<p>[‘Date</a> rape’ drug scare in popular toy](<a href=“http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/338780_toys08.html?source=mypi]'Date”>http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/338780_toys08.html?source=mypi)</p>
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<p>With all of these recalls, it just forces us to consider notions of responsibility. Is it the responsibility of the toy company to know what will happen if a chemical used in making a toy is swallowed? Do toys have to be safe to be swallowed? How safe do toys have to be? Or is it the responsibility of the parents to keep small parts away from young children (though I guess one of the children who swallowed the beads was 10?) and to make sure that toys and other products are used correctly? </p>
<p>Does the toy just have to be safe with perfect use, or must it be safe if swallowed or incorrectly assembled or foolishly used? </p>
<p>Who’s responsibility is this?</p>
<p>Anyway, my best to those children and their families. I hope all of the children are able to make full recoveries. This is a scary and disturbing story, to be sure.</p>
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Under US law, yes, it is the toy company’s obligation to avoid using toxic products in the manufacture. It can reasonably be anticipated that small children will put objects in their mouth and there is a risk of ingesting whatever the toy is coated with, or the toy itself. </p>
<p>It looks like this is just one more case of corporate cost-cutting efforts going awry. From the news reports, it looks like the Chinese company cut corners by substituting a cheaper chemical for the one that was called for in the contract, which happened to be nontoxic but cost 8 times as much.</p>
<p>It is not a Snopes hoax. Apparently the manufacturers replaced the non-toxic glue which was supposed to be used on the beads with another glue which is known to be converted in the body to the “date rape drug”.</p>
<p>[U.S</a>. recalls 4 million Aqua Dots toys due to chemical | Reuters](<a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/sphereNews/idUSN0758602120071107?sp=true&view=sphere]U.S”>http://www.reuters.com/article/sphereNews/idUSN0758602120071107?sp=true&view=sphere)</p>
<p>“Australian officials said instead of using the safe chemical 1,5-pentanediol, the potentially dangerous chemical 1,4-butanediol was introduced in the manufacturing process. When ingested, 1,4-butanediol can metabolize into what is known as the date rape drug.”</p>
<p>Oh, wow, I thought that this was sort of a surprise… That no one knew what reaction this chemical would have. That certainly changes things.</p>
<p>corranged, </p>
<p>I am a toxicologist, so I was curious when I read Reuters story I linked above. I googled and scientific publications which describe the metabolism of 1,4-butanediol to the neurotoxic g-hydroxybutyric acid. If you are interested, here is a link to an abstract from the National Toxicology Program: </p>
<p>[NTP:</a> Abstract for TOX-54 - 1,4-Butanediol](<a href=“National Toxicology Program”>National Toxicology Program)</p>
<p>I wonder if the factory operators were aware of the severe potential for toxicity of the glue that they substituted for the proper glue.</p>
<p>“I wonder if the factory operators were aware of the severe potential for toxicity of the glue that they substituted for the proper glue.”</p>
<p>I doubt it, they just look for the cheapest… </p>
<p>Last night’s news showed china and the heavy, heavy polution being produced with their version of the “industrial revolution”. They have not begun to consider the harm they are doing to themselves, let alone the end users of the products they manufacture.</p>
<p>Who’d have thought that the communists would embrace capitalism in such a way that makes our greedy industrialist look like milk toast? </p>
<p>I still don’t know if the air will be clear enough to stage the olymipics in a few years. If I was an athelete, I’d be concerned.</p>
<p>Opie - That’s what I was thinking. Someone probably told them that this other stuff would work as well and it was cheaper.</p>
<p>No laws, no consumer/employee/environment protections… </p>
<p>Nobody works the capitalistic/corporate model better the communists…</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, Motherof2. I’ll try to take a look at that.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for that info!! Really appreciate it.</p>
<p>My young daughter just got aquadots for her 6th birthday – as did about 5 of her friends, for their parties.</p>
<p>Yikes!</p>
<p>I had just looked at the aquadots last week for my niece. I will not be buying them now!! With all the toy recalls, who knows what is safe to buy anymore!</p>
<p>My daughter got some for her birthday. She’s old enough not to try to eat them, I think, though you never know. Who would think that putting a piece of plastic in mouth could be so harmful? I don’t know where the beads are at the moment, but when I find them, I’ll be throwing them out.</p>