Claim: Bindeez were recalled by the Comsumer Protection Safety Commission in the United States, as well as by authorities in other nations, when it was determined that the toys were made with the sedative prodrug (or compound that is metabolized into a pharmacologically active drug) that caused unconsciousness after being ingested by kids.
Evidence: In 2007, Bindeez was subject to a multi-national product recall after it was found that the Wangqi Product Factory in Shenzhen, China had, in some shipped toys, used a cheap chemical that was a pharmacologically active sedative prodrug instead of the safer chemical specified by the designers, resulting in the illness and hospitalization of some children who ingested the beads. Bindeez were first withdrawn from the Australian market, and subsequently from the North American market by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission as well as European markets in early November 2007. Two children in North America became unconscious after similar ingestion. A prodrug is a medication or compound that, after administration, is metabolized (i.e., converted within the body) into a pharmacologically active drug. They were recalled in Australia after a two-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl became seriously ill after they swallowed large numbers of the beads and the connection between the illness and the product was discovered by a doctor at The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney.