This mini crossbow, loaded with a toothpick, is the current craze in China.

Such mini-handheld crossbows, which can fire needles and nails, are the latest must-have toy there, but anxious parents want them banned before a young child gets blinded or worse.

Sold online and in shops for as little as seven yuan (S$1.40), so-called toothpick crossbows were originally designed to shoot out just that - toothpicks.