The kids, they are…alright(and accidently high as a kite)

We have all been shocked and amazed lately with news stories about harmful substances making their way to our kids, including all those issues with lead paint used on toys imported from China. Then there are strange stories where drugs are ingested unknowingly by kids, hidden in baked goods or Hallowe’en treats.
Today, Mouseclone and I were looking at the story where the ‘treat’ giver openly shared his stash, and go the ‘trick’ of going to jail for his kindness.
Just today also, they are finding issues with the wildly popular Aqua Dots play sets, that I have been watching over the past few weeks, as A wanted one for her birthday. I’m now glad that I had pushed the purchase back another week after seeing the news of the recall:

• Transworld Article
• Kalyan Suman
• The Times Colonist in BC, Canada

The Bindees (in Australia) and Aqua Dots are manufactured in Australia, and an unknown number of batches of the actual dots have a different solution on them than what is supposed to be used. If, as children are wont to do, a kid puts them in their mouth, or swallows one/some from these tainted batches of dots, The stuff goes through a chemical reaction in the digestive tract, and becomes a nice whoppin’ dose of Gamma Hydroxybutyrate!

I’m glad to see the companies involved stepping up to the plate, and getting them all off the shelves so quickly. Online retailers have temporarily pulled the product as well, until the bad dots can be rounded up, and safety measures put into place. Good on ya, mates!

Oh. The Gamma Hydroxybutyrate. Yeah. That’s known in pharmacology as GHB, a controlled substance. It is illegally trafficked under the name “fantasy” or “liquid ecstasy”, and is sought after by devious creeps everywhere as an effective date-rape tool. Nice.

So now, the kids are getting lead poison from the toys, getting pot during trick-or-treating outings, and getting hallucinogenic sedatives from creative toys… I would imagine that this generation is going to have similar experiences as college-aged kids did in the early Sixties…. Feelin’ groovy?

I do hope that they get this sorted out soon, though. We are looking forward to (safely) being able to arrange the colored dots and bond them together with water. It looks like fun, mess-free play time with neat-looking craft results.