I had to laugh at the story of some local kid swallowing 30 of those beads. Like one or two I could see swallowing on accident as a kid, but 30 leads me to these two conclusions:
1) the kid wasnt old enough to know it wasnt candy, and therefor the parents shouldnt have been leaving him alone
2) the parents left him alone
3) the kids heros were the Hungry Hungry Hippos