Go Smell the Poisoned Toys
November 7th, 2007 by aussiecynic
With Christmas Fast approaching and the shopaholic parents out in force, the latest toy scare has capped of an otherwise interesting few months for Aussies.
The Hong Kong manufactured Bindeez Toy above is this years winner of the 2007 Toy Awards in Oz and has just been recalled, removed from sale with parents being told to take them off their kids. When Swallowed it is metabolised into Fantasy, a toxic Illegal drug, also the one of the main ingredient in Liquid Ecstasy.Testing on the toy showed that a chemical in the toy can be converted into gamma hydroxy butyrate, or Fantasy, when ingested. This follows a spate of toys being banned or removed from sales.
Unfortunately all the toys manufactured by big name brands are being produced in China and Asia with issues from lead in the paint, poison, and several others removed for unknown reasons.
3 children are currently in hospital one is critical and the other 2 are now recovering.
So is this Christmas going to be lean on toys and are any toys safe for our children?
Good lord, first it was lead in the toys and now they are trying to get our kids high! What the heck? I thought what happened to the ‘War on Drugs’?
I suggest all parents go back to the old ways of handmade toys for their kids. Take up your whittling, get that sewing machine out and maybe you can get a wooden train or set of mittens done for the holidays.
It has not been widely publicised in the West (no real surprise for me given the sheer racism and biggotry shown towards Asia in the press) but the original recall of 21 million toys by Mattel (that was shouted out from every street corner as China made poisonous toys, lead in paint etc) is as follows
1. China is not being penalised for the recalls as 85% of the recalls were directly Mattels fault, not the Chinese supplier. The other 15% are still under investigation.
2. The Chinese companies and Guangdong province are suing Mattel for libel.
3. The Chinese government has put in strict checks and rules for quality.
4. There is a huge safety initiative in China (our company has been selected for this) which involves inspections and regulation checks.
Frankly until the blame/root cause is established and it is shown to be the fault of an ‘unscrupulous Chinese company boss’ as the media have you believe, then these should stories should be regarded as at best, dubious.
Unfortunately fact and the truth never seem to be high on the list of Western media when they are attacking China and other Asian manufacturers. However, it does make the jobs of those of us running a business in China much more difficult for no reason other than they want to point fingers away from lax management in the West.
Again the West fails to look inwards first and immediately blames the easiest target, until a full investigation is carried out and the exact root cause is found I would say this sort of thing absolutely does not help and is scaremongering of the worst kind.
OMG - that is crazy but what a great way to smuggle drugs about (kidding) but of all the things, liquid e!
The days of playing out in the streets our gone, class As are the Pepsi of the future :0)
Dear All,
Now this is a topic…..
I am interested to learn what Gareth in China’s views are given his expertise of the region.
In anticipation,
Yours truly,
Mr Rex Stormont
The Boss of the Mattyl factory, I think, commited suicide over the lead in the paint and he was responsible for it it was his supplier but he never checked to contents and was so upset he killed himself…
It is happening with loads of big brand toys which have taken their manufacturing offshore, hot wheels cars, Polly Pocket, Bindeez just to name a few…..
Converts to GHB
ace
anyone wishing to get inshape simply eat a toy prior to bed you’ll have a deep sleep and release more HGH into your system.
I likes it- I likes it a lot
What is HGH please? Ya lost me…
Human Growth Hormone
Gary
Suggest you feed these toys to dwarfs
all I would feed to them would be rat poison
and it still wouldn’t kill them
as I’ve said before you never see a dwarf funeral.
GHB is gamma hydroxy butyrate…. very nasty and in the dosages the childrens bodies are converting it too Deadly..
Gary
Now we all know what ‘BUZZ’ Lightyear is all about,always wondered how a toy could have a great physique
Just last week my daughter was introduced to these toys at a friends house which were given to her friend as birthday gifts being the latest craze. So my daughter brought one home that she had proudly made, and now, we are throwing it out. Maybe homemade toys are the way to go! It is all a bit scary though.
They are now being recalled Australia Wide….
