I wonder if this has anything to do with the recent drop in...

I wonder if this has anything to do with the recent drop in price?

BRITISH stores have begun taking a popular Australian children's toy off their shelves amid fears it may contain traces of the illegal drug fantasy.

Large chain retailers including Woolworths and Argos have begun removing the Bindeez range of craft toys after three children were hospitalised after eating Bindeez beads.

The toys, designed by Melbourne-based firm Moose Enterprise, were expected to be a popular Christmas present for British children this year with annual sales estimated to be worth £10m ($22.58 million).

Toy firm Character, which distributes Bindeez in Britain, said retailers across the UK had been asked to stop selling the Bindeez toys while tests were carried out.

No official recall of the toys has yet been ordered.

"We've asked all our customers to take them off the shelf while we retest everything to make sure the toys comply with all regulations," Character's chairman Richard King said to The Daily Telegraph.

British tests on the toys are expected to take four days.

Retailers are being asked not to sell the Bindeez toys until after the results are known.

The Bindeez toys began being officially recalled in Australia today, two days after concerns were raised about the product.

Authorities in Australia are investigating how the dangerous chemical 1,4-butanediol came to replace the safe chemical 1,5-pentanediol in the manufacture of Bindeez beads in Hong Kong.

Once eaten, the chemical is converted by the body into gamma-hydroxy butyrate (GHB) – also known as fantasy or Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) – which can cause seizures, drowsiness, coma and death