Posted on 11/08/2007 5:13:57 PM PST by neverdem
Associated Press
Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday toy, has been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful date rape drug when ingested.
The item, which had been heavily advertised, had appeared on many toy experts’ list of must-have holiday toys. Wal-Mart named it a top toy pick this holiday season.
Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads.
The toys are called Bindeez in Australia, where they were named toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year.
It could not immediately be learned whether Aqua Dots beads are made in the same Chinese factories as the Bindeez product.
The toy beads are sold in general merchandise stores and over the Internet for use in arts and crafts projects. They can be arranged into designs and fused together when sprayed with water.
Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound — made from common and easily available ingredients — can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.
The recall of 4.2 million packages of Aqua Dots in the U.S. was announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday several hours after published reports about the recall in Australia.
In Australia, the toys were ordered off store shelves on Tuesday when officials learned that a 2-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl were hospitalized after swallowing the beads. A 19-month-old toddler also was being treated.
The news jolted the toy industry because Aqua Dots has been one of the few bright stars of the toy selling season, which, along with overall retailing, has gotten off to a sluggish start.
Details: (800) 622-8339 or www.aquadotsrecall.com.
405,000 toys pose lead danger
Meanwhile, a separate recall was announced for 405,000 children’s products made in China, most of them toy cars, because of dangerous levels of lead.
The recall includes about 380,000 Pull-Back Action Toy Cars imported by Dollar General Merchandising Inc. of Goodlettsville, Tenn., and 7,500 Dragster and Funny Car toys imported by International Sourcing Ltd. of Springfield, Mo.
Four of the recalled products were imported by Schylling Associates Inc. of Rowley, Mass., including the items Duck Family Collectable Wind-Up Toy, Dizzy Ducks Music Box, “Robot 2000” collectable tin robot and Winnie-the-Pooh Spinning Top.
Details: www.cpsc.gov.
© 2007 TheState.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
It seems to me that if I wanted to start a military conflict with another nation in about twenty years, it might have some impact if millions of their children were to be exposed to substances that would induce physical and mental abnormalities.
But then it’s silly to think a ‘well respected trading partner’ like China would do something along these lines. Nah...
I think not, thank you
They used to sell GHB at every vitamin shop on the planet.
I think it was supposed to be good for bodybuilders?
No idea how it could help bodybuilders....
Isn’t alcohol the historic date-rape drug of choice anyhow?
Anyways...not good for it to be on a kids toy :-(
And we are still importing goods from China because...?
Corporate greed comes to mind.
Ping
Probably replace them with micro dots.
I am the consummate free-trader (with alternative spelling by many Freepers), but my patience is wearing mighty thin with the Chicoms. I’m still not convinced that I want Nancy Pelosi to decide the issue, though. I suspect that the market is working as it should.
So this makes 405,001 children’s products made in China recalled because they can kill your kids, render them unconcious or fry their little minds?
But hey, what do I know? My parents let us take apart bullets to get the gunpowder out and then smack the primers with a hammer. Makes a much louder "bang" than caps.
Been there and done that. It’s a wonder I can hear.
is it possible that some component of the immunization shots, the container, the rubber seal, the med itself comes from china?
with autism on the rise, which is believed by some to be linked to these shots, I just wonder if the chinese are making a hobby of killing and maiming us at the beginning of our lives?
at the least the country is full of screw-ups
at the worst it is deliberate and planned
>>>is it possible that some component of the immunization shots, the container, the rubber seal, the med itself comes from china?
I remember a batch of flu vaccines being recalled a few years ago. I don’t remember hearing why.
Now I wonder.
This doesn’t sound like carelessness in production... this smacks of deliberate product tampering.
Ending up with GHB in a product isn’t an oversight by the QA/QC department.
This is somebody trying to sink a particular manufacturer.
Druggies from all over the world are frantically trying to buy up aquadots before the are off the shelves.
$ and ¢
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