A study aimed at doctor's and teens called attention to the inhalation of blowgun darts after three teenagers got the objects stuck in their throats.
Three teenagers inhaled the objects over the course of three months, all of them required "bronchoscopic procedures under general anaesthesia," the Los Angeles Times, reported.
Two of the boys reported breathing difficulties, but did not initially reveal the cause.
One of the boys, who was 15 years old, was admitted to an Ohio emergency room after coughing for three hours, LiveScience reported.
X-rays revealed the teen had inhaled a blowgun dart, which was designed to be "propelled outward by the force of an exhaled breath."
The dart was removed with a nonsurgical procedure in which a tube was inserted into the boy's throat.
Several youtube videos and posts on websites provide instructions on how to make the weapons, but don't' provide safety advice.
"Because I am in the 6th grade I am not allowed to purchase firearms or any other means of self-defense. But then I realize that not all lethal weapons are composed of a metal frame and do damage with a bullet. So I decided to make a blow gun," a young boy wrote on thesurvivalistblog.net.
An accident can occur when the user inhales deeply to prepare for the strong exhale needed to shoot the dart. As the person inhales their vocal cords open up, making it easy for an object to get lodged in their throat, LiveScience reported.
"It's really a setup for foreign body aspiration," study researcher Dr. Kris Jatana, an ear, nose and throat doctor at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said.
A study was published in the American Academy of Pediatrics, in hopes of calling attention to the unusual danger.
Since teens often lie about the cause of their symptoms, the report urges doctors to be on the alert for inhaled foreign objects.
"It's just one of those things that could be an emerging problem," Jatana said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "We're really obligated to let people know that this occurred."
