fidget spinners are the in thing right now with children – and some adults too – but reports in the media have spoken of the hand-held spinning tops as being dangerous for kids, with several stories of children choking on the toys. The risk of choking is one of the several reasons why a huge batch of the gadgets is about to be destroyed in Germany.

Tons of fidget spinners to be destroyed in Germany

As noted by The Local, the toys are popular worldwide and Germany is no exception, with shopkeepers struggling to keep up with the demand. Their popularity has led to huge quantities of the popular fidget spinners arriving in recent months at Frankfurt airport, where customs officials have inspected at least 35 tons of the toys and classified them as unsafe.

The popular gadgets are now heading for destruction, probably to the relief of many parents of small children.

Are the gadgets a benefit or a distraction?

For anyone still unaware of the gadget, a fidget spinner is a hand-held spinning toy which is balanced on the fingers and then spun around. Some of the wheels in the gadgets keep spinning for several minutes each time and some have lights to make it more interesting. According to the manufacturers, the gadgets allegedly help children alleviate the symptoms of ADHD, hyperactivity, and autism, but not all experts agree.

Chinese-made fidget spinners heading for destruction

With the latest batch arriving in Germany, customs officials found that the LED lights on the fidget spinners can easily come unhinged, leading to the danger of small children swallowing them and choking.

It turns out the batch in question is part of several large import shipments coming from China.

Besides the dangers of the lights, Christine Straß of the Frankfurt-am-Main Central Customs Office also said in a press release that the product has no CE mark, which is essential for the protection of purchasers. There was also no information about the Chinese manufacturer anywhere on either the product itself or its packaging.

Now the whole batch of spinning gadgets is about to be destroyed. The news has led to quite the uproar on Twitter, with many berating Germany for its decision to destroy the toys and others cheering the customs officials on.

One Twitter user mentioned "fidget spinner Gestapo" while another was probably cheering while saying people should rejoice, as Germany saves us from the "Fidget Spinner Plague."

As reported by the San Diego Tribune, while the kids might love the popular toys, teachers and parents have already noted the hypnotic effects of the small device and are finding them disruptive both in classrooms and at home. Some U.S. schools have reportedly even banned fidget spinners from their classrooms due to their distracting qualities.

Employers get upset to find their workers sitting at their desks playing instead of earning their salaries.

Health dangers of fidget spinners

However, the worst aspect is the many reports of children choking on small parts of the toys or suffering other injuries. The Daily Mail reported today on two children who had to be hospitalized because of their spinning toys. In the case of a young boy from Sydney, Australia, when the side of the gadget cracked, a disk flew off his toy and into his mouth. The child was then given two days to pass the foreign object naturally or would face an operation to remove it. He had only had the toy for two days when it happened and the article doesn't mention whether he ended up in surgery.

However a 15-year-old girl from Queensland, Australia was facing possible amputation after her finger got stuck in her spinning gadget. The girl told the local media that the toy wouldn’t move at all and she couldn’t get it off her finger, which was turning all kinds of different shades. As soon as she reached the emergency room, doctors were talking about amputation, but she luckily ended up being put on morphine, while doctors used a drill to get the gadget off her finger.
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