rave on, baby!
By raincoaster
Well, after turning the interwebs upside down and shaking them like a two-bit, sweatshop-manufactured Etch-a-Sketch ripoff, I think we’ve finally found the target market for the blingorific (and poisonous) pacifier that Glinda featured a couple of weeks ago.
It’s the same crowd who voted the GHB-laden Aquadots (also known as Bindeez) Toy of the Year in Australia.
Australia’s 2007 Toy of the Year, the Hong Kong-manufactured craft toy Bindeez, is being pulled from shelves after it was revealed its “magic beads” contain a chemical that converts into the toxic illegal drug fantasy when ingested.
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, the main component of liquid ecstasy…
In a statement posted on its website, the company said it had not approved nor was it aware of any chemical substitution by the supplier.
“As a precaution, Moose has voluntarily recalled all of the Bindeez products,” the statement said.
“When reintroduced to the market, Moose as an added precaution will add Bitrex to the approved bead formulation; this is a foul tasting ingredient which will ensure children do not in future eat multiple beads.”
Heather Lehane, the mother of 10-year-old Charlotte, said her daughter had lost consciousness about half an hour after swallowing the beads and had vomited a “thick goo”. [editor's note: what the hell kind of ten year old eats multiple synthetic toy beads? this kid needs one of those jackets with the sleeves that buckle in the back]
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.
And suddenly, the toy finds popularity among a whole new demographic.
I’d accuse ravers of rigging the Toy of the Year contest, if I didn’t already know that people on GHB aren’t coherent enough to organize a decent vote-jacking.
Or at least, they won’t remember it the next morning.
November 12th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
This is terrible, but I, too, was left wondering what kind of 10-year-old puts toys in his or her mouth and swallows them. That’s way past the age at which a kid should know better.
November 12th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
On second thought, I’m sort of hoping it’s a typo and the kid is ten MONTHS old.
Honestly, the way China is going “manufactured in China” is going to be a byword for “stuff to avoid like the plague.” This is what short-term, profit-based thinking and operating outside the law will get you.
November 12th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Ugh. That picture is creeping me out!
November 13th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I’ve read in more than one article that the girl in question is indeed 10 YEARS old. I don’t understand it. I can’t recall ever being tempted to put a toy in my mouth at any age.
November 24th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
[...] toys. Perhaps little Suzie or Freddy like to picket the letter X in the library. Perhaps they enjoy eating plastic toys before rushing off to middle school. Maybe they refuse to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas because [...]