The Wheels, They are Surprisingly Terrible

Sometimes, hiding in that terrible taste might be something so important that it can change the world in a noticeable way. In fact, there’s a really terrible flavor that’s hiding all over your home. Why haven’t you tasted it yet? Well, let’s just say that, if the flavor does its job right, you never will.

In 2007, Aqua Dots, a toy manufacturer, had a bit of a disaster on its hands when it was discovered that at least some of the beaded toys it produced were coated with a chemical so dangerous that, when it metabolized, it turned into the “date-rape” drug GHB.

Beads are small, and they’re edible. So you can imagine what happened. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission quickly recalled more than 4.2 million toys in an effort to control the problem.

But eventually, these toys came back on the market in a different form, under a different name. And when they did, they were covered with another kind of chemical—this one designed to prevent kids from eating the beads.