May be INTENSIONAL… Terrorism might have taken to a new level…. I heard earlier… but it is rumour…
My daughter is getting a craft box which I am putting together my self I least I know what to buy no more buying prepackaged if I cant put it together myself It is not happening…
What is the product made of, I assume its plastic. In which case consider adding it to the recycle bin Ange.
but homemade toys invariably look rubbish and your kids mates will think they are gypo’s.
I keep hearing and reading all about the problems with all these toys and the poisonous aspects of there production…it sort of suxs because I won’t buy any toys for my nieces and nephews that run the risk of having some contamination……
It’s interesting to see the bandwagon effect taking over again.
A flaw has been found in a product and a recall has been issued. This is standard industry practice and occurs often in the UK and other Western countries. Famous brands are frequently issuing recalls for batches of products. This is because today we have quality systems in place so as to minimise exposure of any flaw by being able to trace back the raw material and manufacturing data and thus only recall the bad product. Some car manufacturers actually found it strengthened their brand if they did it correctly. They organised ‘evenings’ where you brought your car in and the change was made or you picked up a temporary car.
As recall are such a frequent event. I do like to see the sheer feeding frenzy associated with goods manufactured in Asia. The news breaks and the accusatory and derogatory remarks start, followed generally by trial and conviction by the press.
Never is the root cause of the problem identified. Not surprising as I don’t think so many journalists are great exponents of 8D studies, fish bone diagrams, Triz or any other problem solving methodology in common use in industry.
It is not yet clear who designed the toy, the materials or the testing of the product. nor is it known if modern chemists knew of such a reaction when ingested. Therefore to start pointing the finger at China right now is somewhat jumping the gun. They may be proven culpable but nothing is certain right now.
For the record Guangdong province is today considering joining the legal action undertaken by the Chinese companies involved against Matel for libel.
Since the shocking story of evil Chinese manufacturers popped up it has been proven that 85% of the recalls were directly due to Matel and not the manufacturers, Matel has also to recall 155,000 more toys from the market for a design flaw - these were made in Mexico.
So China are by no means perfect and I’m sure some defective goods get through and some shinanegans go on unchecked but this shameless mania created in the press is would be comical to watch if it wasn’t for the fact I know so many here who are hurt to see this and wonder what they ever did.
Yet similar recalls in the west are rarely newsworthy events.
Great info GIC, Rex is onto something me thinx…
Apologies for the second one, for some reason my computer didn’t show the first one ever registered so I figured it was lost. Still I think you’ll get the gist of it now.
Even Egyptian ‘Engineers’ here in the Gulf have jumped on the Chinese is poor quality bandwagon. We market bridge joints and bearings which in the past have been made by Italian surrender monkeys, but clearly they are ripping us off as they are twice the price of similar products sourced from China. Despite independent certification of raw materials and testing of finished goods they will not accept Chinese products
Dear All,
I write in support of the Chinese cause. My company imports and distributes chinese manfactured products made under license from UK & US companies.
We also have to contend with the narrow mind set of Chinese = rubbish and unfortunately Mattel’s error (that is MATTEL’S ERROR - not the manufacturer’s) has created further issues for China as a whole.
Right now my product supplies are delayed due to the Chinese government’s (entirely correct) directive for stricter export controls to limit such crises which could further impact negatively on their economy. Unfortunately this step they have been forced to adopt due to non Chinese companies’ poor quality control is also having a negative effect on their economy, but they have to be seen to be, and indeed be, serious with their measures to limit the major damage caused by outsiders.
The following comment is in no way intended to be to be rascist (I have been subjected to enough of that myself to understand what rascism means and to strongly object to it in any form). However, in my company’s experience it is usually Indian nationals who are the most anti-Chinese.
When I encounter such objections I usually ask the objector what he thinks of my Nokia mobile phone, “quality, or not?” It cannot be denied that the phone is of good quality. “Well my friend, it is made in China.”
Mr Gareth in China, a question: Do the Chinese employ child labor forced to work in sweat shop conditions? A genuine question, I have not been to China and am interested.
