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Button batter manufacturers have even changed their packaging, and added bitter taste and unmistakable blue dye to their batteries so ingestion can be avoided and detected.
This overstates what manufacturers have done. U.S. rules require child-resistant packaging and warnings, but bitter coatings and blue-dye features are optional, brand-specific features—not a general industry-wide change.
Full reasoning
This sentence treats child-resistant packaging, bitter coatings, and blue dye as if they were all broad changes made by button-battery manufacturers generally. The official U.S. safety rules do not say that.
According to the CPSC's Reese's Law FAQ, the mandatory requirements are about packaging, battery-compartment security, and warning labels. The FAQ describes requirements such as packaging that meets child-resistant standards, secure battery compartments, and warning labels on products and packaging. It does not say manufacturers must add bitterants or blue dye to batteries.
The manufacturer pages show these features are brand/product specific:
- Duracell says its safety feature is a double-sided bitter coating on certain lithium coin batteries (2032, 2025, and 2016) plus child-secure packaging. Duracell's page does not describe an industry-wide blue-dye change.
- Energizer markets blue dye as part of its own Shield Technology, calling it “the ONLY coin lithium cell with this second line of defense.” That wording directly contradicts the article's suggestion that manufacturers in general have added this feature.
So the packaging part is broadly true, but the claim that button-battery manufacturers generally added both bitter taste and unmistakable blue dye overstates the reality. Those extra features are not universal requirements or universal manufacturer practices.
3 sources
- Button Cell and Coin Battery FAQs | CPSC.gov
CPSC says Reese’s Law requires packaging that meets child-resistant standards, secure battery compartments, and warning labels. The FAQ describes packaging and labeling requirements, but does not require bitter coatings or blue dye on batteries.
- Lithium Coin Battery Child Safety | Duracell
Duracell says its latest innovation is a double-sided bitter coating on lithium coin batteries sizes 2032, 2025 and 2016, along with child-secure packaging.
- Speciality - Energizer OEM
Energizer describes Shield Technology as: “Non-Toxic Bitter Coating” and “Color Alert Technology: The ONLY coin lithium cell with this second line of defense ... visible blue dye in mouth.”