Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

"Although it's possible a cassia seed will get lodged in a child's ear or nose, we haven't handled many such cases so far."

Chinese parents are being warned about the potential health risks that cassia seeds, a substitute for sand in play pits, can pose to their child. Play pits filled with cassia seeds are commonly used in schools and shopping malls in cities including Shanghai and Beijing. But some widely circulated posts on popular social networking platform Weibo recently suggested it could be very difficult to extract cassia seeds from a child's ear or nose. In some extreme cases, it would even require a surgical procedure to remove the seeds. However, when interviewed by local media, paediatricians from several leading hospitals in Shanghai all said they haven't handled many such cases so far.