Back-to-School: Internet Safety for Kids

As the school year began for my kids, I received a form from our school district that would let me opt out of allowing my children to have Internet access from their school computers. Like many schools, ours block access to certain websites that may reveal a child’s identity, or have prurient or other inappropriate content for children. Plenty of parents worry about what their children are exposed to on the Web, and for good reason.

 

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Warning signal: Baby on board

Cars give you warning signals when you leave your lights on, forget to put your seat belt on, or leave your key in the ignition. Should they also have an alarm that warns you when there is a child left in the backseat? Some consumer advocates think so, and for good reason. 
   
At least 41 children have died already this year after being left in cars that became too hot, according to Kids and Cars President Janette Fennell. USA Today has just reported that August was the deadliest month on record for deaths in hot autos.

Safety advocates Consumer Federation of America and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety have joined Kids and Cars in calling on Congress to require auto manufacturers to install warning systems that would prevent babies from being inadvertently left behind by distracted parents. 

Is distracted boating as hazardous as distracted driving?

Operating a boat safely on the water is hard enough. Keeping a sharp lookout for other boats or dangerous objects floating in the water requires focus and concentration. But just like their landlubber counterparts, boat drivers are increasingly using cell phones and other electronic devices while operating their vessels.

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Sensio slow cookers, sold at Kohl’s, recalled for fire hazard

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Sensio Inc. have announced a recall of 25,000 Sensio slow cookers. The CPSC disclosed that there have been 60 reports of control panels smoking, melting, and sparking, and 3 reports of the panels catching fire. That’s particularly hazardous since slow cookers are often left unattended.

The recall involves the Bella Kitchen model WJ-5000DE 5-quart programmable slow cooker with date codes 0907 or 0909.  They were sold exclusively at Kohl’s Department Stores from July through December 2009.

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Back-to-School: Noisy schools and hearing damage

We recently reported on a new study published in (PDF download) The Journal of the American Medical Association, which concluded that 1 in 5 teenagers suffers some level of hearing loss. The incidence of hearing loss among adolescents jumped 31 percent between 1994 and 2006. That’s disturbing indeed.  

Some suggest that portable music players (iPods and the like) are to blame. But since exposure to loud noise can have a cumulative affect on hearing loss, it’s hard to pinpoint the culprits. We live in a noisy world, but few people realize that noise exposure is a serious safety hazard. And schools are a part of the problem.

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Sharp TVs recalled for tip-over risk

Serial numbers for the Sharp TVs affected by this recall can be found on the back of the sets.
Photo: CPSC.gov

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov) and Sharp Electronics Corp. have announced a recall of about 9,000 Sharp 32-inch LCD TVs. The neck of the stand holding the screen can break causing the TV to tip over, posing a risk of injury to the consumer.

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NHTSA report proves effectiveness of child safety seats

What may be obvious to some people is not obvious to all. A recent (PDF download) report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on children injured in motor vehicle crashes provides compelling evidence of the effectiveness of child safety seats. Yet not all children are placed in them.

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Fast Facts: The big egg recall

 

• 1,470 reported illness linked to salmonella in shell eggs
• More than 500 million eggs recalled
• 600 egg farms that the FDA now plans to inspect

Back-to-School: It’s game time for sports safety

Good sportsmanship should be a priority for parents, coaches, and players, and can help reduce the number of injuries by limiting dirty play. Take it from me; after an illegal slide tackle on the soccer field my junior year the ligaments in my right knee snapped. After knee surgery, I could never run as fast or maneuver the ball as quickly again. With a focus on respect, sportsmanship, and talented play, dirty tricks on the field can fall by the wayside.

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Got this Aqua-Leisure baby float? Get rid of it!

You may be determined to spend as much time as possible in the pool during these last few weeks of summer. If you’re bobbing with your baby, just be sure that it’s not in one of the 4 million baby floats that Aqua-Leisure recalled last year. The leg holes in the seat of the float can tear, causing children to unexpectedly fall into or under the water, posing a risk of drowning. When we wrote about the recall last year, there had been 31 reports of float seats tearing, causing children to fall into or under the water. No injuries had been reported.

