A MOTHER is calling for greater restrictions on popular ‘glow sticks’ after an accident which left her daughter with chemical burns to her eyes.

Melanie Hill had to rush her four-year-old daughter Poppy to hospital after she suffered the burns last weekend when the glow-in-the-dark bracelet she was playing with broke, spraying her face with its contents.

Mrs Hill, of Kilmeston, near Alresford, said: “Our family were on the way home from a Christmas party in Winchester on Saturday evening. Poppy suddenly began screaming and screaming in pain.

“We pulled over and then we could see that she had been playing with the bracelet which had snapped and the glowing substance inside had shot out on to her face and into her eye. I had never heard of this before. I assumed the contents were nontoxic as they are aimed at children and I know they are sold in local major supermarkets.”

Mrs Hill and her husband David, both 39, took their daughter to Southampton General Hospital, where it was found that she had suffered burns to her cornea but no lasting damage.

The mother-of-four is now calling for greater age restrictions on the sticks to prevent more young children suffering the same fate.

She said: “The toys say three and above as an age limit but I think it should be older. I have written to trading standards about this but have yet to hear back.

“There needs to be something to say the stuff inside is toxic.

“After Poppy was treated we then sat down to sort out the paperwork and the nurse told me the glow sticks contain an acidic substance and they frequently saw children in the eye department with the same accident as Poppy’s. She said she wished the products could be banned.”

The organisers of the party, Winchester School of Performing Arts, said they buy glow sticks from many different sources and could not identify the manufacturer.

Glow stick containers do come with a printed warning advising parents to only give them to responsible children and to avoid snapping them excessively.

They also contain instructions as to what to do if the chemicals come into contact with skin and/or eyes.