These Are Definitely Not in My Christmas List

MC definitely wanted Bindeez, popularly known as Aquadots, for Christmas. I was with both kids during the November holiday to list down what they wanted for Christmas and she showed me this Bindeez. She said she's been seeing this on television and she wanted to have something like it.

I listed it down on MC's wish list and I was planning to buy a set of Bindeez online last night. Good thing I didnt start my online shopping, because this morning, the same toy was the news' headline not because of its popularity but because it is being recalled!

What was the hazard?

The coating on the beads that causes the beads to stick to each other when water is added contains a chemical that can turn toxic when many are ingested. Children who swallow the beads can become comatose, develop respiratory depression, or have seizures.

And that Bindeez includes a date rape drug, that shocked and angered me!!

More than four million Chinese-made toys sold in the U.S. as Aqua Dots are being recalled after reports surfaced that children swallowed beads containing a chemical found to mimic the effects of the so-called date-rape drug.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it has received two reports of children swallowing Aqua Dots and slipping into comas. Both children are now fine, the commission said. At least three children have been hospitalized in Australia, where the product is called Bindeez, after ingesting beads from the toy.

The recall highlights a common practice in Chinese factories: cutting costs by substituting ingredients. The toy’s manufacturer, Moose Enterprise, of Melbourne, Australia, yesterday said the problem had been traced to a Chinese factory it contracted that substituted a toxic chemical for a safe glue during manufacturing.<>

Check this out.

MC would know about this product recall tomorrow. I would explain to her the danger of these 'supposed to be' fun and kid-friendly toy.

And then the third recall for Mattel which I read here.

Mattel was recalling 800,000 toys, including 675,000 accessories for one of the company’s biggest sellers, the Barbie doll. Also part of the recall, the third in just over a month, were 90,000 units of Mattel’s GeoTrax locomotive line and about 8,900 Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys, both from the company’s Fisher-Price brand. The Big Big World products were sold nationwide from July through August of this year, while the GeoTrax toys were sold from September 2006 through August of this year.

The recalled toys in the Barbie accessory line included a Barbie Dream Puppy House, which had lead paint on the dog; a Barbie Dream Kitty Condo playset, which had lead paint on the cat; and a Barbie table and chairs kitchen playset, which had lead paint on the dog and dinner plates.

The two GeoTrax toys were made by Apex Manufacturing Company Ltd., one of Mattel’s contract vendors, which outsourced paint work to a subcontractor, Boyi Plastic Products Factory. Apex supplied Boyi with certified paint; however, the toys were made with uncertified paint. Boyi is no longer in business, Mattel said.

Read more at Mattel.

It would be a relief for me if I could throw away all the hundreds of Barbie products the girls have right now, but I cant do that without tears and screams. What I did is just tell the girls to be careful of the tiny parts and when they smell something bad eminating from any toys, they give it to me or they simply throw it away; right into the garbage. I have warned the girls.

I mean, I have already blogged about the other product recalls from Mattel and I cant believe I missed this third recall. The thing is, we read about this recall from yesterday's paper. And then this morning, the Bindeez recall. Do I have to wait for the next recall list or do I stop buying toys for the kids this Christmas?

I might simply give the kids gift certificates for their favorite places to visit and forget about buying toys for Christmas. The rest of the money would go to their savings account, and that's that. Let me think about this...

If you want to know what to do about recalled products, read here.