Squishy toy company issues statement after girl was left in coma when she copied online trend
A sensory toy company was forced to issue an official response after one of its products left a seven-year-old child with life-changing burns.
Missouri schoolgirl Scarlett Selby had been 'copying a TikTok video' she'd seen in October last year, when she placed a NeeDoh Nice cube into the freezer overnight, and then into the microwave.
She'd hoped the changes in temperature would make the squishy toy more malleable, after seeing other social media users and YouTube content creators doing the same thing. Seconds after removing it from the microwave, however, and the toy exploded.
The burning hot gel-like substance inside the popular toy showered Selby's face and chest, triggering the child to release what her horrified father described as a 'blood-curdling scream'.
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"My first thought was to try and wipe it off her," Josh Selby previously told press.
"Whenever I touched her, my hand stuck to her. It was really thick and sticky."
After the child was rushed to the nearest emergency room, her mother, Amanda Blakenship, later added: "She was still screaming when we got to the hospital and it's a good 30-minute drive from where we live.
"It was terrible how scared she was and how much that hurt her."
At the facility, Selby was placed into a medically-induced coma, with doctors fearing that the burns to her mouth would cause her airways to swell.
In the months following the terrifying incident, the couple have urged all other parents to throw out their NeeDoh cubes, which they believe should 'not be sold' or 'marketed the way it is'.
"If something can explode like that, it definitely shouldn't be frozen," Josh told press.
NeeDoh Nice cube's parent company, Schylling, later responded to the incident, after Selby's devastating story was picked up by global news outlets earlier this year.
"Ensuring the safety of our consumers is fundamental for Schylling," the children's entertainment firm told FOX5.
"We were disappointed to see there had been a trend on social media demonstrating product misuse of our NeeDoh® brand."
The company went on to emphasise: "Misusing a NeeDoh product by microwaving, heating, or freezing is dangerous and may cause injury. Schylling has partnered with social media companies, such as TikTok, to remove influential content containing NeeDoh product misuse.
"Additionally, Schylling has added a product warning to NeeDoh packaging and our website to help combat product misuse. Schylling has made the Consumer Product Safety Commission aware and will continue to cooperate with them."
It is necessary to emphasise that Schylling products have a warning on their website that reads 'Do NOT heat, freeze, or microwave, may cause personal injury'.
TikTok also released a statement at the time, claiming the video-sharing app does not allow content that shows or promotes dangerous behaviour.
YouTube, meanwhile, added that it is a 13+ platform, which also has strict rules prohibiting content that features minors engaging in dangerous activities, including content that comes with a risk of physical injury, being that safety of users is an 'utmost priority'.
As for Selby, the child was placed onto a feeding tube for the duration of her week-long stay in hospital, due to severity of her lip burns.
Whilst medics decided against performing a skin graft, her mother still worries she may need one in the future as a result of her 'profound' scars.
Rhianna Benson