should have the same mandatory safe industry standards.
We need standards to protect all of our children from injury and death related to button cell battery ingestion. Reese’s Law (H.R. 53136 and S.32787) will call for national requirements related to consumer products with button batteries, specifically:
- Button cell battery compartments of all consumer products to be secured, to the greatest extent practicable, in a manner that reduces access to button cell batteries by children that are 3 years of age or younger.
- Warning labels that clearly identify the hazard of ingestion, instructs consumers to keep new and used batteries out of the reach of children and to seek immediate medical attention if a battery is ingested on all consumer products with button batteries and on the batteries themselves.
What happened to Reese can be prevented from happening to others. Sign the petition and help us change the standards to keep all children safe from the dangers of button battery ingestion.
