U.S., Australian officials pull toys containing 'date rape' drug precursor

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 export 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.

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.

A spate of recalls of Chinese-manufactured toys this year was highlighted by U.S.-based Mattel Inc.'s recall of more than 21 million toys worldwide last summer.

On Wednesday, 405,700 lead-contaminated more toys were recalled.

Those toys include:

• About 380,000 Pull-Back Action Toy Cars, imported by Dollar General Merchandising Inc. of Goodlettsville, Tenn. The cars were sold at Dollar General stores from April through October. Consumers can return the products to any Dollar General store for a full refund. For more information, call 800-678-9258 or visit http://www.dollargeneral.com

• About 7,500 Dragster and Funny Car toys, imported by International Sourcing Ltd. of Springfield, Mo. The toys were sold at National Hot Rod Association events through Schumacher Racing and Matco Tools through door-to-door sales from March through September year. Consumers can return the toys to International Sourcing for a full refund or a replacement product. For more information, call 877-404-1584 or visit http://www.islpromotions.com.

• About 1,300 Dizzy Ducks Music Box products, imported by Schylling Associates Inc. of Rowley, Mass. The music boxes were sold at specialty toy stores and gift shops nationwide from March through October. For more information and to receive a refund or free replacement toy, call 800-767-8697 or visit www.schylling.com.

• About 3,600 Winnie-the-Pooh Spinning Top products, imported by Schylling Associates Inc. The spinning tops were sold at specialty toy stores and gift shops from April through November in 2003. For more information and to receive a refund or free replacement toy, call 800-767-8697 or visit www.schylling.com.

• About 3,500 Duck Family Collectable Wind-Up Toy products, imported by Schylling Associates Inc. The toys were sold at specialty toy stores and gift shops from January through August. For more information and to receive a refund or free replacement toy, call 800-767-8697 or visit www.schylling.com.

• About 2,600 "Robot 2000" collectable tin robot products, imported by Schylling Associates Inc. The robot toys were sold at specialty toy stores and gift shops nationwide from October 2006 through this September. For more information and to receive a refund or free replacement toy, call 800-767-8697 or visit www.schylling.com.

• About 7,200 "Big Red" Wagons, imported by Northern Tool & Equipment Co. of Burnsville, Minn. The wagons were sold through the Northern Tool & Equipment catalog, Web site and stores from July through September. Consumers can return the wagons to any Northern Tool store for a free replacement. For more information, call 800-222-5381 or visit www.northerntool.com.