Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Grants Zen Magnets' Motion for Stay of Ban on High-Powered Magnets
CPSC magnet sphere ban only lasted 17 hours
DENVER, April 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by Zen Magnets:
The Consumer Product Safety Commission's ban on small sets of high-powered magnets - such as Zen Magnets and Buckyballs - was dismantled the same day it became effective. "The enforcement and effect of the Safety Standard for Magnet Sets is temporarily stayed until further order of the court." On April 1st, 2015, at 4:50 pm MST, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals granted Zen Magnets LLC a Motion for Stay, which temporarily nullified the nationwide magnet ban. (1)
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150403/196558
The concern with magnet spheres (e.g, Buckyballs, Zen Magnets, Neoballs) is that they are an ingestion hazard to children. The powerful magnet balls, when ingested, can clamp intestinal tissue together and necessitate surgery for removal. The CPSC asserts that the ingestion hazard is so severe, and the magnets so attractive to children, that no amount of warnings or adult sales restrictions will make them safe for American consumers. In 2013, Public Policy Polling (2) showed that 88% of registered voters disagree that high powered magnets - used for art and education - should be forbidden from purchase at any age in the United States.
Historically, stays of this sort are very rarely granted, since courts generally tend to maintain the effect of safety standards while they are being contested. Also uncommon was how quickly the stay was granted; the Tenth Circuit granted the stay only three hours after Zen submitted the 20-page motion requesting the stay. The temporary but indefinite ruling represents the first judgment on this matter outside of the CPSC's walls, which affects US consumers. "While we cannot speculate what the Court might be considering, if the Court thought we had a losing argument it seems unlikely that it would have granted the stay," said Zen Magnets in a recent statement on their website, ZenMagnets.com.
Despite the suspended ban, it is still not possible to purchase Zen Magnets from ZenMagnets.com or otherwise, due to supply issues relating to the uncertainty of the ban. "The continued threat of a ban is itself an impediment to business; magnet sphere companies in the US are necessarily cautious about purchasing large quantities of magnets which take months to manufacture." Although the Buckyballs company has already dissolved, Neoballs.com and other Chinese websites continue to sell magnet spheres.
Similar to the scientific criticism of the CPSC's proposed ban on phalates, Zen has claimed that magnet spheres were being banned based on injuries besides the subject product. In "The Epidemiology Elephant," a viral video (3) that gained 200,000 views within 24 hours, Zen asserted that the CPSC's epidemiology was fundamentally flawed. As with phalates, the CPSC did so based on a cumulative risk assessment that can no longer be true in the wake of enforcement actions that have already occurred. (4)
As of April 3, 2015, neither the CPSC website nor the Federal Register accurately reflect that the magnet ban is currently nullified.
Shihan Qu, Zen Magnets LLC
303-351-1936
(1) http://zenmagnets.com/images/Order Granting Stay temporarily Ap 1 2015.pdf
(2) http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/NationalSurveyResults.pdf
(3) www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLwR81UyceE
SOURCE Zen Magnets
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