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Back-to-School: Safety on the playground

Playgrounds sure aren’t what they used to be. Gone are the high, wooden-seat swings, merry-go-rounds, and teeter-totters that I played on when I was a kid. We’ve learned a lot about playground safety since then. I’m not sure they’re as much fun, but fortunately most kids--mine included--don’t know the difference. 

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Back-to-School: Our safety series on TV

Last Thursday, Consumer Reports hosted a satellite media tour to help spread the word about our Back-to-School Safety Series. We were interviewed by 17 different television stations across the country. Here's a link to one interview we did with WCCO-TV in Minneapolis.

Our Back-to-School safety series continues this week covering subjects ranging from school playground safety to cafeteria noise problems. Stay tuned.

—Don Mays

Safety snippets and recall round-up

This week’s roundup of the top 10 safety news stories and recall announcements that could be important to you:

• From our Cars Blog: Study reveals disturbing statistics on drinking and driving.  

• From our Cars Blog: NHTSA starts drunk-driving campaign.  

• From our Cars Blog: New Ford Fiesta gets Top Safety Pick from the Insurance institute for Highway Safety.  

• From our Cars Blog: Petition prompts NHTSA investigation of Jeep Grand Cherokee fires. 

• From Our Home & Garden Blog: Smoke and CO detector placement is critical. 

• From our House & Garden Blog: How to read Julian dates on recalled egg cartons. 

• From our Health Blog: Home-grown eggs are safer. 

• From our Health Blog: Why all produce needs to be washed. 

• FDA to crack down on corporate executives amid high-profile recalls. 

• Young children at high risk of head injury from sledding.   

• Faulty circuit breakers spark controversy. 

Recall Roundup

• 1.1 million Toyota Matrix and Corollas recalled for stalling and shifting problems. 

• Nuvi GPS units recalled by Garmin due to risk of fire. 

• Baby hammocks recalled by MamaLittleHelper for suffocation risk. 

• Austinuts Wholesale pistachios recalled for salmonella. 

The following is a list of all recent egg recalls due to potential salmonella contamination:

• Cardenas Market Brand Label 
• Trafficada Egg Ranch 
• NuCal Foods 
• Moark  
• Luberski 
• Hillandale Farms   
• Country Eggs   
• Wright County Egg 

Magnetic maze boards recalled

Lakeshore Learning Materials, a California company, is recalling 18,500 magnetic picture boards. The plastic wand can separate and expose a magnet that can be a choking hazard to children. And if a child swallows two magnets (the boards were sold individually and in sets), there’s a risk of perforated intestines or blockages.

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Back-to-School: Clothing safety—The hidden hazards of school outfits

Drawstrings can be a hazard on kid’s clothes; the dangling strings are too easily caught on anything from school bus doors to playground equipment. In the past 20 years there were 23 deaths due to garment drawstrings becoming entangled, and 64 non-fatal incidents, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Many outer garments have been recalled for this hazard. You can check the recalls list at www.recalls.gov. Before you send your student off to school, be sure to cut any drawstrings from jackets and hooded sweatshirts.

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What's wrong with this picture? Everything!

We’d like to say that this was just a test to see how sharp our readers are, but alas, it’s not true. We completely overlooked the flaws in the stock photo we originally chose for our post on school drop-off and pick-up safety.

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Back-to-School: Drop-off, pick-up safety

Will you be driving children to school this year? Depending on where you live, driving may be your best or only option. And even if your kids generally take the bus, walk or bike, chances are there will be occasions for you to drive them or pick the up. Consider our safety suggestions for safe drop-offs and/or pick-ups.

