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US, Aussie Officials Yank GHB-Producing Toys
theodp writes "Questioned about concerns over China-made toys, Toys 'R' Us CEO Jerry Storch predicted 'this will be the safest holiday season ever.' Oops. On the same day Storch's interview ran in Fortune, Toys 'R' Us joined other North American and Australian retailers to pull millions of Chinese-made toy bead sets from shelves after scientists found they contain a chemical that when ingested metabolizes into GHB, the date-rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. Two children in the US and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads."
Where can we buy the beads ?
\u262D = \u5350
The problem with date rape is that first you have to get a girl to go out on a date with you.
sigh. sometimes it sucks to be a nerd.
I'd never heard of these things before yesterday, but it looks like a fantastic toy. Except for, y'know, the coma part. Hopefully they'll reformulate them/
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Just a bit of repackaging for the 'Adult' market and I wouldn't bat an eyebrow at seeing these in my spam filter.
Like LSD. It would have been great to see countless kids tripping out with those multicolored beads.
"Wow, Tommy really likes those beads. And that tie-died shirt. Where did he get a Phish CD?!"
Fun Toy Banned Because of Three Stupid Dead Kids
Monstar L
Ok, what the hell are you on? Oh right, the beads...
...
Never understood the correlation between beads and flashing breasts until now ...
I used to take it all the time and I never got raped once.
I'll take good old metal Transformer toys that pinch your fingers and rip the skin off. I miss the 80's.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
i made a colorful portrait of river phoenix in colored beads"
(thump)
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
From the Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_Dots/ "The toy was supposed to contain the non-toxic chemical 1,5-pentanediol, but instead contains 1,4-butanediol, which is metabolised into the drug gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB)." It looks like it's not a design mistake, but the manufacturer replacing one substance with a cheaper version
Note one youngster was 10 that was hospitalized. Look at the ages of the people using them on the website, looks like an 8-12 range to me. Kids. No adults present.
Also, how do you know they were bought for toddlers? They could have been bought for big sister who carelessly left them out (after all, kids sometimes do those sorts of things).
Your arguments hold no water.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
The beads look like candy, and aren't a choking hazard. I can easily see them getting bought for older kids, and a toddler scarfing down (or getting fed) a handful of them. It doesn't seem like something you'd buy for a toddler.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
This link from TFA http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/07/business/toys.php seems to indicate the GHB precursor was an unapproved last-minute substitution in the bead formula. It's not necessary, it's not beneficial, and it was probably done to cut costs.
Crackdown on unsafe toys, crackdown on "do not call" violators. Federal agencies are suddenly interested in doing their jobs after nearly seven years of sucking up to the very people they're supposed to be regulating?
Is some kind of election coming up next year, or something?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
How will they dispose of these beads? Throw them in the dump and let the chemical seep into the groundwater?
I have this vision of an entire town of amnesiacs.
That's not to say that parents aren't responsible for what's in the house and within reach of kids, but there's a basic expectation that children's toys such as beads and cars aren't going to be poisonous or otherwise chemically hazardous. Chemistry sets are a different matter... but even there you wouldn't expect radioactive compounds or highly toxic materials in a children's set.
Less is more.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
you have 12 fingers on one of your hands?
You know, I had a nice reply, but hen I read some of your other posts here on slashdot, and a few post elsewhere, I'll just sum up:
You have a 'no-fucking-clue' problem
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I mean all the news stories refer to GHB as a date rape drug, which is just stupid journalistic sensationalism, GHB is far more commonly used as a 'rave drug', and there are more date rape accusations resulting from plain old alcohol induced leglessness. Not to mention that GHB is so salty and dangerous to mix with alcohol that you couldn't spike a drink with it. But the way the news continues to label it as a 'date rape' drug largely serves to perpetuate the idea and endanger people who end up taking too many hints from the news media. Even when people know what they're doing it's bad news waiting to happen, and giving it to other people is irresposible. Putting it into kids toys to save a bit of money in manufacturing is just pure evil.
After all, isn't it our own toy designers that came up with this "woo, if you pour water on the date-rape drug, they stick together" idea and the poor chinese factories are merely following the instructions? or am I missing something?
I'll give you two guesses.
They were supposed to use 1,5 pentanediol which is a common ingredient used to keep glues from getting sticky before they get wet. Instead they cut costs and used 1,4 butanediol (gamma-butyrolactone) which is a prodrug enzymatically metabolized into GHB.