Best regards,
Mr Rex Stormont
Rex
I was going to add Indian ‘Engineers’ to my comment above but for sure i would have been declared a modern day Mr Enoch Powell. agree with you Rex. The problem is that the Civil engineers in the UAE have degree’s, but don’t know how to make an engineering judgement.
I can smell one kicking off here….
It has been published in todays Newspapers that one of the companies involve with these toys Moose Enterprises were informed 4 months ago that there was a problem…… and nothing was done… England is now looking into the product with possible banns taking place there…..
GIC A recent program on ABC television looking into the manufacturing pratices in China gave a very open and even report into Chinas manufacturing. And did show the factories in question however they did have samples of materials given by a Mens suit Company in China and it was found the Falidimide was present in the MAterials it was stated that the levels where with in international guide lines but we are told that there is no harmful chemicals present in goods from Asia unless stated. The Reporteer was in China and posed as a buyer… with hidden camera…. it was not done as a pick on China it was covered as a lets see what is happening…. It was shown that the manufacturiers is the responsiblity of the brand company employing and not the factory in China…..
The concerns I am finding is more because the general public are unaware and yes the media does not show alot of Asian Countries in a Favourable light…. However although there is some degree of discrimnation towards asian Manufacturing the problem most people have is with jobs going over seas….
Telemarketing companies ringing at 10.30 at night from India and Pakistan telling us they are in Queensland and would we like to buy a holiday….. selling usless stuff and then lying about it…… I know I have 15 calls in one evening from the same company and I have an unlisted number…. We have in Tasmania 4 companies this year Close and take their manufacturing business offshore with the loss of hundreds of jobs… Banks are also moving there call centres to asia as is Telstra and many others….. It is cheaper to employ there than here… with profits being the main driving force….
AC
Firstly, camera in bag documentaries are never fair and they never go ‘just to see what happens’. If this was the case 99.9% of the shows produced would feature really boring meetings, I know I go to enough of these myself, as part of my job I visit all new companies we do business with, just been to one this morning. These journalists are out to prove something by hook or by crook, if they don’t then their funding soon dries up and their job disappears.
Regarding the Thalidomide in the fabric, if it is within international guidelines but you still have an issue then we should be looking into the people who make the guidelines. If I’m given a specification of 10 parts per million maximum and I get a sample at 9 then I will look at putting SPC in place to find out my process standard deviation. I can then steer my process capability to never deliver 10, maybe a median of 3 would suffice, either way if you’re in spec then you’re in spec, end of.
Regarding outsourcing, this is the fault of your own countries and the people therein. If the consumer and sharholders put enough pressure on a company for cost then that company will do whatever it takes to keep market position and maintain shareholder value and return on investment. Essentially one firm outsourcing is all that is required to tip the market and all the others will follow. The choice you have is not to use the firms who outsource and tell them why. Many I spoke to in England had issues talking to banking and credit card hotlines in India, always bleating on about how they didn’t like them. When I asked why they really didn’t have any good reasons, those I was given were poor, most common excuse - ‘I couldn’t understand them.’ Sorry, you understand the guy who sells you your morning paper and he’s from Hyderabad, you have no issues with the waiter when you go for an Indian meal - he’s from Jaipur, do you manage to speak to your doctor OK? Strange, he’s from Mumbai.
(a little steroetyped but needed for illustrative purposes).
Personally I enjoyed speaking to the guys in India mainly because I spent a lot of time there myself.
So in short you can boycott or you can deal with it.
Regarding child labour in China. It has been found in rural China and a lot of the guys caught were shot. It is not common place but in the more rural areas it happens, mainly brick factories. The government has a strict policy on this and it is enforced vigorously.
You are right GIC on the issue is with the government and the caompnay share holder… however there have been afewwhich are not own by share holders, have saked several hundred workers and gone to Asia…. most aussie understand the need to make profit and keep a business viable…. the problem ismore to with the way in which it is done…. where I am we have 2 mines owned by India and a large Indian population there are no Indian food halls or take aways, and alike, the money from the mine does notflow back into the town, most of the workers are brought over from india except Laboureres who are brought in from others parts…. China owns 2 mines in the next own over and has just signed another 20 year contract to maintain ownership, and it is done for the most part the same as with India……
The Issue of Boycotting is difficult when the majority of goods brought here are manufactured overseas and if you want to buy a TV or electronics you can not find a comapny which is not made in Asia…. We have one Phone Company Telstra… they lease or rent out phone and interent space to other companies so there is no one else to provide the service and the Shareholders did vote AGAINST it but the board went ahead anyway and they did again yesterday by giving their executives a pay rise when the shareholders said NO!.
