SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Australian officials ordered a popular children's toy be pulled from the shelves Tuesday after scientists found it contains a chemical that converts into a powerful ''date rape drug" when ingested.
Three children have been hospitalized in the past 10 days after swallowing beads from Bindeez, a craft toy sold by Australia-based Moose Enterprises.
The beads in the toy — named Australia's toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year — are arranged into designs and then fuse together when sprayed with water.
Scientists say the beads contain a chemical that the human body metabolizes into the so-called ''date rape drug" gamma hydroxy butyrate, also known as Fantasy. When eaten, the compound — made from common and easily available ingredients — can induce seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.
The New South Wales state minister for fair trading, Linda Burney, ordered the toys pulled from store shelves Tuesday after a 2-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl were admitted to a Sydney hospital in recent days after swallowing large quantities of the beads.
A 19-month-old toddler from Queensland also was receiving medical help after eating the beads, the state's chief health officer, Jeannette Young, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Naren Gunja from Australia's Poisons Information Center said the drug's effect on children was ''quite serious ... and potentially life-threatening.''
A statement from the New South Wales Fair Trading Department said the product was supposed to used a nontoxic compound used in glue, but contained the harmful chemical instead.
Burney said officials were investigating the Hong Kong-manufactured product.
''I am treating this matter very seriously,'' Burney said. ''One of the considerations is how, in fact, such a substance, such a toxic substance, is actually used in a children's toy.''
Moose Enterprises could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday, a public holiday in Victoria state, where the company is based.
The product was not immediately recalled, but officials ordered stores to pull Bindeez off their shelves and urged parents to hide the toys from their children.
