Giggidy-giggidy, Little Quagmires, have I got a product for you…

In what has become an all-too-common reoccurrence, more toys from China have been recalled just in time for Christmas. This time it wasn’t because of lead, but a chemical coating on the toys.

Aqua Dots, or Bindeez in Australia, where the toxicity of the toy was determined, are beads that fuse together when water is sprayed on them. It was named toy of the year in Australia.

The side effect of that chemical reaction is GHB, the so-called ‘date rape’ drug.

Why do I find this story somewhat humorous? Because the news media works backwards, GHB is a side effect of this reaction of the water to the Aqua Dots, but GHB wasn’t developed as a ‘date rape’ drug, it just causes symptoms that lead to date rape. It was actually developed as a rave drug, but can cause symptoms as aggressive as coma and death in people who overdose (This all sounds pretty scary to me).

Would the story be fundamentally different if they more aptly titled it; ‘Toy causes reaction linked to Rave Drug’? No it wouldn’t, but let me ask you which is scarier, ‘date rape’ or ‘rave’? Today, accuracy matters less than readership.

The story is already alarming enough; nonetheless, the media must blow it totally out of proportion. Aqua Dots are developed for ages 4+, somehow I can’t imagine some 6 year-old trying to date rape his classmate in kindergarten (or whatever grade 6 year olds are in).

This is just another case of the media trying to make something easier to understand, but in essence, those intentions, good or bad, result in fear mongering. I can just imagine parents reading “child” and “date-rape” in the same sentence and having a meltdown. But what children go on dates? And does the media just assume everyone knows what the date rape drug is and what its symptoms can be (The article here doesn’t mention this until the seventh paragraph, I realize this is a miniscule sampling, but I’ve read enough news to know its pretty typical for the mainstream media)?

Regardless, none of this is going to stop us (or Australia) from importing these cheap Chinese products. And more than anything else, I feel sad for future generations, for my kids…

They’ll never be able to eat their Play-doh in peace.

Article from MSNBC: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21678196/)