Date Rape Drug Toy for Xmas

Discussion in 'Chemistry' started by Orleander, Nov 8, 2007.

  1. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    25,817
    AURGH!!! I already bought it for my daughter for xmas. I'm not worried that she will swallow a piece of it, but that our stupid cat might. Does anyone know if the chemical reaction the toy has in the human system might also be the same chemical reaction to an animal?

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/08/toy.recall/index.html

    NEW YORK (CNN) -- U.S. safety officials have recalled about 4.2 million Chinese-made Aqua Dots bead toys that contain a chemical that has caused some children to vomit and become comatose after swallowing them.

    Bindeez, which were named Australia's toy of the year, contain a chemical that converts into a "date rape" drug.

    Scientists have found the popular toy's coating contains a chemical that, once metabolized, converts into the toxic "date rape" drug GHB, or gamma-hydroxy butyrate, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson told CNN.

    "GHB is this drug that in low doses actually causes euphoria," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent. "In higher doses, it can cause people to go into a coma. It can cause seizures. It can cause something known as hypotonia, where all your muscles just become very flaccid.

    "And it can cause people to become amnestic, meaning they forget everything that's about to happen to them, which is why it became a date-rape drug," Gupta said.

    "So this is nasty stuff, and it appears that the chemical is actually converting into it in the body."...
     
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  3. sandy Banned Banned

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    Take it back. DO NOT USE IT. And NEVER buy anything from China again. EVER. I'm as serious as a heart attack here. Boycott China. They are sending us deadly cr@p.

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    They tried to kill us with toothpaste. It didn't work.

    They killed hundreds of our pets.

    They have sent us hundreds of deadly things.

    BOYCOTT CHINA.

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    Back on topic: don't take any chances with the toy. It's not worth it.

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    p.s. At least 5 American and Australian kids have been sickened by this. I'm guessing it could kill a smaller pet.
     
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  5. Gustav Banned Banned

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    your drinks, ladies

    /bow
     
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  7. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    It's made in China, not invented there. The coating on the beads allows them to stick together when wet. Unfortunately the coating metabolizes into GHB when in the human body. The only way they could have forseen this was to feed this plastic pellets to people.
     
  8. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    The only way to find out would be to test it on an animal and then you'd get the ARFs on your case. But in general cat biochemistry has a lot of similarity to human biochemistry. (Much more than dogs but of course not as close as rats.) It's sensible to assume that anything that's harmful to humans would be harmful to cats. Even if you're only right 25% of the time that's a huge risk to take with a pet.

    The article in the Washington Post implied that this toy was invented in Australia. Is that correct? They don't need date-rape drugs, they have those gigantic cans of Foster's.

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  9. shichimenshyo Caught in the machine Registered Senior Member

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    But how are we supposed to advocate freed trade if we boycott all the countries with cheaper labor?
     
  10. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    Crap!!! Well, I guess I'm calling the number and getting a refund.

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    Oh, and its not the Fosters. its the accent.

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    So Sandy, do I boycott Australia as well, or still just China? :shrug:
     
  11. Klippymitch Thinker Registered Senior Member

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    699
    Aqua dots huh.

    I know what I'm buying soon

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    GHB used to be sold in the 80's and early 90's as a bodybuilding supplement to help promote sleep and to help the body produce HGH.

    I've been told the effect are similar to taking a low dose of ecstasy and getting drunk.
     
  12. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    Sandy, I apologize. You were right.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071109...e_rape_drug;_ylt=Ah5e7iYmcvPpHHQmlyN.wEtI2ocA

    ...Peter Mahon, a spokesman for Moose Enterprises, said the company was conducting an internal investigation to determine how the chemical came to be included in the beads, which are made at a factory in Shenzhen in China's Guangdong province.

    He said "ingredients were switched at the point of manufacture without Moose's knowledge." He declined to give the name of the factory, saying it was "not appropriate" at this time.

    "Really the main thing we're doing is concentrating our efforts on making people aware that children shouldn't be playing with these products and getting them back," Mahon said in a telephone interview....

    ...The toys were supposed to be made using 1,5-pentanediol, a nontoxic compound found in glue, but instead contained the harmful 1,4-butanediol, which is widely used in cleaners and plastics.

