The cute-looking "Nee Nee" stress toys are quite popular among young people. Screenshot from social media

Lin Jia tests a "Nee Nee" on her personal social media account. Photo provided by the interviewee

　　The squeezable, squashable, and reboundable stress-relief toy "Nee Nee" is trending among young people. Searching for "Nee Nee" on major e-commerce platforms shows many stores with cumulative paying customers in the thousands, with prices generally ranging from a few yuan to several dozen yuan, and some "Nee Nee" toys even being resold for over a thousand yuan on second-hand trading platforms.

　　The Beijing News reporter found that while "Nee Nee" is booming, it also brings some hidden concerns. Recently, several bloggers who make "Nee Nee" have stated on social media that making "Nee Nee" releases formaldehyde, causing physical discomfort such as chest tightness, dizziness, and vomiting, with some store owners ultimately choosing to close their shops and leave the business. For a time, "Nee Nee is toxic" sparked heated discussion.

　　In response, the Beijing News reporter interviewed Qu Ruijing, a senior researcher in the chemical industry, who said, "I have observed that most 'Nee Nee' products currently have no production standards and are all sold by small online shops. When children play with them, they come into contact with the respiratory system and retina, so safety issues must be considered."

　　Question 1

　　Frequent herpes outbreaks from playing with "Nee Nee"; bags "so smelly they cause dizziness"

　　Wang Jingjing was initially drawn in by videos of unboxing blind-bag "Nee Nee" toys and began trying this type of toy. She enjoys the process of freely squashing the "Nee Nee": "I like 'pancake-style' pressing—using both hands to forcefully flatten it, squeezing the 'Nee Nee' into every corner of the bag. It's very satisfying."

　　The materials used to make "Nee Nee" are usually silicone and color paste, and they are generally shaped like food—bread, cheese, fruit, and so on—with realistic and cute appearances. They belong to the stress-relief toy category. Because of their strong plasticity and soft feel, they are loved, sought after, and even collected by many young people.

　　"Playing with Nee Nee has become my spiritual happiness—it's healing and very stress-relieving," a "Nee Nee" enthusiast told the Beijing News reporter. "Looking at those 'Nee Nee' makes me feel happy, and I want to store them all away, so I keep buying more and more."

　　Wang Jingjing once bought a TPR (thermoplastic rubber) "Nee Nee". "It had a cheap, inferior smell and no feel to it at all," she told the reporter. "Later I bought a cake-shaped silicone 'Nee Nee', but then I felt the bag holding the 'Nee Nee' was super smelly—so smelly it made me dizzy, and I felt like I couldn't breathe."

　　Another "Nee Nee" enthusiast had a similar experience. She bought a "Nee Nee" on an e-commerce platform, and after some time she found she was particularly prone to allergies, with frequent herpes outbreaks on her hands, and after a while her face would itch too. After she put all the "Nee Nee" toys away, the symptoms gradually disappeared. But soon she took the "Nee Nee" out to play again, and the herpes reappeared.

　　"Nee Nee" enthusiast Lin Jia not only buys finished "Nee Nee" toys but also makes some herself to give to friends. However, during the making process, she developed health problems. "The PVC (polyvinyl chloride) bags were too pungent—just one sniff made my throat hurt. I later switched to food-grade bags and no longer experienced any discomfort."

　　Lin Jia explained that after a "Nee Nee" is made, it is put into a small transparent bag, and playing with it also requires doing so through the bag. Lin Jia revealed that many of the bags currently used for "Nee Nee" are made of PVC. "Do not use a heat sealer or a hot plate to heat-seal these PVC bags, as it will release toxic gases. If you must seal them, it's better to use double-sided tape, mesh tape, nano tape, or hand-sewn edge sealing."

　　In an interview with the reporter, Qu Ruijing said that when PVC is heated, the plasticizers inside will leach out, which can have a certain impact on human health. Especially with prolonged exposure in a confined room, it may cause reactions such as fainting, nausea, and even poisoning.

