US, Aussie Officials Yank GHB-Producing Toys 343
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."
So... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So... (Score:4, Funny)
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"Pros: Ever since we received our aqua dots super studio our 5 year old hasn't stopped playing with it. He has created dozens of unique shapes and designs. Now he's decorating the house with Halloween creations that he made with his aqua dots.
Cons: I keep having to purchase more beads."
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GHB can actually be quite safe. For one it is a naturally occuring chemical that exists in every cell of your body RIGHT NOW. It can be used as an intoxicant but the words "date rape drug" are not fair. There are so many potential date rape drugs out there, alcohol being #1.
GHB is used as a sleep aid and to treat alcoholism. Also when small amounts of GHB are taken it increases growth hormones and has been used by bodybuilders. Of course it can be danger
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Of course, since those diaries were written in 2003 Ginger's probably either dead or in prison by now.
-mcgrew
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Who knows, maybe you'll become a movie star. Only justification for it I can see.
Creepy shit GHB.
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
-mcgrew
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
HOME DEPOT SCAM!!! PLEASE READ!
A "heads up" for those men who may be regular Home Depot customers.
Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you or your friends. Here's how the scam works:
Two seriously good-looking 20-21 year-old girls come over to your car as you are packing your shopping into the trunk. They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windex, with their breasts almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts. It is impossible not to look.
When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say "No" and instead ask you for a ride to another Home Depot or Staples. You agree and they get in the back seat.
On the way, they start undressing. Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and starts crawling all over you, while the other one steals your wallet.
I had my wallet stolen October 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, & 24th. Also November 1st, 3rd, three times just yesterday and very likely again this coming weekend.
So tell your friends to be careful.
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Oh here we go - blatantly stolen from AP.
Both chemicals are manufactured in China and elsewhere, including by major multinational companies, and are also marketed over the Internet.
It's not clear why 1,4-butanediol was substituted. However, there
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But thanks a million, China and the FTC, for watching out for me!
As I told my son this morning (Aquabeads were actually high on his Christams list -- its a pretty cool toy), "expect a lot of toys from Lego and Playmobil this Christmas."
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Freudian slip?
Re:So... (Score:4, Funny)
He's German, you insensitive clod!
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Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
The Problem With Date Rape (Score:3, Funny)
sigh. sometimes it sucks to be a nerd.
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Too much info! Too much info!
Too bad... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Too bad... (Score:5, Funny)
Surely they will. No doubt with something much safer... lead perhaps.
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Why pull them off the shelves completely? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Why pull them off the shelves completely? (Score:5, Funny)
This sounds like a technique worth learning.
Re:Why pull them off the shelves completely? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why pull them off the shelves completely? (Score:4, Funny)
Since it's so large, he may think that he can attract more by batting it?
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No, he meant plat - he plats his eyebrow.
Why couldn't they turn into something fun? (Score:5, Funny)
"Wow, Tommy really likes those beads. And that tie-died shirt. Where did he get a Phish CD?!"
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Is it too late to demand my parents begin farming cows?
Re:Why couldn't they turn into something fun? (Score:5, Funny)
Obligatory Onion (Score:5, Funny)
Chinese are officially fucking with us (Score:2)
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I'll take good old metal Transformer toys that pinch your fingers and rip the skin off. I miss the 80's.
[
While I'm not comicbook guy and don't obsess over the toys of my youth, I have to say that the Autobot Jetfire (based on the Valkyrie from Robotech/Macross) is one of the greatest toys ever made. Solid, durable, lots of metal parts, great transformation sequence, solid feel, etc. I also really liked the design and feel of the 80's-era GI Joes. Toys seemed to go to crap right about the time I was growing out of them. The stuff I see out there today, I don't think I would have been interested if I saw them a
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Wait: swallowing the beads???!! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Wait: swallowing the beads???!! (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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Re:Wait: swallowing the beads???!! (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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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 le
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Once you've given up on those, you should consider having kids and raising those.
If *that* works out, you'll probably have an idea about *why* they put things in their mouth.
Re:Wait: swallowing the beads???!! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Wait: swallowing the beads???!! (Score:5, Funny)
Well that explains Mardi Gras (Score:5, Funny)
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Look, there are some things in life, that you simply do not question!!
Women exposing themselves for cheap plastic beads, are a good thing, and should be encouraged and enjoyed, but, NEVER, questioned!!
Hehehe..that being said, Mardi Gras is early this year....c'mon down for a visit and a party to our city!!
GHB doesn't work. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:GHB doesn't work. (Score:5, Funny)
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yeah... not that you'd remember, slut.
"look mom (Score:4, Funny)
(thump)
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I saw his pulse going down
I saw him in convulsive throws
I said, "I'll have one of those!"
I'm on the drug... that killed River Phoenix."
This is serious, mum
Chemical Replacement (Score:5, Informative)
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National Security (Score:3, Interesting)
This is why the Chinese manufacturers are getting in trouble. They are substituting cheaper, UNSAFE alternatives into commonly produced goods and then sending them off. The sad part is, the number of injuries and deaths we see in the U.S. and other countries, is *nothing* compared to the the number injuries and death suffered by the Chinese consumer.
I agree with everything you said. But what this also shows us is the effect that China has on our national security!
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 manufactur
Re:Chemical Replacement (Score:4, Informative)
In contrast, 1,5-pentanediol is significantly more difficult to make and doesn't have anywhere nearly the demand or volume production, hence its higher expense and the temptation to substitute the cheaper, more readily available material that's almost just the same (except for the metabolites.)
