Ground Report

The Chinese government has halted all exports of a toy found to have been coated with a toxic chemical, China’s official Xinhua news agency says. The move comes after the authorities in the United States, Australia and a number of other countries removed the Bindeez and Aqua Dots toys from sale. Seven more children in the US were hospitalized following accidental ingestion of the toxic toy beads which have been found to be coated with a suspected date rape drug called GHB. The Chinese authorities are reportedly to have sealed stocks where they were produced, and ordered an investigation. It is the latest in a number of scandals which have questioned the quality of Chinese-made products.