Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Spin Master Ltd., a Toronto-based toymaker, recalled about 4.2 million of its Aqua Dots products after children who swallowed the beads became comatose, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said tonight.

The Chinese-made arts-and-crafts toy, which features small beads that bond with water, contain chemical 1,4-butanediol, an industrial solvent that the body converts to gamma-hydroxy butyrate, commonly known as the ``date-rape'' drug, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Web site.

``We have asked Spin Master to fully explain what it believes happened,'' Toys ``R'' Us spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said in a statement issued yesterday. Company spokeswoman Donna MacNeil didn't return calls.

Two children in the U.S. who swallowed the beads were hospitalized after they became comatose. Both eventually recovered, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement. The product, which is labeled Bindeez outside of the U.S., sickened two Australian children as well, Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper reported Nov. 6.

``1,4-butanediol is a common industrial raw material,'' Ho Wing Shing, a biochemistry expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said yesterday. ``High concentration of the chemical can damage our nerve system.''

Stopped Sales

Toys ``R'' Us Inc. stopped sales of Aqua Dots yesterday. Amazon.com Inc. started removing the toys from its Web site today, spokeswoman Patricia Smith said in an e-mail. Target Corp. began pulling the items from shelves today, spokeswoman Amy VonWalter said in an interview.

Shipments of Aqua Dots and Bindeez have been stopped, Spin Master said today in a statement. The company said it's working with U.S. and Canadian product-safety agencies.

The Bindeez toys were recalled by Melbourne-based Moose Enterprise Pty. Ltd. after a ``small number'' of children swallowed the beads and required medical attention. Moose will introduce a ``foul-tasting ingredient'' into the product's formulation to ensure children don't eat multiple beads when Bindeez is reintroduced.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stefanie Batcho-Lino in Toronto at sbatcholino1@bloomberg.net; Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 7, 2007 20:41 EST