Reports about squishy toys to America’s Poison Centers have topped 11,500 since 2024, with more than half arriving in the first six months of 2026, according to Business Insider. Most were minor, with no symptoms logged in 85% of exposures and 94% handled outside a hospital. US rules require no independent testing unless a toy is marketed to children under 13, and manufacturers set that age grade themselves, so squishies can be sold as all-ages stress balls or desk toys instead. Enforcement has mostly meant interception, with the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Customs stopping 96 shipments and more than 640,000 items this year. Shein pulled a squishy after a four-year-old was hurt and wouldn’t say what was in it.
