Fingertip amputations prompt recall of 1 million Maclaren strollers

After getting reports of 12 fingertip amputations, Maclaren USA is recalling one million strollers, which includes every umbrella stroller of that brand sold in the U.S. for the past 10 years. The amputations occurred when the children got their fingers caught in the stroller’s hinge mechanism. According to Maclaren, at the time of the incidents the children were outside the stroller and a parent or caregiver was either opening it or folding it up. 
 
The strollers were sold at Babies 'R' Us, Target, and other juvenile product and mass merchandise retailers from 1999 through November 2009 for between $100 and $360. The recall involves all Maclaren single and double umbrella strollers including Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, TechnoXLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller.
 
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is advising owners of the strollers to stop using them and to contact Maclaren to receive a free repair kit—a zippered fabric cover that prevents a child from inserting his or her finger into the hinges.  Maclaren can be contacted at 877-688-2326 or by visiting the firm’s Web site at www.maclaren.us/recall.

Although all Maclaren strollers are certified by the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Associations to meet ASTM-International’s voluntary safety standard for strollers, we found a loophole in the standard. The standard addresses scissoring, shearing and pinching, but it only applies to situations where the stroller is in the manufacturer’s recommended use position—meaning unfolded with the hinges locked in place—to prevent injury to the occupant. Consumers Union, which sits on ASTM’s stroller committee, will work to close that loophole in the future.
 
Strollers are first on the list of nursery products that cause injury to children under age five.  A report issued last week by the CPSC reported 12,400 hospital treated injuries related to strollers and carriages in 2008.
 
Our Take: When using any stroller, make sure to keep your child well away while you are unfolding or folding it. Double check to make sure all locks are fully engaged and the harness system buckled before taking your child out for a stroll.—Don Mays

This week in safety: More about the Toyota investigation

Our car team reported this week that the investigation into the Toyota/Lexus sudden acceleration, which prompted the largest recall in the company’s history to remove floor mats that could interfere with the accelerator pedal, isn’t over yet.

While the debate goes on, our car guys have been busy at the test track. They advise that whatever the cause of unintended acceleration, the best defense is to know how to safely regain control of your car should it happen to you. They wrote that putting a car in neutral might save your life. And their latest tests show that pumping the brakes at full throttle can make a bad problem even worse, as demonstrated in this video from ABC News. Read more about this issue on our Cars blog.

More safety news
Salmonella victims angry over no prosecutions
MSNBC.com
At the height of the nationwide salmonella outbreak nearly a year ago, FBI agents raided two peanut plants and carried away boxes of evidence. FDA inspectors found roaches, mold and a leaky roof. Despite the fanfare over the criminal probe of one of the largest product recalls ever, no one has yet been charged in the outbreak, which was linked to hundreds of illnesses and nine deaths. Read more ...

Target, Kmart and Toys 'R' Us agree to settle lead claims
Los AngelesTimes
Three major retailers have agreed to pay nearly half a million dollars to settle a lawsuit stemming from the companies' sale of toys containing excessive amounts of lead, the California attorney general's office said. Under the agreement, Target Corp., Toys 'R' Us Inc. and Kmart would pay a total of $454,000 in civil penalties and other fines. Read more ...

FDA warns companies against marketing illegal flavored cigarettes
Food and Drug Administration
Enforcement of the flavored cigarette ban is the FDA’s effort to remove cigarettes that contain certain candy or fruit flavors from the marketplace. Removal of these products from the market will assist in the prevention of children and adolescents from starting to smoke and in the reduction in death and disease caused by smoking. Read more ...

Flammability problem with chenille garments
Product Safety Letter
Recently there have been a rash of burn injuries leading to 9 deaths due to robes made of chenille yarn. Why all of sudden do we have this unusual problem? There are possibly a number of reasons. Read more ...

Study: Increasing number of injuries from hot tubs
Science Daily
Though hot tubs, whirlpools and spas are widely used for relaxation and fun, they can pose serious risk for injury. A recent study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that from 1990-2007, the number of unintentional hot tub-related injuries increased by 160 percent, from approximately 2,500 to more than 6,600 injuries per year. Read more ...