As I said the problem we have is not so much with the countries as it with the companies which put profit before people regardless of what the people and the shareholders want….
And the fact they Lie about the reasons for it……
I haven’t had a chance to look into this but one thing to consider. Australia is a long way, logisitcally, from the West but is classed as a Western country. The local population is roughly 18 million poeple (China has cities with more than this) on a land mass similar to Europe and the US. Australians will want the same prices we pay as in the modern era data about this sort of thing is easily found out and spread.
As we have done a lot of outsourcing to lower costs and offset oil rises, etc so it is fair to assume to keep price parity so will the Australian companies, shareholders or not they are in a competitive market place.
Telstra is a special case as they have a monopoly, this is not healthy and so its no surprise to hear your comment on pay rises. This needs to be sorted out by breaking the monopoly but I doubt Mr howard and his best mates on the Telstra board want this - an exception not the rule I’m afraid.
Regarding the mine ownership, don’t be surprised to see much more of this in the future. India and China have been dormant for the last century but are now waking up and wanting the same comforts and life style we have in the West.
This is why yesterday the worlds largest company, a US oil firm, was replaced by a Chinese company, again an oil firm.
Both countries really want raw materials and as such are buying up many mines, oil producers, etc to fuel the home market with energy and raw material.
What we are going to see is a strange type of reverse colonialism. Already many Indian IT firms control vast swathes of the market. China is seen as a great customer for oil for countries not happy with the US, like Sudan and Venezuela (maybe due to their none interference policy and apparent stability) and gradually the power is shifting away from the US led West as many counrties are more comfortable knowing they are not dealing with a country that may well bomb them for a perceived lack of democracy.
South America and Africa have pretty much been boxed off by the Chinese, its not surprising to see Australia undergoing this sort of inverstment either.
Aussie if the suit ad thalidomide present what gave it away?
short arms on the jacket?
Material was taken to the CSIRO and tested indendantly they are the official Government body. The results showed this chemical… it is used to give a nice ironed finished on the suits…. Also we had been told by ACCC when asked that it was not present in any imported items…..
The ABC is a public and government owned broadcaster as is not a tabloid station, it is not owned by Fairfax or Murdoch or anyother, it is a none commercial station and is not allowed to show adds, it is souly public funded ….. their rules of operation insist on fair and equal reporting and any reporter showing bias is investigated and will be sacked….. If the program had been bias against one party or the other it would have aired and the program cancelled pending investigation…..
WOW! Aussie thanks for the update and for sharing - full of facts…no dount the China child labour thread will continue here too! Great post…
I havent gone there yet…. but was tempted….. More concerned about the health issue with the kids…. I am presently surviving 8 yr disapointment at not getting the beads we have birthday in few weeks… but that is another subject there was a great post on Gag clothing using child labourers and sweat shops to make their clothes…
Update These Toys known as Aqua Dots have just been withdrawn from sale in the US and Canada the same chemicals where found on these as well…….
From Yahoo Australia
Manufactured in China, the toy, known in Australia as Bindeez, is similar to a product called Aqua Dots in North America.
They are small beads that can easily be swallowed by a child.
The North American distributor of Aqua Dots, Toronto-based Spin Master Ltd, has issued a statement on its website.
The product was distributed in Australia by Moose Enterprises.
“Following notification by Moose Enterprises of a recall in Australia of a product called Bindeez, which is similar to the line of toys we distribute for them in North America under the Aqua Dots brand, we are requesting that retailers remove the Aqua Dots toy from retail shelves and sale in North America,” the Spin Master statement said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have stopped shipping this item.”
Toys ‘R Us pulled the product from its stores on Tuesday.
AC
Thanx for the update AC -great post and follow up….