What is up with China?

[StrainedEyes]

Toy Containing 'Date-Rape' Drug Pulled
AP
Posted: 2007-11-08 08:15:27
Filed Under: Recalls
WASHINGTON (Nov. 7) - Millions of Chinese-made toys for children have 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. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads.

With only seven weeks until Christmas, the recall is yet another blow to toy industry - already bruised by a slew of recalls this past summer.

In the United States, the toy goes by the name Aqua Dots, a highly popular holiday toy distributed by Toronto-based Spin Master Toys. They 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 factories as the Bindeez product. Both are sold by Australia-based Moose Enterprises.

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.

Naren Gunja from Australia's Poisons Information Center said the drug's effect on children was "quite serious ... and potentially life-threatening."

The recall was announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday several hours after published reports about the recall in Australia.

The two U.S. children who swallowed Aqua Dot beads went into nonresponsive comas, commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said Wednesday afternoon.


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. The item, which had been heavily advertised, had appeared on many toy experts' list of must-have holiday toys, and toy sellers are now in the midst of canceling advertising and scrambling to figure out how to replace it.

Chris Byrne, a New York-based toy consultant, noted that the incidents could have been isolated, and Spin Master may be erring on the side of caution.

"This is something that they could not have foreseen. This is an extremely hot toy. ... It's a little scary," Byrne said.

In a statement, Toys "R" Us Inc., said that it issued on Tuesday a "stop sale" on the entire Spin Master Aqua Dots product line in its North American stores and on its Web site after it learned of the news. "We understand that Spin Master and U.S. regulatory authorities are investigating this product and we have asked Spin Master to fully explain what it believes happened," said the toy seller in a statement.

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. The company recalled another 66,000 spinning tops Aug. 22.

Representatives from Schylling Associates Inc. were not immediately available for comment.

Wednesday's recalls include about 7,200 "Big Red" Wagons imported by Northern Tool & Equipment Co. of Burnsville, Minn. Totaling about 405,700, the recalled children's products all had excessive levels of lead in their surface paint.

Although no illnesses connected to the toy car recall have been reported, lead is toxic if ingested by young children. Children's products found to have more than 0.06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall.

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/...d/20071107211109990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

 

[chamber-music]

The chinese are trying to kill us with are own consumerism lol

 

[Obi-Ron]

Or so we would be led to believe.

 

[terry78]

I know what I'm giving all the ladies here at the office for Xmas.


Wait, that's not right.

 

[Sandman138]

They have discovered that laissez-faire capitalism is actually the most efficient way to kill off those pesky capitalist pigs.

 

[PemLam]

It was just on Fox News that Amazon reported an increase in searches on their site for this "toy" immediately after the initial recall was released. Bunch of sick f***'s out there.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

wow! toys are not to be swallowed

 

[sinewave]

these dot thingies are tiny, colorful candy or pill-shaped things, of course little kids are gonna want to put them in their mouths. how they hell do you not test them for safety? i think this is a NAMBLA conspiracy to get some action with a bunch of comatose kids.

 

[The Lizard]

I'm willing to give China the benefit of the doubt myself.

Since they've proven that their toy factories can make Japanese robot toys every bit as good as the Japanese were able to do, I'd say that's worth the occasional bit of lead poisoning or date-rape drug.

^ "Made in China"

 

[Colossal Spoons]

What were these kids doing putting Aqua Dots in their mouths in the first place?

Oral stage of development, my ass.

 

[sinewave]

What were these kids doing putting Aqua Dots in their mouths in the first place?

Oral stage of development, my ass.

'cause kids are dumb and when they see colorful candy-shaped stuff they automatically want to put them in their mouths.

 

[Sandman138]

these dot thingies are tiny, colorful candy or pill-shaped things, of course little kids are gonna want to put them in their mouths. how they hell do you not test them for safety? i think this is a NAMBLA conspiracy to get some action with a bunch of comatose kids.

Memphis Slim?

 

[AhabTheArab]

where the hell is china getting all this food to send to us... screw the toys, who cares, you buy cheap **** expect to get cheap results. they have the largest population and they are sending out a ton of food. how? the land they live on is not the most fertile land, and like i said theres billions of them. how are they sending all this food to us?

 

[sinewave]

Memphis Slim?

nah, he would have tried to attribute it to the muslim community.

 

[PemLam]

where the hell is china getting all this food to send to us... screw the toys, who cares, you buy cheap **** expect to get cheap results. they have the largest population and they are sending out a ton of food. how? the land they live on is not the most fertile land, and like i said theres billions of them. how are they sending all this food to us?

Did you read the article? What food are you talking about? These are toys and games, not food.

 

[SuperMonkey]

wow! toys are not to be swallowed

And you expect a three-year old to understand that?

Also, you don't have to swallow them to get the harmful effects. It's in the coating.

 

[SuperMonkey]

... screw the toys, who cares,...

You don't know much about much do you? People should be able to buy things without expecting their kids to go into a coma. We need to have every product that comes into this country inspected for anything.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Did you read the article? What food are you talking about? These are toys and games, not food.

Yeah, but China does export a lot of food to us, which frankly frightens me.

 

[PemLam]

Yeah, but China does export a lot of food to us, which frankly frightens me.

It'll frighten me if it turns out to be some Soylent Green* type stuff...

*Look it up youngsters.

 

[AhabTheArab]

You don't know much about much do you? People should be able to buy things without expecting their kids to go into a coma. We need to have every product that comes into this country inspected for anything.

did you finish reading what i said? if you buy cheap things, especially made in china, you may get cheap results. i thought that was a given?

and as i said, im more worried about the food issue, and the title of the thread is "what is up with china?" so i threw in my two cents. so a reminder, check the food you give your dogs, yourselves, your children, if it says made in china, do not buy it. simple as that, stop buying it.

 

[AndThePickles]

That toy actually sounds pretty cool, I wanna play with it

 

[PemLam]

That toy actually sounds pretty cool, I wanna play with it [/quote

Spoons may have already bought it w/out you knowing. t:

 

[kane9321]

i heard about this on the tony bruno morning show this morning..crazy stuff

 

[EdRyder]

"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"

GHB the date rape drug ,..omg

 

[YsoSerious]

just as I suspected.China wants to molest all of our children because they dont have enough of their own.