Recalls of dog chewies

• Pet Carousel pig ears and beef hooves (salmonella)
• PetSmart recalls Dentley's beef hooves (salmonella)

Don's miss these recalls

• 281,800 Adventure Playsets wooden play sets (fall hazard)
• 43,000 Samsung cver-the-range microwave ovens (shock hazard)
• 15,000 Life is Good travel mugs (burn hazard)
• 10,000 MacPherson’s children’s art easels (lead paint)

The five most hazardous products for babies and toddlers

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.
 
The list was just released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in its annual report  “Nursery Product-Related Injuries and Deaths Among Children under Age Five.”  The report is based on hospital-treated injuries associated with nursery products during 2008, and fatalities for those products from 2004 to 2006.  The difference between the years covered for injuries and fatalities is due to the extra time it takes to receive and analyze death certificates following a fatality.
 
If there was any good news in the report it was that the statistics remain essentially unchanged from last year.  Unfortunately, there were 247 deaths—an average of 82 per year—between the years of 2004 and 2006 and more than 63,000 estimated hospital-treated injuries associated with nursery products in 2008.

The products that accounted for the most deaths in 2004-2006 were:

1. Cribs/Mattresses 31
2. Baby Baths/Bath Seats/Bathinettes 12
3. Playpens/Play Yards 11
4. Bassinets/Cradles 11
5. Infant Carriers / Car Seat Carriers* 8 (* excludes car accidents)

Our Take: There are far too many deaths and injuries associated with theses products. Although some products can pose inherent risks, better design and tougher safety standards can help mitigate these disturbing statistics. As required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, we look forward to the CPSC’s writing of strong regulations for these products in the future, and hope to see strict enforcement of the regulations to make sure all products in the marketplace are in compliance. —Don Mays

Industry reacts to Consumer Reports' BPA report

Consumer Reports’ recent article on the presence of Bisphenol A in canned food drew widespread interest after it was published this past week. It also quickly drew critical comments from industry groups representing companies that manufacture or use BPA, a chemical whose safety is currently being reassessed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The groups took exception to some parts of the report that found nearly all of the 19 name-brand canned foods we tested contained this chemical, which is used in the linings of most food and beverage cans. They did not dispute the test findings of the BPA levels we measured in canned food. Rather, the discussion focused on our risk assessment of the effects of BPA, which was based on the scientific literature that has become available over the past 20 years.
 
Here’s a sampling of those reactions, along with a more detailed discussion of some of the research involved in the debate:
             
1. The American Chemistry Council issued a press release contending that our experts’ recommendations, which include calling for a ban on the use of BPA in all materials that come in contact with food, is “inconsistent with the conclusions of expert regulatory bodies worldwide, all of which have confirmed that BPA exposure levels are low and well within safety standards.”

That is exactly the issue. As our story makes clear, food safety experts at Consumers Union believe federal regulatory guidelines—which are the same as those set by the European Food Safety Authority—are outdated and fail to adequately protect consumers. The FDA’s own scientific advisory board also concluded that the agency’s assessment of BPA’s safety is inadequate. Hundreds of scientific studies have shown harm in animal studies from extremely low levels of BPA—levels that are ten to twenty thousand times lower than what the FDA considered as the basis of its safety assessment in 1988. And even some human studies show a link between elevated BPA levels and harmful effects such as diabetes and cardiovascular risk. Our test results show that consumers may be exposed to potentially harmful levels of BPA that could be reached through a few or multiple servings of the canned foods we tested.

Two deaths linked to large ground beef recall

Two deaths have been linked to the recall of 545,699 pounds of fresh ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The beef was produced by Fairbank Farms in western New York, which recalled the meat on Saturday.

The meat was packaged between September 14 and 16 and may have been labeled with a sell-by date from Sept. 19 through Sept. 28. Because those dates have passed, the meat is no longer on store shelves but health officials fear it may still be in people's freezers. The meat was distributed to retailers in eight states -- Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- but Fairbank Farms said on its Web site that some of its customers may have redistributed ground beef to other states.  The stores receiving the meat include ACME, BJ's, Ford Brothers, Giant Food Stores, Price Chopper, Shaw's, and Trader Joe's, Lancaster and Wild Harvest. Each package bears the establishment number "EST. 492" inside the USDA mark of inspection or on the nutrition label.

