Aqua Dots Recall
November 12th, 2007 | Published in Work
After a year chock-full of toy recalls for lead paint, small chokeable parts, and intestine-twisting magnets, parents may have thought the worst was behind them. Well, guess again. Last week brought the weirdest — and definitely the creepiest — recall with the highly publicized Aqua Dots situation. If swallowed by children, the popular toy beads can cause symptoms including coma, seizures, unconsciousness, drowsiness, and death. According to scientists, the chemical coating on the beads can convert into the drug GHB (gamma hydroxy butyrate, known as the “date rape” drug) when ingested.
Aqua Dots were expected to be a big hit this holiday season. Wal-Mart, in fact, had named the craft toy as one of its top 12 picks for the season. A toy association in Australia had named the toy (called Bindeez there) the top toy of the year. Children use Aqua Beads to make creations using small beads in a variety of designs that are then sprayed with water to set. The products are distributed in North America by Spin Master Ltd., based in Toronto. Many stores including Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, and Amazon.com have already removed the product from their Web sites and shelves.
Australian company Moose Enterprises had outsourced the manufacturing of the dots to a mainland Chinese factory. In a still unexplained manufacturing snafu, the factory was supposed to use a safe non-toxic glue on the beads, but instead apparently substituted a harmful chemical that is less expensive. Why does this sound depressingly familiar? China has halted the export of the beads pending further investigation.
A dozen children in the US and Australia have become gravely ill after ingesting some of the dots. A doctor in Sydney made the connection between a child’s symptoms and the toy beads. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall last Thursday for more than 4 million of the Aqua Dots distributed in North America. The beads, which look remarkably like small candies, may have been a likely hazard before the added chemical problem, according to Salon’s Machinist blog.
This Boston writer thinks that the whole recall may be a big hoax. If only that were the case. I’m afraid this one is looking all too real.