Hong Kong maker apologises over toxic toys
www.yahoo.com 2007-11-29
A Hong Kong producer of toys that sparked huge recalls in the United States and Australia has apologised after several children slipped into comas after swallowing toxic toy beads.
JSSY Ltd. said in a statement Thursday that it had used a chemical, 1,4 butylene glycol, which could cause unconsciousness and coma when ingested by releasing a substance akin to a date-rape drug.
The toys were manufactured for Australia-based Moose Enterprises by the Wangqi Product Factory in China's southern city of Shenzhen, part of JSSY.
JSSY said it had always used the substance on its toys, including samples given to Moose for testing.
The Hong Kong company apologised to the children who fell ill after swallowing the beads, as well as to their parents and other consumers.
It also apologised for damaging the reputation of all "made-in-China" products.
"We have learned a profound lesson. Our company will strengthen the control of our safety analysis on the raw materials we use in future," it said.
Several million sets of the toys -- called "Aqua Dots" in the United States and "Bindeez" in Australia -- have been recalled since the scare was revealed.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 4.2 million units of "Aqua Dots" after two children fell into comas after swallowing the toy distributed by Spin Master in Toronto, Canada.
There has been a string of scandals surrounding suspect toys manufactured in China, prompting several recalls in recent months.
China is the world's top toy exporter, selling 22 billion products overseas last year, 60 percent of the world's total.
(editor : jane)
