What's in those splat balls

December 25, 2021 1:17 PM

I know that some of you have far better research skills than I do. Can you help me figure out what's in those "splat" balls (examples inside)? One broke all over my kids and a bunch of stuff, and I'm seeing some mixed results on Google, so I'm not sure how much to clean everything and everyone.

The ball we had was a pink pig with red dots by its nose, similar to theseand these.

There's some story online about eye injury from 2015 and another web link that says both that it's safe and that it has various dangerous chemicals in it (a site that doesn't seem very reputable), and then I'm also finding some other vague references to meeting safety standards.

It broke in such a way that the liquid inside splattered all over some young kids and a bunch of stuff. I had them change but don't know if we're fine now that it's dried or if we have to clean everything somehow.

Thanks!

posted by slidell to Shopping (5 answers total)

My kid splattered one all over me and I freaked out (ffs these things are GROSS). Peeled right out of my clothes, clothes in washing machine, myself under the shower.

Splatter gel came out of clothes without a trace. Wiped it off the rug, too.

I hope you get a better answer soon, but I never thought to find out what the stuff actually is. It is essence of ewwwwww. We're all still healthy and fine.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:56 PM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

No one’s going to be able to tell you for sure what was your particular toy for sure, but I think it’s usually either plain water or basically diluted liquid soap.
posted by Kriesa at 5:06 PM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

You can search for safety reports on the particular brand you purchased at SaferProducts.gov (reports from U.S. residents, anyway). A search there and elsewhere didn't turn up any obvious description of the contents of the splat ball, but searching for "splat ball" on SaferProducts.gov turned up a handful of complaints about contact with eyes or mucous membranes causing pain. with one case including a response from the manufacturer/distributer asserting that the product contains no hazardous materials and has passed safety tests. However it's entirely possible that even if the contents are just liquid soap, a highly concentrated solution could be caustic. (Dr. Bronner's soap is a good example -- although perfectly safe when diluted, when straight out of the bottle it can cause chemical burns to the eye.)

In general, on any contact with an unknown chemical, thoroughly rinse with copious water, and in most cases that will protect you. A chemical used in a child's toy is unlikely to be toxic enough to need more than that, but you can always call a poison control center if you are still concerned -- that's what they're there for.
posted by biogeo at 5:23 PM on December 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

Ja-Ru looks to be an American-headquartered company, you can probably call them during business hours and ask.

I've found a safety sheet for another Ja-Ru product, but item #5303 (Splat Balls) seems a bit harder to find and swapping the item ID into this URL doesn't work.

Also note that this safety sheet says that the ingredients are a "trade secret", which is pretty common in the toy biz. So you won't get much out of these sheets other than "yeah this shouldn't blind you and it complies with these laws etc and it's safe to sell in the USA/EA/wherever"

So TLDR, call them.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:58 PM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks! This was all helpful, if inconclusive given the variation between brands. We ultimately split the difference and cleaned up to a medium extent. Thanks!
posted by slidell at 11:48 PM on December 26, 2021