Quote:

The New South Wales Government has temporarily banned the sale of a popular children's toy because a compound found in the so called magic beads closely resembles the illegal hallucinogenic drug known as GHB (gammahydroxybutyric).

A two-year-old and a 10-year-old were admitted to a Sydney hospital over the past week and a half, after swallowing beads from the Bindeez brand of toy. The children were unconscious when they were admitted to hospital, and suffered seizures.

Bindeez, developed by a Melbourne company called Moose Enterprises, was named Toy of the Year for 2007. It is distributed worldwide.

Sabra Lane reports.

BINDEEZ ADVERTISEMENT: They're magic! They're magic beads! They're Bindeez, Bindeez, Bindeez!

Wow, the winner of the 2007 Australian Toy of the Year, is the Bindeez...

SABRA LANE: Being named Toy of the Year, it's no surprise the Bindeez magic beads have become the must-have toy for kids.

The tiny beads are laid out into a pattern, water is then sprayed onto them, setting the beads together, creating a colourful piece of kid's art. Problem is, two children in New South Wales recently swallowed some of the so-called magic beads, and became seriously ill.

Dr Naren Gunja is the deputy medical director of the Poisons Information Centre at the Westmead Children's Hospital.

NAREN GUNJA: When you ingest a significant number of these beads, there is a chemical in the beads, which is then metabolised by the body, into GHB, gammahydroxybutyrate, which causes you to become drowsy initially, and then eventually, you become comatose.

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undergrounder said:

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s2082999.htm

Quote:

The New South Wales Government has temporarily banned the sale of a popular children's toy because a compound found in the so called magic beads closely resembles the illegal hallucinogenic drug known as GHB (gammahydroxybutyric).




NAREN GUNJA: When you ingest a significant number of these beads, there is a chemical in the beads, which is then metabolised by the body, into GHB, gammahydroxybutyrate

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StonedShroom said:

how funny they were called "magic beads"

and they were made in australia.

What's hanky been up to nowadays?

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I love it.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22726736-2,00.html

Quote:

SCHOOLIES seeking drug-contaminated Bindeez on the black market have been warned by health authorities the banned toy was "dangerous".

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young has appealed to young people to resist the temptation of swallowing Bindeez beads, found to contain the date-rape drug GHB or Fantasy.

Dr Young admitted she was "very, very concerned young people would go out and experiment" with the beads, now banned throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and North America.

"They've got to treat them as a dangerous drug, because that's what they are," she said.

Eight children have been admitted to hospital after ingesting the beads following confirmation of two more cases in Canada yesterday.

A toddler from Toowoomba, three children from New South Wales and two more in New Zealand have also received hospital treatment.

The New South Wales' Opposition Fair Trading spokeswoman Catherine Cusack said yesterday measures were needed to remove from the community boxes of Bindeez that had already been sold.

Black market potential

"I've heard stories of people actually offering to buy these beads and so there's a real potential now for a black market, in a very dangerous form of drug taking," she said.

But Drug Arm's director of addiction research and education Caroline Salom said "there were easier ways to get GHB than by swallowing dozens of plastic beads".

She said the chance of Bindeez being circulated at Schoolies' Week celebrations on the Gold Coast next week were remote as most celebrating students were "hell bent on drinking lots of alcohol".

Meanwhile, the principal of a Cairns Catholic school where four Year 7 children were referred to a doctor on Wednesday after being seen with Bindeez said the incident was "completely innocent".

Education Queensland said there had been no other incidents of children taking Bindeez to school, since the beads were banned this week.

Premier Anna Bligh said the case highlighted how more stringent testing of toys was needed to protect children.

Attorney-General Kerry Shine said those using the toy for recreational drug purposes could still face prosecutions under the Drugs Misuse Act.

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