Made in China: The Toy with the Dangerous Drug Inside

two points in response to this: first - it is difficult to believe that the butanediol was selected as the best or most economical material to fill the aqua dots with. Isn't any one else questioning this? Second and corollary to the first - is the consumer world outside of China in an undeclared "war of ill intentions" by China?

There's a good article in the New York Times today about how an Australian doctor named Kevin Carpenter used a mass spectrometer to identify the chemical that put one children in a coma. With regard to your first point, the Times reports the following about Dr. Carpenter's investigation:

"He contacted the toy's worldwide distributor, Moose Enterprise of Australia, who referred him to the Hong Kong office of the manufacturer. The manufacturer provided a list of the beads' ingredients. The list did not include the dangerous industrial chemical. Dr. Carpenter said the manufacturer was reluctant to provide details of how the beads were made."

Clearly, butanediol was not selected because it was the best or most economical material. My guess is that it was the cheapest - and the consequences be damned.

I keep wondering with all the recalls of Chinese products shipped to the US, if the following scenario hasnt occurred:

Pollution control (in US) drives manufactures to ship manufacturing to China, while China doesnt want the pollutants either, so they put them (the pollutants) in the products to ship back here. I find it hard to believe that American corporations would not put specs on the materials to be used in manufacturing. You couldnt ge away without specs on toys made in the US.

I have had similar thoughts. It would not take much to convince me that the lead in paint and the filling of the Aqua Dots with butanediol convertible to a dangerous drug was deliberate and intentional.

Where has the Consumer Protection Agency been in all of this?

What's next? clothing that slowly poisons the wearer of something equally sinister?

It shouldn't be surprising that this sort of thing goes on all the time in an effort to drop prices. They can only drive the labor cost down so far and then you take the manufacturing materials to the lowest price as well. Americans encourage this behavior by demanding things at the lowest possible cost, and not to sound like a Homer, but this drives a lot of manufacturing out of this country. I'm sure the Aqua Dot company never even considered what would happen if someone swallowed an Aqua Dot because they aren't forced to consider it. How about we enforce and beef up some customs inspections and pay for it by applying an import tax on "bad actor" companies/countries? Does anyone honestly think that it is only toys where this type of low-grade production is occurring? Wait until we start to get low-price cars where all the bolts and welds are weak and cars start flying apart on the freeway.

Guest: The discussion centers on the protection of purchasers (and their children) of products from the harmful effects of the materials used in the manufacture of those products.

Any perceived political implications are in your apparently drug fogged mind. You did not register or took the easy out of anonymous "Guest" to post you off topic rant.

If you, I, or others don't protect the children, who will?

In my role as a CR4 administrator, I've deleted the comments of the Guest to whom Stirling Stan refers. Abusive, ad hominem attacks won't be tolerated here. Before this unfortunate digression, however, the Guest did make some remarks that are worth preserving. Here they are:

"GHB is useful because it safely let's people with Narcolepsy, sleep soundly through the night. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), cataplexy, sleep paralysis (always accompanied by nightmares) & automatic behavior all bear a linear relationship to the fragmented sleep of a person with Narcolesy.

Thanks to the amphetamine family of drugs, those of us who do not want to deal with bed-wetting and other side effects of the GHB family of drugs, we can stay awake most of the day. Many people do not even know I have Narcolepsy thanks to the amphetamines. Of course, they also do not know that I have to sneak off to the toilet stall for a 5 minute nap on many days. A real class act, let me tell you.

Those of us who have Narcolepsy have to accept that no matter how much we want to be the best that we can be, nop matter how much we want to be able to provide the best we can for our families, to make our parents - our children proud, we will fall asleep in school, fall asleep at home, have to pull over on ther highway to nap, fall asleep in church, and on and on. We will not be able to stay awake to do homework, again prompting misunderstanding and failure in school and personal discouragement as we pursue higher education and our careers."

I'm sorry to learn about your medical condition, Guest. I sincerely wish you all the best and hope that you'll come back to CR4 to register as a member. If your information is accurate, you've taught us all something more about GHB. Having said all that, please remember that this forum will not allow you to attack anyone (even me) on a personal level.

I just came across this thread, and spent the last hour considering if I could add any worthwhile comment. I can't add other than to say I applaud the comments by moose - considerate, informative, and welcoming of further reasoned discussion. If it helps guest to understand CR4 members, I literally have spent an entire hour considering the ramifications of what I can read on this post as it stands now. Match the courtesy you have been shown by giving reasoned response - you will receive much in return.

I thought I was following the instructions accurately. I checked the box that said "off comment". I certainly did not expect Stirling Stan to disdain the discussion with near profane hyperbole (My "drug fgogged mind"). If my comments offended any of your readers, except for Sterling Stan (Interesting alias) I extend my apology.

As for Moose's implication that my comments were off-color (they were not), and Stirling Stan is allowed to engage in name-calling (so mature) this Service by Global Spec has a way to go. Good Luck!

I made a mistake engaging this forum.

Sincerely

Your comments weren't off topic, smayer. They were a personal attack on my knowledge and character. That's why I removed them. In the end, it wouldn't have mattered if they were marked as "off topic" or not.

Message me privately if you'd like to discuss this further. I'm willing to talk about this if you're willing to stick around and look for some common ground.