    The Food and Drug Administration in 1999 declared the chemical a Class I Health Hazard, meaning it can cause life-threatening harm.

    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, though there is a significant price difference. The Chinese online trading platform ChemNet China lists the price of 1,4-butanediol at between about $1,350-$2,800 per metric ton, while the price for 1,5-pentanediol is about $9,700 per metric ton.
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2007
  13. TruthSeeker Fancy Virtual Reality Monkey Valued Senior Member

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    I honestly think this whole story is just STUPID. Not for you, Orleander, because you have a cat and the cat CAN eat the things....

    But... whatever happened to not giving chocking toys to little kids!?!?!? I mean... are we talking about 12 year olds eating those things or what!? Why would an older child eat them? Seriously.... only children under 3 (or possibly a few do it till around 4) put stuff in the mouth. Older children, as far as I know, don't do that. Unless our population is becoming retarded!?!? :bugeye:
     
  14. TruthSeeker Fancy Virtual Reality Monkey Valued Senior Member

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    Still, despite the above, children's toys should not be made with toxic substances, specially if it can be toxic simply by touching it or smelling it. As far as eating it goes.... I don't see why a grown up child would eat the toy.
     
  15. shorty_37 Go! Canada Go! Registered Senior Member

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    12,140
    Funny you said that, because I was thinking the exact thing!!
    My kids stopped putting things in their mouths at maybe 2. I taught them that very early. Some of the recalls on toys are for older kids you are right Truth. You would think that kids wouldn't be sucking on them or swallowing them......or even putting them in their mouths!
     
  16. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    25,817
    Their older siblings had the toy and some of the beads got dropped on the floor. The toddler came along and swallowed some of them.
    And older kids pick up plastic things all the time to chew on them. Just because a person teaches them not to put things in their mouth, doesn't mean they won't.
    They stick together with water. I can see a kid wanting to see if they will stick to their tongue. Kids!
     
  17. Looney Whaaaaat? Registered Senior Member

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    301
    I would be more worried about loosers who will buy the toy just to get the beads to put into unsuspecting women's drinks. Easier to obtain than GHB. The toy is still being advertised on TV here.
     
  18. Gently Passing Registered Senior Member

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    232
    Why should we advocate free trade by default?

    Cheaper labor abroad means NO labor here, which means more people on welfare, more crime, more poverty, a bigger strain on the already-taxed medicaid system, etc., etc., etc.

    I'm with her (but not necessarily for the same reasons): boycott China. That IS free trade, that is free citizens making the choice not to buy certain products versus being forced to buy others because a handful of corporations (who may take their fortunes oversees) decide what we should have available.

    Boycott Wal-Mart, too. And if you play music, then Guitar Center is the absolute worst place to buy an instrument.

    Now is the time to EMBRACE free trade by exercising it. Buy the products that are good for you and your family, and those that are good for your country (whether it's the US or elsewhere), and those which are best for our planet.

    We must do a bit of research to practice free trade because it is ubiquitous in our economy for the corporations to crowd out choice. We do not live in a free market if we allow it to become a Corporatocracy.

    And that, friends, is what this economy and in a way the United States (and others) is threatening to become.

    I'm worried about that, too, and also teens wanting a cheap fix.
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2007
  19. TruthSeeker Fancy Virtual Reality Monkey Valued Senior Member

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    I think every parent considers that regardless of whether they know the thing is GHB or not!

    Older kids don't do that, unless they are kinda "retarded" or their parents never taught them nothing.
     
  20. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    Ugh! You're right. Children have no free will and do everything their parents teach them to do or else they are retarded.
    They never try to fit a fist in their mouth, jump a bike over 5 of their friends, fit 15 marshmallows in their mouth, drink a gallon of milk in 10 minutes, etc.

    Yep, kids are smart and listen.

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  21. shorty_37 Go! Canada Go! Registered Senior Member

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    When you say older kids how old are you talking about?
     
  22. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    birth - 18
     
  23. shorty_37 Go! Canada Go! Registered Senior Member

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    Thats a big range! But I can tell you I haven't caught my kids 6 and 11 picking up and chewing plastic things as you say.........for many yrs.
     

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