The Associated Press reported that one of the deaths was an adult from Albany County, N.Y., who had several underlying health conditions, according to the New York State Health Department. The other fatality was reported by New Hampshire, where health officials said a patient died of complications.

For complete details on the recall including the weight and labels of the recalled packages of meat, read the recall notice from the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Consumers can contact the Fairbank Farms’ toll-free hotline at 1-877-546-0122.

Testing for BPA: Concern over canned foods

Consumer Reports recently tested a variety of canned foods to determine whether they contain Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in the epoxy resin linings of most food and beverage cans. We found that even samples of canned food we tested from manufacturers who aim to reduce consumers’ BPA exposure by using non-epoxy based can linings had measurable amounts of the chemical.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration currently is reassessing what it considers a safe level of exposure to BPA, which some studies show is linked with increased risks of certain cancers, diabetes, reproductive abnormalities, and heart disease. Federal guidelines currently put the daily upper limit of exposure at 50 micrograms of BPA per kilogram of body weight. But that level is based on experiments done in the 1980s rather than hundreds of more recent animal and laboratory studies indicating that serious health risks could result from much lower doses of BPA.

Mounting scientific evidence of the chemical’s health risks prompted Eden Foods President and Chairman Michael Potter more than a decade ago to search for BPA-free cans for the canned foods produced by his Ann Arbor, Mich.-based natural foods company. In an interview with Consumer Reports, he explained that he eventually negotiated a deal with Ball Corp.—famous for its glass jars—to manufacture BPA-free cans starting in 1999 for Eden’s bean products, including chili. The inner coating of those cans is an oleo-based material originally known as “corn enamel,” which was commonly used in food can linings prior to the 1960s. That’s when epoxy resins took over the market because they helped extend shelf life without affecting flavor, according to Scott McCarty, spokesman for Ball Corp.

Potter says that finding a supplier of cans that weren’t lined with BPA-containing epoxy resin was a difficult and frustrating process. “I made hundreds of calls to can manufacturers trying to find out what was in their can linings and I always ended up talking to an attorney in the Beltway who informed me to my amazement that it was a trade secret and I had no right to know,” says Potter.

The Ball Corp. eventually agreed to produce custom runs of cans with oleo-based C-enamel linings for Eden. It’s also doing research to develop BPA-free can coatings that could work for more acidic foods such as fruit, which Eden now markets in glass containers. “It’s costing me 14 percent more for these BPA-free cans, but I said I have to do this because not only do I eat canned foods, but so do my kids and grandkids,” Potter says.

Even so, the samples of Eden Baked Beans in our tests were found to contain an average of one part per billion of BPA. That’s far below many other food products we tested, which ranged up to a high of 191 ppb for a single sample. The fact that the Eden Baked Beans we tested still had any measurable amounts of BPA—even though our tests confirmed the cans did not have epoxy-based linings—suggests that food can have multiple sources of exposure.

BPA is now one of the highest-volume chemicals in the world, with more than 100 tons released into the atmosphere per year. Various studies have found BPA in dust and water samples from around the world. This unavoidable environmental exposure makes it all the more important to eliminate the use of BPA in can linings and all materials that come in contact with food. Consumers Union is calling upon manufacturers and government regulators to do just that.

This week in safety: Treat yourself to an extra hour of sleep

Things may still be going bump in the Halloween night but when the clock strikes 2 A.M. Sunday, daylight saving time comes to an end. Halloween revelers and those running the New York City Marathon on November 1 may appreciate the extra hour of sleep they’ll get when the clocks fall back.

At this time of year, we like to remind people to replace batteries in their smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms with fresh ones. It’s also a good time to replace any smoke alarm that’s 10 years old or more and any CO alarm five years old or older with a new model. You’ll find the manufacture date on the alarms.

And now that it’s getting dark earlier, you may want to check the lights on your car to make sure they are aligned correctly and working properly.

Don’t be haunted by burn and laceration hazards this Halloween
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Incidents involving burns from flammable costumes and lacerations related to pumpkin carving lead the list of Halloween-related injuries. Read more ...