It is funny though - they see stuff on tv and tell me they want it. I explain that the commercials basically lie to get them to spend their money. Last year at Christmas time they bought some Floam and it was complete crap. And they learned. We saw an ad for aquadots a while back and my 4 year old says "I want that" and I asked his sisters - "What do you guys think?" and they said, "It's not like they show. They just want our money." Turns out to have come in extra handy this go round.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
GHB isn't *the* date rape drug. It's use, actually is primarily recreational (and, *no*, date rape is *not* recreation). Loss of conciousness is actually a rarity.
I heard this on the news last night and thought "Oh, they're tainted with rohypnol". When I read this article this morning, I saw that it was GHB.
Again, the media demonizing and misclassifying drugs. I'm not saying that GHB is good. Don't get me wrong at all. But the whole misclassification of things confuses parents, makes kids crave the stuff more, and generally, in it's lowest form, is misinformation.
And we know how slashdot folks hate sensationalized misinformation, right?
The older I get, the less I like everyone else.
No matter what the product, Chinese manufacturers will always cut every corner they can.
Toothpaste: Substituting poisonous glycol (anti-freeze) for other sugary chemicals
Cough syrup: Ditto
Paint: Using lead
Painted toys: lead
Capacitors: Using stolen formulas and producing incomplete electrolytes taht cause the capacitors to fail, leak or explode.
Toys: substituting cheaper butanediol (which turns into the date-rape drug GHB) for more expensive pentanediol
If I wasn't at work I'd look up the citation, but apparently double-blind studies have pretty conclusively shown that ruffies aren't really useful as a "date rape" drug, seeing as they're not a magical knockout potion.
Now, getting trashed out of your mind, that'll give yer frat boy an opening. Doesn't need a magical additive for that, though.
* <------ joke
.O <------ your head
/|\
???
/ \
Responsible parenting is one thing, but kids will stick anything in their mouth, and nose.
A childerens enviroment should therefore not contain things that A are small enough to swallow or B are harmfull if done so. Toys therefore have to be made in such a way that even with rough handling parts do not come off and are non-toxic. Thats the law. It really ain't even that hard. The original toy in this case WAS non-toxic. The chinese replaced the original glue with another, why? The chinese for some reason seem unable to follow specifications. All the recalls I seen from China are because they changed a part of the design for no good reason.
I am all for responsible parenting, but when a company creates a safe product and a chinese company replaces a harmless glue with a KNOWN dangerous one, what is a parent to do. The product HAD been tested before. Should you put everything through your own lab before giving it to your child?
Frankly it is about time the chinese start to act upon this. Launch a police investigation and find out why this glue was replaced.
But yes parents should also inspect the toys themselves, before you give a toddler a teddybear, try and see if you can pull it apart. but parents can't be expected to do chemical tests.
Frankly I think we need to thighten the rules, NO product is released without it first passing rigid and mandatory safety checks that test EVERYTHING. Release a product that proves harmfull and you are charged with attempted manslaughter. Why did this company not TEST their products one they arrived from china?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The company I work for buys metal goods from China. Every item is specified to the last detail and it should simply be case of "make me those". Unfortunately, many Chinese companies have a taste of our money and want more of it, so they will do anything to shave the cost without telling the customer. The items we buy are safety critical and we have to test the hell out of them because we catch the suppliers time after time using sub-standard steel because they can get it cheaper. China is probably becoming wealthy faster than any country in the world ever has and many companies and individuals there are a little too greedy for more.
I actually had to research how big something you swallowed had to be before doctors became concerned. The the rule of thumb seems to be stuff about the size of a quarter (2.4 cm) or larger is trouble. Assuming it's not sharp or poisonous. Granted, anything could be a problem, but the doctors seem to have a wait and see policy for small stuff. Safer to let it pass than trying to go in and get it. They often wait for the large stuff too, but the ilealcecal valve is where stuff tends to get stuck.
So for non-toxic beads, hospitalization might not be necessary, but at least ask a doctor to evaluate your kid.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
There are plenty of 12 mo toys that are interesting enough to keep my 9 mo son entertained and engaged for more than five minutes. Of course, he's just as happy smacking around a can of soup or chewing on the sofa. So maybe his standards are a little low.
