By Aimalohi Ehimiaghe

Doctors have warned that “button batteries” can maim and kill. Pop one into your mouth and swallow—as thousands of children do annually— and they can quickly cause devastating injuries.

To this end, a growing number of medical associations is pushing for battery manufacturers to head off the threat by making a new product: A button or “coin cell” battery that will not lead to catastrophic injuries when swallowed.

According to a study published in the journal ‘Pediatrics,’ as button batteries have proliferated in common items, the rate of paediatric emergency visits for battery-related injuries has more than doubled in recent decades.

“The only real solution to the battery problem is to make he battery itself safer,” said Dr. Toby Litovitz, founder of the National Capital Poison Centre. When button batteries are lodged in the body, their electrical current breaks down water, driving up alkalinity to dangerous levels akin to bleach.

Bodily tissues can begin to liquefy. Physicians say serious injury can happen within two hours, sometimes before a parent has even realised that a battery was swallowed.