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Off the wall: TV mounts recalled

Milestone AV Technologies is recalling 131,000 wall mounts for flat screen TVs because the components don’t fit together properly and the TV could come tumbling down. The Sanus Vision Mount model LF228-B1 wall mounts and Simplicity model SLF2 were sold from June 2009 through July 2010, the former through independent dealers and the latter through Costco.

The model numbers can be found on the UL sticker on the wall plate. 

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Fast Facts: CPSC recalls

Here are the total number of recalls handled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission over each of their past three fiscal years:

2007: 473

2008: 563

2009: 465

Back-to-School: Walking and riding safely to school

An average of 19 school-age children die in school transportation-related traffic crashes each year. Among those killed, five are riding in school transportation vehicles and 14 are pedestrians, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

As back-to-school season gets into full swing, we offer these tips from Safe Kids USA to help make sure the young ones get to school as safely as possible.

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Williams-Sonoma recalls bottle warmers and offers bounty for their return

The Consumer Product Safety Commission  announced a recall today of 11,000 bottle warmers sold by Williams-Sonoma of San Francisco. The Beaba Express Steam Bottle Warmers can overheat baby food, creating a burn hazard for babies and adults.

The units, which were made in China, were sold at Williams-Sonoma stores and through the company's website and catalogs in June and July of this year. They’re green with an orange temperature dial. "Beaba" is printed on the base and model number 9602 is printed on the underside of the warmer.

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Door busters: Char-Broil smoker recalled

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today  a recall of 18,450 Char-Broil vertical gas smokers because the gas can build up, then explode when reignited causing the door to burst open. There have been five reported incidents including consumers getting hit by the doors and causing a concussion, burns, and cuts.

For more on this recall and information on safer ways to smoke your meat, see our Home & Garden Blog.

Or check the recall notice for information on how to get a replacement hose/valve/regulator assembly and installation instructions.

Walmart sandwiches are recalled

Zemco Industries of Buffalo, NY is recalling some 380,000 pounds of deli meat that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The meat was made into sandwiches sold exclusively at Walmart under the “Marketside Grab and Go” label.

The USDA says, “Listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea. Listeriosis can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths, as well as serious and sometimes fatal infections in those with weakened immune systems, such as infants, the elderly and persons with HIV infection or undergoing chemotherapy.”

Back-to-School: Hop on the bus, Gus, with these safety tips

If you’ve got a little one who rides the bus to school, it’s a safe bet you worry. When I attended my son’s kindergarten orientation, the majority of questions for our school’s principal concerned the big yellow bus: Would it be safe, would the kids know how to behave, should parents follow behind it and make sure their little darlings actually made it to school in one piece?

Egg recall grows to over half billion; Consumers Union calls for action on food-safety bill

Eggs produced at a second farm in Iowa, Hillandale Farms, have been added to the massive recall of eggs from Wright County Egg farms that could be contaminated with salmonella. As we previously reported, Wright County Eggs recalled 380 million eggs; Hillandale Farms adds another 170 million.

There have been at least 1,000 cases of salmonella poisoning linked to eggs from Wright County Egg and Hillandale farms. U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told NBC's Today Show that more recalls can be expected as the agency tries to trace

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Back-to-School: Pack a back-safe backpack

The stresses of back-to-school time are enough to make many kids (and parents) feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders, and carrying a heavy, poorly fitting backpack certainly doesn’t help. Whether you’re buying a new one or dusting off last year’s model, follow these important tips to make sure the pain and strain they get from those heavy textbooks is limited to their brains and not their backs.

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Our Back-to-School Safety series

Much to the dismay of many school-age children, summer vacation is winding down.  But before you send your little (or big) ones off to school, you’ll want to read our series on back-to-school safety. We’ll be posting daily blogs giving you tips to keep them safe on their journey to and from school and throughout their day. Follow us on the bus, across the crosswalks, and onto the playgrounds by signing up for a RSS feed to this blog, or follow me on Twitter. 

Tomorrow: backpack safety.

