GHB Dispensing Toy Recalled

Bindeez toy recalled over drug fears

November 06, 2007 05:21pm
Article from: AAP


A 19-month-old boy was in a Queensland hospital after ingesting a toy that was today banned interstate.

Bindeez have been found to contain a chemical that converts into the toxic illegal drug GHB, also known as fantasy, when ingested.

The toy has been banned across the country today.

A Queensland ambulance spokesman said the boy was taken to St Vincent's Hospital at Toowoomba this morning after falling ill, and would be transported to the Mater hospital this afternoon.

The boy's grandfather told ABC Radio in Sydney his grandson fell unconscious after swallowing some of the beads.

"We've just heard from my daughter in Toowoomba that her two-year-old son has just swallowed some of those beads - just recently, I don't know whether it was today or yesterday,'' said the man, identified only as Nick.

He said his grandson was being taken to Brisbane for treatment.

"Apparently he's unconscious,'' he said.

Banned interstate

Chinese-made Bindeez, which won the 2007 Australian Toy of the Year award at the Melbourne Toy and Hobby fair, contains hundreds of beads which can induce seizures, drowsiness or a coma if eaten.

Two children in New South Wales, a two-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl, have been admitted to hospital in the past ten days after eating the beads leading the toy's banning in that state.

Today the toy was also banned in South Australia.

Source.

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And we thought a child's option for getting high was limited to spinning around in circles or huffing glue.

What?! The beads contain GBL or 1,4BDO? Is there a more informative story on this because this sounds odd.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount outright bizarre yet legitimate news stories the bluelight crowd seems to dig up and post for us news hungry cultured intelligent types.

Anyway, GHB in a childrens toy? Thats got to make some kind of top ten absurd occurance list if ever such a tally existed.

"grievous bodily harm" lololol

Shouldn't it be Grievous Harm Bodily?

LuGoJ said:

"grievous bodily harm" lololol

Shouldn't it be Grievous Harm Bodily?

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Only if you believe in atavistic customs like "grammar" and "diction."

Lame.

Something is not adding up here, GBL is a cyanoacrylate debonder the opposite of an adhesive. Looking this toy up online it appears to be a supporting frame into which you lay colored beads in various patterns and then glue them into place to make objects. I'm guessing the GBL was provided to debond the beads for reuse, this product could never be made fully safe for such small children, never mind the chocking hazard posed by the beads. So this is more a case of an age inappropriate toy more then anything else.

2c-buoyant said:

Only if you believe in atavistic customs like "grammar" and "diction."

Lame.

Click to expand...

Shut up with your druggie slang, damn GBH has rotted your brain, you need to find jesus and fly straight!

Finder said:

Two children in New South Wales, a two-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl, have been admitted to hospital in the past ten days after eating the beads leading the toy's banning in that state.

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Isn't a 10-year-old a little old to be swallowing beads from a toy? 8)

Im buying a set today, There still for sale here, i'll get to the bottem of this and find out if eating a plastic kids toy will get me high!

Originally Posted by kevz
Isn't a 10-year-old a little old to be swallowing beads from a toy?

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chill, maybe they were anal beads....

.....*crickets*

Or more like, the kids read online they were full of GHB first

Eat some, plug some....YMMV

Damn I bet sales for that product skyrocketed

oh man, i was just about to post this.
wonder if you can still buy them on eBay...

imma get me some of those beads! lol

Banned in the US/Canada now:


Drug toy scare hits US



November 8, 2007 - 1:19PM





The Bindeez toy scare in Australia has spread to North America.

Thousands of stores in the US and Canada, including giant retailer Toys 'R Us, are clearing their shelves of the product after scientists discovered it contains a chemical that if swallowed converts into the illegal party drug fantasy.

Three children in Australia and two in North America have been left in near-comatose states after digesting the toy.

Manufactured in China, the toy, known in Australia as Bindeez, is similar to a product called Aqua Dots in North America.

They are small beads that can easily be swallowed by a child.


The North American distributor of Aqua Dots, Toronto-based Spin Master Ltd, issued a statement on its website today.

The product was distributed in Australia by Moose Enterprises.

"Following notification by Moose Enterprises of a recall in Australia of a product called Bindeez, which is similar to the line of toys we distribute for them in North America under the Aqua Dots brand, we are requesting that retailers remove the Aqua Dots toy from retail shelves and sale in North America," the Spin Master statement said.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we have stopped shipping this item."



Toys 'R Us pulled the product from its stores on Tuesday.

The product had been a big seller in North America, with Toys 'R Us listing Aqua Dots as one of the 15 hottest toys for the holidays.

Bindeez was named Australian toy of the year at an industry function in Melbourne earlier this year, before being banned in every state and territory this week.

AAP


source smh

garuda said:

Something is not adding up here, GBL is a cyanoacrylate debonder the opposite of an adhesive. Looking this toy up online it appears to be a supporting frame into which you lay colored beads in various patterns and then glue them into place to make objects. I'm guessing the GBL was provided to debond the beads for reuse, this product could never be made fully safe for such small children, never mind the chocking hazard posed by the beads. So this is more a case of an age inappropriate toy more then anything else.

Click to expand...

From the description in the original report, apparently you put the beads into the frames & then spray water on them which causes them to bond...then you prise the completed "toy" out of the frame.

scientists discovered it contains a chemical that if swallowed converts into the illegal party drug fantasy.

Click to expand...

Wow! Am I hearing this right? That sounds great!!

I bet I'll see it at the dollar store next month.

here's the link to that garuda~

link

Children playing with the toy arrange the variously coloured beads on a plastic grid. When sprayed with water, the beads become stuck together.

Testing by scientists in NSW found the chemical link to the drug gamma-hydroxy butyrate (GHB) - also known as fantasy or grievous bodily harm - which can also cause drowsiness and can lead to death.

Click to expand...

and

link

Two children have been admitted to the Children's Hospital at Westmead over the past week after swallowing large numbers of the beads, which contain a substance the body metabolises into gamma-hydroxybutyric acid...


Dr Naren Gunja, of Westmead Hospital's Poisons Information Centre, told the Herald it appeared that pentane diol, a non-toxic substance commonly used on toys for its glue-like properties, had been substituted in the manufacturing process with butane diol.

It has yet to be determined whether the substitution in the Hong Kong factory was the result of human error or cost-cutting.

Click to expand...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21678196/?GT1=10547




WASHINGTON - 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 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 the toy industry — already bruised by a slew of recalls last 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. It is called Bindeez in Australia, where it was named toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year.



Moose Enterprises said Bindeez and Aqua Dots are made at the same factory, which is located in Shenzhen in China’s southern Guangdong province. Last week the Chinese government announced an import ban on more than 700 toy factories in the region because of shoddy products.

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 pulled.

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 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. 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.

“To prevent any other child from being hurt, we are calling upon parents to take the product away immediately,” Wolfson said.

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.

Dosage questions aren't for DiTM. Try the focus forums. -phrozen

^Aye, my mates kiddies has heaps of them- we're pretty sure they've eaten them too. I am dubious about this....