A hot-button issue at ACCC

UNSAFE toys and other products containing button batteries are still on sale in Australia, despite hundreds of children ending up in hospital.

Efforts to reduce the hazards associated with buttonbattery products have not been effective enough, the consumer watchdog says.

Two children have died in Australia in six years after swallowing a button battery and hundreds have ended up in emergency departments.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has now set up a taskforce to investigate ways to reduce the risk to children, which may include regulation.