By Joel Ford
An urgent warning has gone out today to three people who bought a novelty gift containing deadly poison from a Mount Maunganui gift shop.
The shop - Lagoona Beads and Gifts at Bayfair - was shocked to discover it was one of three shops in New Zealand selling Message
in a Bottle - a gift that contained brightly coloured, highly poisonous seeds known as Abrus precatorius or rosary pea.
An urgent recall has been put out on the product.
Lagoona assistant manager Tracey Mankelow said they first heard of the recall just before Christmas and immediately cleared the product off their shelves.
"We have none left now.
"We pulled them all a couple of weeks ago," she said.
"It was surprising because they really looked like little beads and that's what we thought they were. They were really cute ... they just happened to be highly toxic," she said.
Ms Mankelow said they returned 12 of the bottles and sold three.
She said they had no idea what happened to the three they sold as they don't keep information records on their customers.
Of the 72 products imported into New Zealand, only six have not been found. They were sold through Abstractz Interiors in Onehunga, at the Foxton Bookshop as well as at Lagoona.
The Ministry of Health and MAF Biosecurity NZ said the decorative jar, containing about 12 seeds from the plant was designed to be opened so the recipient could read the message inside.
John Fountain from the National Poisons Centre said if swallowed whole, the seed was unlikely to cause any ill effect.
"Chewing the seed could result in very serious health effects and possibly death in a child," Dr Fountain said.
No reports of anyone having eaten the seeds have been made but there is concern that their small size and bright colouring might appeal to children who could be tempted to eat them.
Anyone with the products, or who knows where they may be, must call MAF Biosecurity NZ, 0800 80 99 66 urgently.
- with NZPA
