Apparently you are NOT supposed to eat them.

Typically, people who swallow clips are elderly. The clips tend to snag on the small bowel lining, which causes obstruction or perforation. Because they are plastic, the clips do not show up on x-rays, and the patients are often unaware they have swallowed them.

Why elderly people WANT to or DO swallow these things, I have no idea. Maybe it's a new way to kill themselves off.

Thanks to Joanie for linking the story up on her site! Very cool.

And here I thought the deep mystery behind bread-tags was the color coding for each day of the week.