Baby & child news: Nursery product and power-window safety, healthy lunches

Most-hazardous products for babies and children. Over the past few years, millions of cribs, play yards and bassinets have been recalled because they pose a hazard to children. So we weren't surprised to see these three products—along with bath seats and car seats/carriers—on the list of nursery products most hazardous to children under five in a report recently released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Cribs and mattresses were the products that accounted for the greatest number of deaths between 2004 and 2006—31 altogether—of all the baby products listed in the report. See the full Safety blog post.

Time for a school-lunch makeover. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released new guidelines to improve the nutrition of school lunches. They include setting a maximum number of calories in a meal, lowering the sodium, saturated fat and starchy vegetables, and increasing the amount of fruit, vegetables and whole grains. Read more in the full Health blog post.

Making vehicle power windows safer. Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced a proposed rulemaking on adding technology known as auto-reversing systems (ARS) that would help avoid power window injuries by stopping a window if an obstruction is detected. Consumers Union sent in comments in response, strongly urging the government to require ARS technology on all light-passenger vehicle windows. Read the full Cars blog post, and see the young children and power-window safety video.