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US joins recall of Chinese-made beads

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 US and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads.

China-made toys seized in Hong Kong were also being tested yesterday, officials said.

With only seven weeks until Christmas, the season that can decide the success of the toy industry for the year, the recall is yet another blow to an industry already bruised by a slew of recalls this past summer.

They are called Bindeez in Australia, where they were named toy of the year at an industry function this year. In the US, 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 in Shenzhen. 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.

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, 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 on Wednesday by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission just hours after reports were published in the US about the Australian recall.

The two US children who swallowed Aqua Dot beads went into nonresponsive comas, commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said on 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.

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 hospitalized after swallowing the beads. A 19-month-old toddler also was being treated.

In Hong Kong, the toys were sent to a local laboratory in for tests, a customs official said, requesting anonymity.

If the tests come back positive for the drug, suppliers of the toy in the territory could face jail terms of one year and fines of HK$100,000 (US$12,877), she said.

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 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 canceling advertising and scrambling to figure out how to replace the product.

In a statement, Toys "R" Us Inc, 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 Web site after it learned of the news. It also pulled all the toy beads from its stores in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

"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.
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