Selling "stink bomb" in a store in Nguyen Khuyen street, Hanoi

The city’s education department has released a strange document, saying that Hanoi’s students must not buy “stink bomb.”

However, the dangerous toys still have been sold at all the toy shops in Hanoi, while students all have got familiar to the toy sourced from China.

The owner of Mai Ngan Toy Shop on Nguyen Khuyen Street affirmed that she has all the toy products now favored by children and students. However, when asked about Vietnamese toys, she said that 99 percent of the products here are from China. 

The saleswoman showed customers a product called “stink bomb,” saying that this is the most favorite toy now in Hanoi, especially popular to boys.

“It’s dirty cheap, just VND2,000 for a pack. This is a kind of “secret weapon” which helps the boys increase their strength in front of the rivals,” she advertised for the Chinese product.

The “stink bomb,” as the saleswoman introduced, would give stink when someone beats it and makes it blow up. Therefore, it is called a “bomb.”

The “bomb” is contained in a pack which looks like a bag of candies or small snack packs. One can see on the package the image of a boy in torn trousers and the word “bomb,” with a skull and crossbones. When the bomb explodes, it would cause a terrible smell.

The owner of a toy shop in Lang Son province has posted an ad piece about the bomb as follows: “Not injuring anyone, not harming people’s health, but once it explodes, it would create a smell stir.”

The ad piece also said that it would take five seconds only for the small bomb to stir up a big hall. The attack of the “smell typhoon” would be so strong that all the people in a 200 square meter room would have to evacuate.

Dr. Tran Hong Con from the Hanoi National University said he thinks the bomb is made of bicarbonate salt, and safe if the substance reaches people’s skin and clothes. However, if it reaches eyes, it would harm the cornea.

Therefore, Con believes that it would be better for students not to use the toys.

The Hanoi education department has urged schools to have meetings with students and parents and persuade them not to buy the dangerous toys. However, ignoring the ban, the Chinese toy still has been favored by many students.

A senior official of the education department complained that the ban is not enough to eliminate the dangerous toy from the schools. Students would still buy them, if the products are still available at the shops. Meanwhile, the market management agencies have not taken any actions to prohibit selling the products and preventing them from entering school.

In fact, stink bombs once appeared in Hanoi a long time ago. At that time, the quick intervention of the leaders of primary schools and parents’ associations helped prevent the bombs from entering schools. However, the bombs have returned.

Many Hanoi parents have applauded the decision by the city’s education department to prohibit using the bombs at schools. They said that a lot of Chinese toys have been found as dangerous and containing toxic substances, and that they don’t intend to buy Chinese toys for their children any more.

Vietnamnet