—Don Mays

Safety snippets and recall roundup

This week’s roundup of the top 10 safety news stories and recall announcements that could be important to you:

• From our Cars Blog: Pet passengers distract drivers. 

• From our Cars Blog: Celebrity surgeon dies from texting while driving. 

• From our Cars Blog:  NHTSA gets on the bus: Proposed seatbelts for motor coaches.

• From our Health Blog:  No skin cancer protection by getting base tan.

• From our Health Blog:  What did you say? New research on escalating hearing loss among teenagers.

• From our Health Blog: Plastic chemicals affect sperm quality.

• From The Consumerist:  California sues over lead in inflatable bounce houses.

• Government finds little health risk with formaldehyde in clothing.

• Acetaminophen (Tylenol) linked to health affect in teens. 

• Airsoft guns raise safety concerns.

 

Recall Roundup

• Mazda 3 and 5, Nissan Armada and Frontier, and BMW 1 Series get recalled. 

• Frozen mamey pulp (whatever that is) gets recalled due to possible salmonella contamination. 

• Folding chairs by White Tiger recalled due to fall hazard.

• Zooper Tango Double stroller recalled for collapse hazard.  

• Recall: Hickory Handle sledgehammer loses its head.

Nationwide recall: These eggs can make you sick!

Egg producer Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa is expanding its voluntary recall of specific Julian dates of shell eggs produced by their farms because they have the potential to be contaminated with salmonella. An estimated 380 million eggs are affected. Hundreds of people have already been sickened in four states; no deaths have been reported.

The largest distributor of shell eggs in the Western U.S., NuCal Foods, also said it was recalling Wright County eggs packaged in five-dozen groupings.

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Consumer organizations want action against Enterprise for renting recalled cars

Last week, two consumer groups, the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) and Center for Auto Safety (a non-profit advocacy organization co-founded 40 years ago by Consumers Union), filed a petition with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to order Enterprise Rent-A-Car to fix all recalled vehicles on their lot before they rent them out to customers. This comes three months after Enterprise admitted liability in a California case that they rented out a recalled Chrysler PT Cruiser that caught on fire and crashed killing two young women. The family of the sisters was awarded  $15 million.

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Safety on Deck: Inflatable Pools and Decks—Never The Two Should Meet

Every year we hear of a few tragedies when decks collapse, often because of rotting wood and overload. It’s a good idea to inspect your deck regularly for signs of decay or instability, and to be careful not to pile too much on it--especially not an inflatable swimming pool. The news media regularly highlight at least a handful of incidents where decks gave way under the weight of a swimming pool. On May 31st, a deck collapse in Brooklyn, New York plunged three children into the Mill Basin Inlet below when their pool crashed through the planks.

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Holy guacamole! Salsa and guacamole major causes of foodborne illness

Letting the chips fall where they may might not be such a good idea if where they fall is in restaurant-made salsa or guacamole.

Nearly one out of every 25 restaurant-associated foodborne illness outbreaks with an identified food source was traced back to contaminated salsa or guacamole, according to research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study covered the period from 1998 through 2008.

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Fast Facts: Don’t keep those home fires burning

In an average year in the U.S., there are 385,100 home fires that cause:

• 2,470 deaths
• 12,600 injuries
• $6.43 billion in property loss  

Texas Hold 'Ems and Beef Filet Squares dog treats recalled

Here’s one royal flush you’ll want to avoid: Merrick Pet Care has expanded its August 3rd recall of 10 oz. bags of Texas Hold ‘Ems and Beef Filet Squares treats for dogs because they may be contaminated with salmonella. All bags, which were shipped nationwide, are now being recalled.

The Texas manufacturer says that no illnesses have been reported, and that “pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian immediately.”

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Eggs recalled for possible salmonella contamination

Wright County Egg, an Iowa producer, is recalling cartons of 6, 12, and 18 eggs for possible salmonella contamination. The eggs were sold nationwide under the brand names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. 

