She returned it to the store straight away
A mum said she had to return a toy her dad bought for her son after what happened when he used it. Megan McMahon’s dad, Bernard, had bought her son The Ultimate Fart Blaster from Smyths store in St Helens.
Megan’s son, Theo, who is four, had been asking for the toy after seeing it advertised on TV. The toy, which is advertised for children aged three and above, is described on Smyths’ website as being able to ‘hit nearly all the senses – see it, smell it, feel it and hear it’.
When Theo began to play with it however, it produced so much ‘fog’ it caused the whole family, including Megan’s two-year-old, to “cough [their] guts up”. The mum-of-two told the ECHO: “As soon as he pressed the button all this smoke started coming out, like smoke rings.
“The more he kept pressing it, the more the smoke filled the room. It kind of hangs in the air, it’s like a really thick fog. He started to cough, and even we were coughing. We were like, ‘flipping heck, that’s strong!'”
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The small bottles that come with the £30 toy are described as ‘fart scent vials’. There are two scents – ‘fart’ and ‘banana’. After the scent vials ran out, Megan began to search for alternatives to refill the toy. Upon further research, however, she discovered the ingredient in the fluid bottles was vegetable glycerine – an ingredient commonly used in both e-cigarette and vape products.
Megan, from Skelmersdale, said: “It all made sense. I don’t vape, none of us do, but I can gather that’s what vaping is like. It’s really bad, especially for little kids. It should not be advertised for their age.” When they returned to Smyths in St Helens to complain about the toy, they claim they received a full refund. Smyths has been approached by the Liverpool ECHO for comment.
Megan added: “I’m annoyed to be honest. We don’t smoke ourselves and if we’re around anyone smoking we just pull the kids away. To not be warned on the box is kind of annoying. Surely if you’re selling things to kids you’ve got to make it clear on the box.”
A spokesperson for the supplier of the toy, Moose Toys, said: “Keeping kids safe is our top priority. Every one of our toys is designed, manufactured, and tested to make sure that we keep our consumers safe. We have a dedicated team of quality assurance specialists who work closely with our designers and engineers to ensure product safety.
“Every toy, including the Despicable Me 4 Fart Blaster, goes through a rigorous process of evaluation and qualification, and we obtain passing test reports from accredited, third-party labs who test our products to global toy safety standards including those for the Europe and the UK (EN71), USA (ASTM F963), Canada (SOR 2011/17), and Australia (AS/NZS ISO 8124).”