　　Question 2

　　Formaldehyde and other gases may be produced during manufacturing

　　The reporter's investigation found that "Nee Nee" products currently on the market are mainly handmade by individuals and sold through personal shops on e-commerce platforms. Due to the lack of standard product inspection procedures and certification, consumers can only rely on word of mouth when choosing "Nee Nee", and product quality is difficult to guarantee.

　　Amid the controversy over "Nee Nee is toxic", many "Nee Nee" shop owners have posted test reports for their raw materials to prove that their "custom-blended silicone 'Nee Nee' is colorless and odorless."

　　The reporter learned that most handmade "Nee Nee" products currently on the market use AB glue (a two-liquid mixed hardening adhesive) and color paste as raw materials. Lin Jia told the reporter that most shops' testing currently targets the AB glue, "but in addition to testing the raw materials, you also need to see whether formaldehyde and other gases are released during the curing process after the AB glue is mixed."

　　When she used a liquid electrochemical sensor for evaluation, she found that in a small space, food-grade silicone with color paste added showed a formaldehyde value increase of 0.04 mg per cubic meter during the curing process, and a TVOC (total volatile organic compounds) value increase of 0.06 mg per cubic meter. "This process is enough to show that after adding color paste, the entire production process produced more formaldehyde and TVOC. Fortunately, the amount released was not large, so ventilation should still be maintained," Lin Jia said.

　　"From a chemical perspective, liquid glue that meets production standards will not produce harmful gases during curing. However, the production of toys such as 'Nee Nee' has high requirements for color, and if the amounts of fragrance and color paste are not well controlled, problems may still arise during the making of 'Nee Nee'," Qu Ruijing said. "I have observed that most 'Nee Nee' products currently have no production standards and are all sold by small online shops. When children play with them, they come into contact with the respiratory system and retina, so safety issues must be considered."

　　On May 23, the reporter contacted a silicone manufacturer in Shenzhen. A salesperson said that the silicone currently used to make "Nee Nee" is mainly of two types: food-grade and industrial-grade. "In terms of feel, there is not much difference between industrial-grade and food-grade silicone, but industrial-grade has too strong and foul an odor." Food-grade silicone does not release formaldehyde during curing, and for bulk purchases an electronic version of the environmental certification test certificate can be provided.

　　Question 3

　　Some merchants have not submitted products for testing; "Nee Nee" generally lacks information labeling

　　In contrast to individual production and sales is large-scale production, which usually also means relatively standardized quality inspection procedures and related certifications.

　　The person in charge of a toy factory told the Beijing News reporter that most of the "Nee Nee" products they sell are made of TPR material, and after molding they are manually checked for defects. "The products after production will be submitted for testing and undergo 3C (China Compulsory Certification) certification."

　　On May 26, the Beijing News reporter contacted wholesalers on two e-commerce platforms to ask about the product quality standards for "Nee Nee". When asked whether the products had 3C certification, customer service staff said the samples had already been tested and could bear the 3C label, but "we cannot provide the test report." The reporter then asked another shop whether its products had been tested, and the shop staff said, "We haven't done it here; generally customers arrange it themselves after placing an order."

　　The lack of information labeling is a common problem with "Nee Nee" toys.

　　As early as 2020, the Guangzhou Consumer Council commissioned the Shenzhen Institute of Metrology and Quality Inspection to evaluate 37 stress-relief toys, including "Nee Nee". When selecting samples, it found that stress-relief toys generally lacked labeling information; only 40.5% of the samples tested simultaneously indicated the product name, producer name, and address.

　　At the same time, the experimental results showed that "more than 70% of the 37 stress-relief toys failed to meet standards." The experimental results noted: "Venting-type stress-relief toys (grape balls, squeeze toys, etc.) carry the risk of excessively high emissions of volatile organic compounds, and some samples had excessive total bacterial counts and excessively high plasticizer content. Selection should be made with caution."

　　Qu Ruijing suggested that consumers should try to choose products with product codes and avoid buying "three-no" products (products with no production date, no quality certificate, and no manufacturer name or address). Although "Nee Nee" can relieve stress to some extent, it also comes into frequent contact with the body, so caution must be exercised when purchasing and one should not "attend to one thing and lose another."