This is also why I don't trust herbal remedies that come out of China. That one carbon makes only a little difference in this case, but there are others where it'd be the difference between as effective as herbal remedies ever are and *dead*, and who are your surviving relatives going to pursue when it's a Chinese company that made the stuff?
MOD PARENT DOWN: I was totally wrong (Score:4, Informative)
*sigh*
To do: get more sleep, read before hitting 'submit'
maybe it really is the safest toy season (Score:2)
Re:maybe it really is the safest toy season (Score:5, Funny)
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???
/ \
Hmmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Is some kind of election coming up next year, or something?
Disposal? (Score:2, Insightful)
I have this vision of an entire town of amnesiacs.
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What were we talking about?
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Date Rape Drug? Sure - But So Is Alcohol! (Score:5, Informative)
Date Rape Drug? (Score:5, Informative)
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?
This just in! (Score:2, Insightful)
Seriously, what kind of kid eats non-edible beads when they are 10 years old? This seems like a case of Darwinism at work... Are people just supposed to be able to be as dumb as they want, do anything, disregard all common sense, and still somehow make it through life? Geez...
And yes, I have kids. My three year old is smart enough to not eat his older sister's toy beads. He is even smart enough to keep them away from a baby. I guess now t
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My daughter, at 16 months, is already learning about what is edible and not. At 14 months she was still putting inedible things in her mouth because she didn't know they were inedible.
Your kid just knows better.
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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?
Re:This just in! (Score:5, Insightful)
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 [app.com]. 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.
Chinese manufacturers always cut corners (Score:5, Insightful)
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
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GHB not useful (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
The chemical is a glue on the surface (Score:2)
These beads are supposed to stick together, and so they have a water-activated glue on the surface. The toy concept is that kids build something in a supporting tray, spray it with water, and then can remove the whole design in one piece. There's no excuse for having anything even remotely toxic in a material intended for use like that.
The previous popular toy with little stick-together spheres was Magnetix [wikipedia.org], from Rose Art. That one was recalled after one death and 27 emergency surgeries for ingesting
new product planned (Score:2)
I just ordered mine! (Score:2)
Chinese manufacturing and Product specifications (Score:4, Informative)
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/ [rlt.com]
Mass Hysteria (Score:3, Informative)
Read that again. "Large amounts." http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/06/2082480.htm [abc.net.au]
This is a case of mass hysteria. More children probably get hurt from falling off a bicycle or choking on their Fruit Loops.
Re:WTO (Score:4, Funny)
Ok, what the hell are you on? Oh right, the beads...
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There does seem to be a problem with Chinese companies making unsafe products and with their government inspection system. Things like the lead paint on toys. This one may be a case of "We never knew that would happen!".
So yes I have to agree that this may be unfairly being lumped into the China is evil category.
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Sure it should be taken off the market. I just wonder if it being made in China has ANYTHING to do with it.
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Re:the emphasis (Score:5, Informative)
Better question: did they care? (Score:5, Insightful)
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 [wikipedia.org], 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
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I will agree, however, that there's a pret
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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 GH
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You have a 'no-fucking-clue' problem
Toddlers eat things (Score:5, Informative)
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?
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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.
It's funny; back around the 1900s or so when the US was just getting ramped up with lots of production and exports and world trade, there were all sorts of abominations just like this - well, really, fewer polymers, and more sawdust-in-your-flour, fingers-in-your-sausage, and stuff like that.
Then manufacturers sprung up who could make a profit off their reputation for quality, and Industry generally cleaned up their act quite a bit.
This stuff is typical of developing economies.
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And anywhere else, for that matter. A Gummi Bear is just the right size to be shoved straight into an ethernet jack.
--
BMO
Re:Toddlers eat things (Score:5, Insightful)
More difficult than it sounds, and it would all be SO much simpler if China actually had a justice system worth a damn. As it is right now a company has a VERY hard time getting sued - every judge gets bribed, and there's more loyalty from them towards domestic businesses than seemingly hostile foreign influences. Their whole judiciary is a gigantic joke, the concept of rule of law does not apply in that country, except when the ruling party wants to apply it towards their own ends.
Even if a company is successfully sued, the way their system works allows the same group of people to simply close up shop, move a few blocks down, and continue from where they left off. It's practically impossible for any PERSONAL responsibility to be exacted unless the situation erupts into a full-scale international debacle (like this one), where the government will actually step in.
And if you think we have it bad, imagine the Chinese consumer. They don't just get to deal with shady manufacturers, but shady designs in the first place! Few people fully realize the intricacy and importance of proper engineering until it bites them in the ass like this. Welcome America, to the Wal Mart future you created for yourself by being a bunch of damn cheap bastards who would rather buy cheap shit than pay for quality and durability.
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Fixed that for ya'.
Obviously you weren't around during the 70's and 80's. American companies couldn't manufacture their way out of a paper bag. The bulk of american products were crap, with some really high quality stuff thrown in. The chinese just replaced the shitty end of the market. The hig
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"The American jack will also be made of superior materials, and is probably rated to a higher specification."
Not really. A rating is a rating. If the grade of steel is A36, that's what it is. True, the Chinese have been purposely substituting lesser materials an passing them off as better - it's called counterfeiting and fr
Not really (Score:3, Interesting)
So for n