Angry in the Great White North

Aqua Dots (aka Bindeez) is a toy that children use to make bead sculptures. The beads are arranged in a pattern, moistened, and bind together.

The problem is that someone in China, where the toy is made, substituted one of the constituent chemicals. The substitute metabolizes in the body into GHB, known commonly as a date rape drug.

When the Australian recall happened, three children who had swallowed beads had suffered seizures. The North American version of the product was pulled from shelves, though no one knew whether the chemical subsitution had happened with that production run.

It turns out it had.

Multiple cases are being reported. Sick children in six states who swallowed Aqua Dot beads:

At least one child from New Hampshire has fallen sick from swallowing Chinese-made toy beads covered with a chemical that converts to a date-rape drug when digested. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported yesterday six more children were hospitalized. Other children were from Delaware, Illinois, Texas and Utah.

Julie Vallese, spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the federal government received reports Thursday and yesterday of the seven additional sick children, bringing the total to nine. Product recalls frequently spur additional reports of harmed consumers, she said.

One of the first original cases that spurred the recall, involving 20-month old Jack Esses, originated in Arkansas. He became dizzy and vomited several times before slipping into a coma.

He was hospitalized and has since fully recovered.

The North American distribution is being handled by Spin Master out of Toronto. I expect the company is girding for lawsuits:

Consumers are encouraged to return the toy to its distributor, Toronto-based Spin Master, Vallese said, which will provide a replacement toy.

The toys are manufactured in China for Australia-based Moose Enterprises, which sells them in 40 countries.

The effect of the GHB on a child is frightening:

NBC5's Rob Elgas told the exclusive story of a local victim, 13-month old Riley Batcheller. He said that in less than 20 minutes the child transformed from a happy toddler to an unresponsive youngster. What followed was panic, an airlift to a Milwaukee hospital and near death.

"She was limp in my arms," the baby's mother, Kelly Batcheller said. "She wouldn't hold up her head ... her arms were limp ... there were so many things running through my head. I'm like, should I not have picked her up? Did she fall? Is her neck broken?"

The girl's father, Jason Batcheller, recalls the chaos that followed.

"The ambulance came and she started throwing up Aqua Dots, you know, a kid's toy," he said.

"All the sudden she just let out this loud cry, and then she started puking," Kelly Batcheller said.

Paper bags and crayons. Playing it safe...literally.

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