The eggs are labeled with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946. Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1946 223.

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Got this Rocketship PalPODzzz night light from Sylvania? Get rid of it!

You may barely have noticed that days are just a bit shorter than last week and the week before that, but now it hits you that you are indeed turning the lights on a bit earlier. Just be sure that one of them isn’t this rocketship portable night light, which was recalled last December for shock hazard. 

The LED Rocketship PalPODzzz portable night lights are from Osram Sylvania. It can also be used as an emergency light or a flashlight. It’s shaped as a rocket ship and sits in a plastic recharging base that plugs into the wall. The model number 72174 and date codes “0808” or “0908” are printed on the label attached to the bottom cover of the recharging base. They were sold at Home Depot, Stop & Shop, and other stores, and online at  Amazon.com and other retailers from October 2008 through November 2009.

Before the recall, the firm had received three reports of the bottom of the recharging base breaking and consumers touching internal electrical components that resulted in minor electric shocks. If you still have one of these, stop using it. Don’t take it back to the store. Instead, contact Osram Sylvania at 877-423-3772 or visit the firm’s web site at www.sylvania.com.

Safety snippets and recall roundup

This week’s roundup of the top 10 safety news stories that could be important to you:

• Senate bill could beef up FDA and make food supply safer

• From our Cars Blog: Toyota owners didn’t hit the brakes in many SUA accidents.

• From our Cars Blog:  State booster seat laws are effective in reducing child injury.

• Apple agrees to replace some overheating iPods, but only in Japan. What about the U.S.?

• Can cell phones cause cancer?

• A primer on safe ladder use.

• Tattoos may increase risk of Hepatitis C infections

• Choosing safe school supplies is easier than you think

• Lithium button cell batteries pose unexpected risk to children

• Inflatable bounce houses are said to pose risk of lead exposure

Recall Roundup:

• Honda recalls Accord, Civic, Element.  Mercedes recalls G-Class.

• LG and CPSC make second recall announcement for Goldstar and Comfort-Aire dehumidifiers. Are owners paying attention? 

• Toy rattles recalled for choking risk

• Baby monitors recalled for overheating

Consumers Union testifies at CPSC

Consumers Union and two other safety watchdog groups presented to the Consumer Product Safety Commission their recommendations for the agency’s work in its 2012 fiscal year.

Policy Counsel for Consumers Union, Ami Gadhia, representing CU, Kids In Danger, and the Consumer Federation of America, commented on the agency’s proposed 2012 agenda and priorities during testimony on Wednesday (Download Testimony on CPSC priorities (PDF).

Gadhia presented a wide range of issues and concerns including:

Sleep environment safety. While supporting CPSC efforts to reduce injuries to children caused by nursery products such as cribs, play yards, and bassinets, the groups urged the agency to extend their safe-sleep efforts to other products, including crib tents, sleep positioners, and infant comforters and pillows.

Fresh Express Veggie Lover's salad recalled

Fresh Express Veggie Lover's bagged salad with a use-by date of August 10 is being recalled due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The salad has a product code of I208 and was sold in 13 states—Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—though it might also have been sent to 14 other states and the District of Columbia by the distributors. You'll find the use-by date and product code in the upper-right-hand corner of the package (shown).

Counterfeit BlackBerry batteries trigger recall

Beware: Bogus BlackBerry batteries bring a burn hazard—and bear a recall notice.

Asurion of Smyrna, Tenn., is voluntary recalling 470,000 BlackBerry-branded batteries that it sent out with its refurbished BlackBerry smart phones because the batteries are counterfeit and can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recall notice says that the batteries were used across virtually all models of refurbished BlackBerry devices distributed by Asurion prior to November 1, 2009. The CPSC and Asurion warn that if you suspect you have one of the batteries, you should immediately stop using your BlackBerry smart phone and contact Asurion at 866-384-9175 or www.001batex.com for a replacement battery.

