TRADING standards bosses are urging parents to take care when buying ‘magnetic putty’ toys featuring iron filings.

Officers made a test purchase of two of these toys from a market trader in Oxfordshire after being tipped off by a worried resident.

Tests showed the small, button-shaped magnet included with the toy could be easily swallowed.

And one magnet had 21 times the magnetic force levels allowed and the other 17 times over. Senior enforcement officer Mark Weller said ‘extreme caution’ should be exercised.