Chinese toys found to contain 'date rape' chemical

Millions of Chinese-made toys 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 United States and three in Australia were taken to hospital after swallowing the beads.

With only seven weeks until Christmas, the recall is yet another blow to an industry already bruised by a series of recalls in the summer.

They are called 'Bindeez' in Australia, where they were named Toy of the Year at an industry function this year.

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

Moose Enterprises said Bindeez and Aqua Dots are made at the same factory, which is located in Shenzhen in China's southern Guangdong province. The company said that the product is distributed in 40 countries but that it was up to the individual countries and distributors to determine whether the product would be withdrawn.

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, metabolises 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 Centre said the drug's effect on children was "quite serious … and potentially life-threatening".

The recall was announced yesterday by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission several hours after reports were published in the United States about the recall in Australia.

The two US children who swallowed Aqua Dot beads went into non-responsive comas, commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said.

A 20-month-old has recovered completely while the other child, whose age was not known, has been released from a hospital after five days and is recovering, he said.

In Australia, the toys were ordered off store shelves on Tuesday when officials learned that a two-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl were hospitalised after swallowing the beads. A 19-month-old toddler was also 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 got off to a sluggish start in the US Christmas season.

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

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, a major US toy retailer, said it issued on Tuesday a "stop sale" on the entire Spin Master Aqua Dots product line in its North American stores and on its website after it learned of the news.

"We understand that Spin Master and US 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, mostly toy cars, because of dangerous levels of lead.

The recall includes about 380,000 Pull-Back Action Toy Cars and 7,500 Dragster and Funny Car toys.

Four of the recalled products were imported by a single company in Massachusetts: Duck Family Collectable Wind-Up Toy, Dizzy Ducks Music Box, "Robot 2000" collectable tin robot and Winnie-the-Pooh Spinning Top. The company already recalled 66,000 spinning tops on August 22.

Yesterday's recalls also include about 7,200 "Big Red" Wagons. Totaling about 405,700, the recalled children's products all had excessive levels of lead in their surface paint.

Lead is toxic if ingested by young children, but no illnesses have been reported connected to the toy car recall. Children's products found to have more than 0.06% lead accessible to users are subject to recall in the United States.