Dodging lightning bolts

This summer has had more than its fair share of rain, thunder, and lightning.  Although the chance of getting struck by lightning is only one in 280,000, each year 2,000 people are struck by lightning around the world; 200 of them are killed.  Here are some simple tips that can help you stay safe in a lightning storm:

• If you hear thunder, lightning is coming. Take shelter in a car or building and close all the windows.
• A lightning rod can help minimize damage if lightning strikes your home, and whole-house surge suppressor can help protect your electrical equipment.
• If stuck outdoors, crouch down and keep your feet together. Cover your ears to protect them from hearing loss.
• Stay clear of water, metal objects, trees, high ground, and other people.
• Don’t golf in a thunderstorm.
• Someone who has been struck by lightning may not be breathing. You should perform CPR and call 911.  It’s perfectly safe to touch someone who has been struck by lightning.

—Jason Harary

Got Vicks Sinex VapoSpray? Get rid of it!

Allergies kicking up? Scavenging through your medicine cabinet for that bottle of nasal spray? If it’s Vicks Sinex, check that it’s not one of the 120,000 bottles Procter & Gamble recalled in three countries last November. The company found bacteria B. cepacia in a small amount of the spray made at its plant in Gross Gerau, Germany.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, "people who have certain health problems like weakened immune systems or chronic lung diseases, particularly cystic fibrosis, may be more susceptible to infections with B. cepacia."

P&G said it found the bacteria B. cepacia in a small amount of product from U.S. lot 9239028831 and was conducting testing from lots sold in the U.K. (9224028832) and Germany (9224028833) that were produced from the same batch of raw material mixture.

A million pounds of ground beef recalled

 A California meat packer is recalling about one million pounds of frozen ground beef patties and bulk packages that may be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7. The meat was produced by Valley Meat Company, in Modesto, California, and sold to retailers and institutions in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Texas and internationally.

The packages are marked with the establishment number "EST. 8268" inside the USDA mark of inspection and a production code of 25709 through 01210. The products were produced between the dates of Oct. 2, 2009 through Jan. 12, 2010, but may still be in consumers’ freezers. If you have any of the frozen ground beef in the recall, don’t eat it. You can call the company at (866) 221-6474 and get a detailed list of products at the USDA link above or at the company’s web site.

An imperfect recall of the Perfect Flame grill

Each year in the U.S. fire departments respond to nearly 2,000 grill fires many causing structural damage, injury or even death.  Most of these fires can be traced back to accidents, but sometimes faulty design or manufacturing is the culprit.  We've reported several times in the past about the numerous complaints we've received about several models of Perfect Flame grills sold at Lowe's. People have reported everything from rusted, cracked and disintegrated burners to fires that have engulfed the entire grill. (See the video we found on YouTube.) These problems have been seen mainly in grills with burners that have deteriorated prematurely.

Safety Snippets

This week’s roundup of the top 10 safety news stories that could be important to you:

• From our Cars Blog:  The safest vehicles for seniors and teens.

• From Our Cars Blog, and for those with strong stomachs, see the public-service videos that highlight the dangers of distracted driving. Warning: this can be disturbing!

• No more grade inflation.  NHTSA will use new safety ratings for 2011 model year vehicles.

• Pack your car safely for road trips.  See this video from our Cars Blog.

• From our Home Blog:  Potential fires prompt recall of Husqvarna tractors.

• From our Health Blog:  Don’t shop for foodborne illness. The yucky stuff in supermarkets.

• From our Health Blog:  New health care reform law will make choosing safe hospitals easier.

• How long did Toyota know about sudden acceleration problems? Class action suit launched against Toyota.

• New York State gets on the BPA ban wagon.

Recalls of the week:

• Alfalfa sprouts expanded for Listeria contamination

• Pottery Barn Bunk Beds for entrapment hazard

• Patio umbrellas from Bed Bath & Beyond for injury risk

• Vanity benches for risk of falls

Big Little People Recall

Yesterday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada announced a recall of 96,000 Fisher-Price Little People Play ‘n Go Campsites.  Eight reports were received that the character figure, Sonya Lee, could break, creating small parts that pose a choking hazard to young children. No injuries have been reported.

