BELLEVUE - The Daher family of Bellevue feels lucky their son is alive.

Last week, 5-year-old Brayden was nearly strangled by a harmless-looking toy he got at a party. Now, Carolyn and Ghassan Daher want the toy, called a Yo-Yo Water Ball, banned.

These cheap ($1 to $5) and colorful water-filled balls are imported from China. It's easy to see why they’re a big hit with the kids. They don’t look dangerous, until you watch kids play with them. They’re attached to a cord that in some cases can stretch for more than 6 feet. That makes them perfect to use as a lasso.

Carolyn Daher told me what happen when Brayden rushed into the room with the cord of the Yo-Yo Ball wrapped around his neck three times!

“He was grabbing at his neck and he was purple, almost blue,” she says. “And his eyes were bloodshot and watering. I could barely get my fingers underneath the cord to pull it. And when you do that it pulls tighter and tighter and it was cutting his neck.”

Somehow Carolyn Daher was able to cut the cord – which her husband says isn’t easy to do – and get it off his neck.

“I think we are very lucky,” Ghassan Daher tells me.

Since 2003, parents across the country have called on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall or ban Yo-Yo Water Balls; something it will not do.

CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson tells me the Commission has concluded this product is “not a substantial product hazard, which would lead to a recall.” But he said, "we still see the danger" so the Commission has advised parents who have a Yo-Yo Ball to cut the cord.

I showed some Yo-Yo Balls to Dr. Brian Johnston, who heads the Department of Pediatrics at Harborview Medical Center. “It's clear that these are inherently dangerous,” he told me.

Dr. Johnston says the Yo-Yo Ball presents a strangulation hazard because the cord is much longer than 6-inches, which means it can wrap around someone’s neck.

“One of the scary things about this,” he said, “is the material is sticky.” So once it is wrapped around on top of itself, it’s hard to unwind.

Brayden Daher is just one of more than 400 kids across the country who've been hurt by Yo-Yo Balls. All were near misses. The Dahers would like to see the product banned before some child is killed.

Various consumer groups have called for the toy to be removed from the marketplace, including Consumer Reports, The Consumer Federation of America, and Underwriters Laboratories.

Yo-Yo Balls are already banned in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Australia. They are also banned in Illinois, where Lisa Lipin, a mom who almost lost her son to a Yo-Yo Ball, got the legislature to act. Lipin has also convinced several big retailers, including Toys R Us, Walgreen’s, and eBbay to stop selling the toys.

More Information:
Dangers of Water Yo Yo’s (Lisa Lipin’s Web site) -- www.dangersofwateryoyos.com

Yo-yo toys pose new concerns -- www.consumerreports.org

Safety alert: Beware of the yo-yo ball -- www.consumerreports.org

CPSC Announces Results of Investigation of Yo-Yo Water Ball Toys -- www.cpsc.gov