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Recall of Toy With Dangerous Chemical Prompts Support for Mandatory Testing
Aqua Dots were recalled because they contain a chemical that turns into a dangerous drug when ingested. At least two children have been treated.
(Consumer Product Safety Commission)
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Mays said the importers' failure to find that the glue had been switched suggests that they were not testing enough. "The problem is you can't test one batch. You have to do continuous testing," he said.
The beads also reached stores despite stepped up safety testing by retailers and manufacturers.
Wal-Mart, which had put Aqua Dots on its list of top 12 Christmas toys, was among the retailers that pulled them from its shelves Wednesday. In August, Wal-Mart asked its suppliers to document recent testing for lead paint, magnets and small parts but did not ask for tests for 1,4-butanediol, spokesman Melissa O'Brien said. "The discovery of this chemical has to come through specific testing for the chemical agent," she said.
Consumer advocates said the onus is on manufacturers and retailers to protect consumers from hazards like the one found in Aqua Dots, which, unlike lead, cannot be detected without sophisticated laboratory tests.
"Parents and toy-givers certainly couldn't anticipate the apparent inadvertent presence of a date-rape drug in a child's toy," said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG.
Consumers yesterday were left to come up with their own strategies for avoiding toxic toys. Jenna Kwan of North Potomac, who was shopping at White Flint yesterday, took an extreme approach: She said she threw out all of her children's toys that were labeled "made in China." She asked her family and friends not to give her children, Greg, 1, and Caitlyn, 3, toys manufactured in China for Christmas.
"If it's made in China," she said, "I don't buy it."
Staff writer Ylan Mui contributed to this report.
