In yet another setback to the Chinese toy industry, millions of toys made in the country are being withdrawn from the US and Australia as they allegedly contained a chemical which mimics the reaction caused by a date-rape drug and could lead to children slipping into coma.
Moose Enterprise of Melbourne, Australia, the manufacturer of the popular toy called Aqua Dots, blamed the reaction on substation by a Chinese factory of toxic glue for a safe glue.
In the US, the Consumer Product Safety Commission had received two reports of children slipping into coma but both are now okay. In Australia, at least three children were hospitalised after ingesting the beads.
More than four million
toys are being recalled in the US and Moose Enterprise advised parents on a website posting to seek immediate medical attention if the product has been swallowed even if the child does not show any adverse symptoms.
The commission said the coating on the beads, which causes them to stick to each other when water is added, contains a chemical that can turn toxic when ingested. Children who swallow the beads can become comatose, develop respiratory depression or even seizure.
The adhesive solvent was identified as "1,4 butylene glycol" which can mimic the drug "gamma hydroxy butyrate" which can make children sick but so far there have been no deaths from ingestions of the beads.
