Popular Toy Recalled Over Toxic Beads

A popular arts-and-crafts toy made in China is being yanked from stores worldwide after it was found to include a chemical that replicates the effects of date-rape drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported today. At least three children were hospitalized recently in Australia after swallowing beads from the toy, sold as Aqua Dots in the US and Bindeez elsewhere.

The toy's Australian manufacture said a Chinese contractor—which it wouldn't name—substituted a toxic glue for a safe one in an effort to cut costs, and corners. Such substitutions are common in Chinese factories, the Journal reports, and were at the root of recent scares in which an antifreeze ingredient was added to toothpaste with antifreeze and formaldehyde to food. (More China stories.)