Although the article uses the word "ingested", I wonder if putting a bead in your mouth would do the same thing. It's not the entire bead, but the "glue" coating that has the chemical. Still sounds like a silly thing to do, but kids are often silly. Maybe the beads taste good - didn't I just see a post where someone said GHB tastes salty?
Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
Let me chime in a parent that appears to have a very different attitude towards raising children, and who wouldn't think twice about giving their 3 year old a toy with a bunch of small beads. In fact my kid does have a tub of beads that he uses for a toy.
It really is not hard for a small child to be safely allowed to play with small toys. It just requires the parent to pay attention to their child. Paying attention to your child is unfortunately a very unpopular activity amongst parents these days, so toy manufacturers must label their toys as if the child will be using them unsupervised, and has had a neglected childhood. At 3, I don't worry that my child will swallow toys because he has been taught that you don't put thing in your mouth that are not food. Of course the only way that he could learn this is by being exposed to small toys while being supervised.
The current trend is to not expose kids to things until they are already experienced with those things. This leads to kids being retarded. People learn by experimenting, and depriving children of small objects will have a negative impact on their learning. In fact, I would have to ask, how bad a parent must be to have a 7 year old that cannot be trusted to play with beads without eating them.
With everything being manufactured in China, out of our hands and control, what's to stop the Chinese from deciding to "taint" products essential to our national security? What if the Chinese Govt simply ordered the cessation of manufacturing certain things that we really need?
China has tied their currency to the dollar making their money artificially cheap. This has caused all our manufacturing capacity to go to China. Short term, US benefits. Long term, China holds the cards.
And we're OK with this?
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
A better question is: did they even care?
There seem to be an awful lot of such incidents lately, involving swapped materials, ranging from poisonous toys to ethilene glycol in toothpaste to exploding lithium ion batteries, all coming from China. I'm sorry, but that's no longer looking like isolated "oopsie" cases where someone forgot to do their research. It starts to look like they have a whole culture based on not doing that research at all, or plain old not care as long as they can pocket the difference.
I mean in this case one might even argue that they didn't research what it decomposes into, but other cases involved such blatant cases as:
- lead paint, which is _known_ to be toxic. You don't have to research what it metabolizes into, it's just toxic as it is.
- ethilene glycol, a known poison, used instead of the more expensive glycerine in toothpaste
- the membrane which should collapse and open the circuit when a battery overheats, replaced with much cheaper stuff that doesn't. It doesn't take that much research to understand why it's there, and why a battery without that safety can burst into flames.
Etc.
In fact, I'll venture a guess and say what it really reminds me of: corruption and kleptocracy. Now I don't have any first-hand experience with China, but I've seen cases in other places, and, honestly, the more I hear about such Chinese manufacturing incidents, the more it starts to sounds like that.
The way that works is, sorta, along the lines of "it doesn't matter how much you're paid, it matters how much you can steal / embezzle / demand in bribes / etc". Whole pyramids get built where any good job (judged through the aforementioned criterion) is either given to relatives of party officials, or essentially auctioned to whoever gave a bigger bribe. Then essentially the winner is inoffficially _expected_ to get that money back with interest, by abusing that function to take more bribes or plain old steal.
In which case, the way it would go, isn't even that some ruthless capitalist wanted to cut production costs, gain a competitive advantage and invest it in some form or shape into expanding his operations. It's probably just some private guy along the chains who switched materials and pocketed the money. It's not the evils of capitalism, it's plain old the evils of unchecked corruption.
Especially the communist block generated quite a few such structures, which is why I wonder about China.
Actually, I'll give you one more reason why I worry about China. Because they have a whole _surrealistic_ history of just that.
If you look as far back in time as the Battle of the Yalu River, you'll find such surrealistic stuff as that many shells used by the Chinese fleet were filled with sawdust or cement, because some enterprising souls in the navy had embezzeled the funds for cordite and split the loot with the manufacturer. Or stuff as monumentally surrealistic as that a battleship was missing two main guns, which again had been stolen and sold on the black market. If you didn't go "WTBF?!" already, read it again and roll it a bit in your head. Big Fucking Guns, off a battleship, stolen and sold on the black market.