A tragic, but preventable, pool drowning

Three summers ago, Zachary Cohn, a six-year-old from Connecticut, drowned when he became trapped by the powerful suction of the drain in his family's swimming pool.  Like most in-ground pools, the filter pump sucks water through the pool drain to keep the water clean. The suction can be so strong that a body covering the opening can't break free.

Designed to keep such a horrific accident from ever happening again, the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (the VGB Act), named for former Secretary of State James Baker's seven-year-old granddaughter, who died after becoming trapped by the suction in a spa, was signed into law in December 2007 and went into effect a year later. Consumers Union testified in favor of that and other safety bills before a U.S. House of Representatives committee.

New safety registry helps FDA identify 125 hazardous foods

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has been able to speed the identification and investigation of potential health hazards in human and animal food using a new electronic registry mandated by Congress.

The Reportable Food Registry (the Registry) is a new system that requires manufacturers, processors, packers and distributors to immediately report to the government safety problems with food and animal feed, including pet food, that are likely to result in serious health consequences.

The agency says more than 100 primary food safety reports were submitted during the first seven months the system was in operation, from Sept. 2009 through March 2010, which generated more than 1,600 subsequent reports from suppliers or recipients of suspect food, from both domestic and foreign sources.

Those reports helped FDA and the food industry locate hazardous foods in the supply chain and prevent them from reaching consumers.

Among the most notable incidents:

• A February 2010 recall of hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), without any report of illness. More than 1,000 industry reports specifically for products containing HVP, resulted in the removal of 177 products from commerce.
• A November 2009 recall of products containing sulfites but not labeled as such. More than 100 reports regarding the inadvertent use of an ingredient containing sulfites in two nationally distributed prepared side dishes that were not labeled as containing sulfites resulted in their removal without any reports of illness.

Cleaning products harbor a dirty secret

Pediatric poisoning is a serious issue. According to a report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, each year on average 33 children die due to unintentional poisoning, and in many cases, cleaning products were the culprit. In a recent two-year period, unintentional ingestion of a cleaning product was the second most common cause of pediatric poisonings. Cleaning products pose a heightened risk because their brightly-colored packaging and appealing scent often make them attractive to children. 

According to a report published in the August issue of Pediatrics, using information obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance system (NEISS), 267,260 children were treated for household cleaning product related injuries from 1990 to 2006. The vast majority (98.8 percent) of those injuries occurred in the home. 

Despite decreases in the number of injuries from 22,141 in 1990 to 11,964 in 2006, one sector showed an increase: spray bottles. Injuries related to products contained in spray bottles, particularly eye injuries, increased from 30 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2006. 

Bleach was the most commonly ingested product, and it was also the product associated with the highest percentage of injuries. It can cause damage to many of the mucosal membranes inside the body. Many people are aware that bleach can be very dangerous when it is combined with ammonia, as these two can react to form toxic chloramine gas, which can be fatal. 

Safety snippets

This week’s round-up of the top 10 safety news stories that could be important to you:

• Baby product safety finally gets the attention it deserves, with quotes from our safety expert.

• From our Cars Blog: Software addresses distracted driving; stops textingwhile driving.

• From The Consumerist: McDonald’s Happy Meal Katara toy under scrutiny for safety.

• From our Health Blog:  Kids need caution with contact lenses.

• Recalls don’t reach consumers in danger.

• New tools to enhance recall effectiveness: CPSC, Kids and Danger, and Consumer Federation of America team up in Chicago.

• People in 17 states get sick from recalled reptile feed.

• Are your tires expired? Stay safe and check their expiration date.

• The forgotten child: Why the death rate of children left in cars is on the rise.

• Have a little BPA with you cash register receipt?