I haven’t seen anything here about it. Perhaps it’s been discussed and I’ve missed it. If so, could somebody point me to the discussion?
This packaging is the new law of the land. So far as I can tell, one youngster swallowed a HA battery and died. (Do I have this right, or have there been others? Don’t know.)
I buy batteries from Costco, the rotary dispenser. The new batteries come in a box. The “look” of the packaging is similar to the previous. But getting the batteries out is a horse of a different color. There are radial cutting lines. But the tip of our scissors would not cut the stiff cardboard. So we bought new scissors. Ditto.
The only way that I’ve found to separate the batteries from the packaging is to cut in a circular pattern around the batteries, then try to pry the top and bottom of the packing apart. Then I have 8 batteries in hand. You can’t let these batteries touch each other, even with the adhesive insulators intact, or they will get drained. So far, I’ve loaded the loose batteries into a couple of empty, old packages that I happened to have kept.
Is all of this because of the tragic death of one youngster? And how does a person die when swallowing a tiny, sealed device with smooth edges that should pass through the gut in a day? And why is there a regulation that affects millions of seniors with arthritic hands, and no decent packaging solution that serves everybody’s interests (think child-proof medicine bottles as a decent solution)?
What am I missing? I’m all for safety of children, but I just am not up to speed on what’s happened here. Could somebody help me understand?