At this point, I'm sure someone will point out that it's been more than a century since then, and China did have two (or arguably even 3) changes of regime and direction in the meantime. But did the culture change in that time? Because from where I stand, it doesn't look that way. The corruption of the Qing empire continued seamlessly into the surrealistic warlord era during Chiang Kai-shek's regime, which in turn continued seamlessly into the corrupt regime under Mao. And now we have arguably the same guys who enriched themselves during the communism, and not by honest means either (the official salaries of government offi
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
As someone who's actually had a product line manufactured in China, I can say this. In general, they consider product specifications as a guideline only. They'll do whatever they can to relax tolerances, substitute materials and shortcut processes to lower costs, without the engineering or product research background to support those decisions. They don't pass those lower costs on either.
I gave up having anything made in China years ago. The quality control alone ended up costing more than any savings I got from Chinese labor. In some products, we had as high as a 20% defect rate, and 5% was normal. Now I use automated machines to make my goods, and I hire local employees to do the design and operations work. You know what? now I have a better product AND a better price than I used to get from China!
http://www.rlt.com/
You don't have kids, do you? Kids put stuff in their mouths.
This is slashdot, where most people are childless yet still feel privileged to weigh in on the issue, and where the predominant theory is that anytime any kid at any age does anything wrong, it's automatically a sign of horrible parenting.
Of course the hilarious part is, whenever someone advocates doing something to prevent their kids from doing something wrong, they're immediately attacked as uptight, overprotective parents who are unwilling to let their children learn from their mistakes.
There's a technical term for people who advocate two mutually exclusive viewpoints. They're called "idiots."
Five sick children and how many of these have been sold world-wide? Millions? And people should know that the according to ABC News (Australia) the two children there "...swallowed large amounts of the beads...."
Read that again. "Large amounts." http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/06/2082480.htm
This is a case of mass hysteria. More children probably get hurt from falling off a bicycle or choking on their Fruit Loops.
The pursuit of absolute tolerance leads to the most rigorous and ludicrous intolerance. - REX MURPHY
"ANYONE could fail a drug test that looked for GHB at any time. Same goes for a powerful psychedelic called DMT"
That's completely wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine
"There are no drug tests that would show DMT usage. None of the basic NIDA 5 drug tests or any extended drug test will show a result for DMT."
"This stuff makes LSD look like a placebo in comparison."
That's wrong too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD
"Dosages of LSD are measured in micrograms (g), or millionths of a gram. By comparison, dosages of almost all other drugs, both recreational and medicinal, are measured in milligrams (mg), or thousandths of a gram. Hofmann determined that an active dose of mescaline, roughly 0.2 to 0.5g, has effects comparable to 100g or less of LSD; put another way, LSD is between five to ten thousand times more active than mescaline."
I hate people like you so much, you sit around your fucking dorm room with your other loser friends and mentally masturbate about the drugs you take, repeating the same ridiculous misinformation, and propagating it to other losers like you in order to impress them with your "drug knowledge".
I think that would work a lot better if you actually bothered to know what the fuck you were talking about.
But, since it's clear you don't, all you've done is make yourself sound like another burnout spouting crap about things beyond the comprehension of his screwed up little brain.
Many of them.
I'm glad that your child is acting safely in this particular example--though I'm perfectly sure he's doing any number of unsafe things in other areas; he is three after all--but here's the fact: The risk-management and decision-making centers of the brain are not fully developed until into the 20s. If you need sources, here is one from 10 seconds of Googling: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071014/NEWS/710140303/1001/DWEK01. You can find any number of others if you keep looking.
Obviously, some people will mature at faster rates than others, "not fully developed" does not necessarily mean they will do every dangerous thing known to man, and good parenting is strongly in play. Still, it's important to realize that a child doing stupid things is not necessarily a function of them being stupid.
On an semi-related note, I find it abhorrent that an adult would be judging a 10-year-old child he knows nothing about other than he got sick because of a toxic bead. Part of me is tempted to wish some harm befalls your own child to see if you still think of it as Darwinian evolution at work, but then I realize: I'm not that sort of a bastard monster.
These are children. I'm not one of those "somebody think of the children!" types, but you really are despicable. Personally I don't think it's the child who ate the bead who needs to grow up.
No matter how you slice it, it is the fault of the parents. Whether or not they were bought for a toddler it is still the responsibility of the parents to make sure toddlers don't get a hold of toys that could be dangerous to them.
"But this one goes to 11!"
Everything I said was true, but for a different molecule: butadiene, not butanediol.
*sigh*
To do: get more sleep, read before hitting 'submit'
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.