N.F.L.’s influence on safety at youth levels is cited
The New York Times
More than 1.2 million teenagers play high school football every fall, and hundreds are seriously injured by concussions and other brain trauma. Many of the injuries occur because the players are unaware of the seriousness of brain injuries, because trained medical personnel are too costly and because the culture of football up through the N.F.L. demands that players play through pain. Read more …

Taking the fear out of food
Florida Sun-Sentinel
When you stop and think about all the food stored in your kitchen, it's hard not to get a little freaked out. The news is full of food safety stories as frightening as any Halloween horror story. To make matters worse, just about every package you buy is stamped with dates and times, like a goblin among your groceries just waiting to attack. Read more …

How to make sure you're giving safe toys
The Chicago Tribune
It's prime time for toy-buying. But how to do you know that what you're putting under the tree isn't putting the kids you love in danger? Read more …

ATV deaths rise, some safety tips before jumping on
KTHV (Little Rock, Ark.)
This month, at least four Arkansans have died from ATV related accidents. Two of the victims were kids, one 16 and the other 4. Nationally, more than 150,000 people are rushed to emergency rooms across the country for ATV related injuries. Read more …

A fire risk that clears security
The New York Times
Battery fires in personal electronic devices can be scary. But if a battery ignites on a plane, the risks are much greater. With more people traveling with an assortment of portable electronics—sometimes a plane has more devices than passengers—fires are occurring on airliners with increasing frequency. Read more …

How safe are carnival rides?
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Nationally, thousands of people among the millions who visit amusement parks and carnivals are injured on rides each year. In Georgia, 28 injury incidents have been investigated by state regulators since 2005, according to reports on file at the Georgia Department of Labor, which inspects carnival rides. Read more …

Don't miss these recalls

• 610,000 Halloween flashlights sold at Target (burn hazard)
• 69,000 Sony VAIO computer AC adapters (shock hazard)
• 68,700 SurgeMaster surge protectors (shock hazard)
• 5,540 Mia Moda infant child restraints and bases (base can crack)
• 3,000 Arctic Cat snowmobiles (oil leaks)

Long anticipated Chinese drywall report short on answers

Homeowners affected by tainted Chinese drywall were likely disappointed today by a report issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission that said, in effect, tests are still inconclusive.

The long-awaited multi-agency report said more information is needed before the CPSC can consider a recall, ban or other solutions to help homeowners. Additional results are due to be released next month.

"The expansive investigation and scientific work that has been done and continues to be carried out is all aimed at providing answers and solutions," Lori Saltzman, a director in the CPSC's Office of Hazard Identification and Reduction, told the Associated Press. "No connections have been made yet."

Saltzman said the agency, which has so far spent $3.5 million on the studies, has received nearly 1,900 homeowner complaints during one of its largest consumer product investigations in its history. "We understand this problem has literally driven people from their homes," she said.

According to today's report, here is what was found in three tests:

Elemental and chemical testing
The study of the elemental and chemical composition of 17 drywall samples shows higher concentrations of elemental sulfur and strontium in Chinese drywall than in non-Chinese drywall.

Chamber studies
Preliminary results of ongoing testing to detect gases emitted from drywall in laboratory chambers show higher emissions of total volatile sulfur gases from Chinese than from non-Chinese drywall.

Indoor air studies
Indoor air testing of 10 homes in Florida and Louisiana was conducted to identify and measure contaminants and to develop a drywall home indoor air testing protocol. This data from a small sample of homes allows preliminary observations of certain chemicals in the indoor air. The tests did not detect the presence or found only very limited or occasional indications of sulfur compounds of particular interest—hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide, and carbonyl sulfide. Concentrations of two known irritant compounds, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde, were detected in homes with and without Chinese drywall, and at concentrations that could exacerbate conditions such as asthma in sensitive populations. The levels of formaldehyde were not unusual for new homes, however, and were higher when the homes were not air conditioned.

Next steps
In November, the results of a 50-home indoor air testing study will be released as well as preliminary engineering analyses of electrical and fire safety associated with corrosion. A study of long-term corrosion issues, that seeks to simulate decades of exposure and corrosion, will not be completed until June of 2010.

That leaves homeowners continuing to grapple with builders, insurance companies and less-than-ideal living conditions. "So many of us have been really waiting on these results released today to offer us encouragement, but in fact, we're quite disappointed," Holly Krulik, of Parkland, Fla., told the Associated Press. The Krulik family moved out of their home earlier this year.