They look harmless enough.
Toy dive sticks represent every color of the rainbow. Some are shaped like fish, sharks, divers, anything you can imagine. Others display numbers to make pool games more fun and competitive.
But toy dive sticks were banned by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1999 after at least seven children were injured seriously.
CPSC officials fear the old dive sticks are still lurking in America's swimming pools.
"The injuries to children were horrible that were caused by the old dive sticks," said Scott Wolfson, spokesman for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. "We want children and families to be able to enjoy their time in the pool. If you are to go onto the Internet, a garage sale, a yard sale, be weary of those pool toys that might actually be banned dive sticks."
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The "old" dive sticks Wolfson speaks of were made of sturdy, rigid plastic and usually had caps on both ends. Most were weighted and stood perfectly upright in the water, so a child could easily retrieve them.
When the old dive sticks were played with in deep water, no injuries occurred. The problems started when children played with the dive sticks in shallow water.
In the late 1990s, the CPSC documented seven incidents where children were severely injured by diving sticks in shallow water. Three of the children suffered rectal impalements; three others suffered vaginal impalements. The seventh child needed sutures to close a laceration near her eye, which she cut on a toy dive stick shaped like a shark.
"If you come across an auction, a seller, a banned dive stick, please tell us right away," Wolfson said. "We need information - when and where were they being sold? We're able to take very quick action."
The Commission's toll-free hotline is 1-800-638-2772.
Toy manufacturers have dramatically changed the design of dive sticks. Today, most of the dive sticks you will find in stores are safe, Wolfson said.
Instead of being constructed of rigid plastic, many dive sticks are now soft and flexible. Other dive sticks are made in the shape of hoops - they still stand up straight due to a weight in the bottom, but the shape prevents a child from being impaled.
The toy dive sticks on the market today are not the ones Wolfson and other CPSC officials are worried about - they are concerned about the old sticks still floating around, which consumers should destroy.
Auction sites such as eBay have been cooperative in the effort to stop the sales of the old toy dive sticks, Wolfson said.
"We have a relationship with eBay, certain key words they will look for. Many of those key words are banned products. They can shut (those auctions) down," Wolfson said.
The CPSC "has investigators on the Internet and on the ground," he added.
But the best investigator is a watchful parent.
Some bad experiences
July 22, 1990 - A 7-year-old girl was playing with her cousins in an above-ground swimming pool. She jumped up and out of the water, tucked her knees to do a "cannon ball" jump and re-entered the water. The girl entered the water buttocks-first and rapidly descended to the bottom of the pool, where her buttocks came in contact with an upright, cylindrical toy dive stick. The toy dive stick caused lacerations around the victim's rectum. No stitches were required, and the girl has fully recovered.
July 22, 1993 - An 8-year-old girl was sitting on the edge of her family's spa with her feet in the water. She used her arms to push off the edge and sit on a lower step of the spa, without seeing the vertical-standing, cylindrical toy dive stick on the same lower step. The toy dive stick slipped past the girl's swimming suit and penetrated her vagina. Immediate medical attention was sought, and surgery was performed to repair multiple internal vaginal lacerations. Additional surgery was necessary five months later. No recovery records are available.
July 24, 1995 - A 9-year-old girl jumped into a swimming pool and landed on a toy dive stick, causing deep vaginal lacerations.
Aug. 3, 1997 - A 6-year-old girl jumped into her inflatable wading pool. The girl's buttocks area landed on top of the vertical-standing, cylindrical toy dive stick. The product and the girl's swimming suit were projected into her rectum. The girl was admitted to a children's hospital to repair perineal and external sphincter lacerations. The girl has recovered from the incident, but will be examined periodically.
June 10, 1998 - An 8-year-old girl was playing with her brother in a wading pool. She fell backward in the pool, landing on the cylindrical toy dive stick that was standing upright on the bottom of the pool. The toy dive stick penetrated her vagina. A physician surgically repaired the laceration with both internal and external sutures. The girl has recovered.
June 28, 1998 - A 7-year-old boy and his brother had been playing with the cylindrical toy dive sticks prior to the incident. The victim ran and jumped buttocks-first into a wading pool. He impaled himself via the rectum on a toy dive stick that was standing upright in the water. Surgery was performed to repair a laceration of the rectum, and a temporary colostomy was performed to repair the perforated intestine. The victim healed, but continues to complain of abdominal pain.
Aug. 13, 1998 - A 6-year-old girl and three other children were in a small wading pool playing with toy dive sticks that were shaped like sharks. The girl stuck her face into the pool to retrieve the toy dive stick and hit her face on the toy. She received a laceration below her left eye, which required sutures to close. The victim has recovered.
