Kids’ safety buttoned up
An ‘‘a-ha moment’’ for a Wellington researcher several years ago has resulted in a first-of-its-kind product that could save thousands of young lives around the globe.
Jeongbin Ok, a senior lecturer at Victoria University’s School of Design, has created a coating for button batteries which, if placed in the mouth or swallowed by a child, leaches food-safe blue dye, allowing for quick detection by a caregiver.
The idea for the technology came after Ok noticed a young boy on the street with his mouth stained red, after eating some sort of food.
The observation quickly set the wheels in motion for the creation of the battery coating, with a primary focus on solving a worldwide problem.
‘‘Battery ingestion is a really serious issue . . . once the battery is placed, and then swallowed, it’s very likely to become lodged in the oesophagus [where] it starts to burn the surrounding tissue and eventually can cause permanent injuries or sometimes death.’’
At Auckland’s Starship children’s hospital, battery ingestion causes up to 20 hospitalisations every year.
Button batteries are highly corrosive and can cause serious tissue damage and even fatalities within two hours of ingestion.
However, Ok said there were typically no outward signs that a child had swallowed one until it was too late. His food colouringbased coating seeks to remedy that, and it’s a product that’s gaining attention globally.
Along with Viclink, the university’s commercialisation office, Ok is getting set to take the invention to the next level by partnering with global battery manufacturers. The product has recently been patented in the United States, European Union and Japan, with more countries likely.
‘‘I hope to see mass production of this coating and to see it become an industry standard,’’ Ok said.
‘‘It has always been my dream to help save lives, and I hope this coating can play a part in doing so by creating an invention that has global implications for the safety of children.’’
The coating can be applied during the manufacturing process or applied to existing batteries using a pen applicator.