This week in safety
Where do recalled toys and cribs go? That concern was in the news this week as regulators and safety advocates discussed ways to make sure dangerous items don't end up on the secondhand market. And with tougher federal safety regulations about to take effect, retailers are scrambling to keep banned toys and other products off their shelves. We were also amused by an item on cart washes—yes that's cart with a 't'—that disinfect grocery carts between uses.
New crib-safety law presents possible problem for eBay, other sites
CQ Politics
EBay Inc. has been teaming up with regulators to remove online auctions of potentially unsafe cribs, but eBay itself could become a target if the government proceeds with rules to hold online markets liable for sales of outlawed cribs. Read more ...
End of toy story: Where do lead-tainted toys go?
The Christian Science Monitor
The biggest problem with the recall of millions of lead-tainted toys over the last few years has been getting shops and consumers to comply. According to Mattel, which has issued dozens of recalls in recent years (including some 2.2 million Chinese-made toys contaminated with lead paint), historically only about 6 percent of recalled toys are returned. Read more ...
Toy regulations affect direct retailer
DM News
Toy catalog and Internet retailers are scrambling to meet deadlines for new regulations from the Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding the banning of lead and phthalates in toys, as well as how they inform consumers about toy safety warnings. Read more ...
Taking the gross out of grocery cart
The Wall Street Journal
When Brad Blaine grabbed a cart on a recent run to the Chevy Chase Supermarket in suburban Maryland, he noticed it was a little moist. He was puzzled, he says, until he figured out that the cart had been pushed through a sort of car wash for shopping carts—a hut set up at the store that mists a disinfecting peroxide solution onto carts as they're pushed through. Read more ...
Senator Klobuchar announces new carbon monoxide legislation
KSAX TV (ABC News)
Proposed federal legislation would build on a new Minnesota law requiring carbon monoxide detectors in every single-family home, Senator Amy Klobuchar announced at St. Paul's Fire Station 8. Klobuchar's proposal builds on Minnesota's new state law which requires all single-family homes to have working CO detectors within ten feet of all sleeping areas. Read more ...
Two more Yamaha Rhino victims sue over injuries
NewsInferno.com
The Yamaha Rhino utility terrain vehicle (UTV) is the subject of two more personal injury lawsuits. Plaintiffs in both lawsuits allege that the Yamaha Rhino contains multiple design flaws rendering it dangerously unstable and unduly prone to tipping and rolling over. Just last week, it was learned that federal safety officials were investigating the Yamaha Rhino, which has been linked to 30 deaths. Read more ...
Around the CR Blogs
Electronics: Apple's bloated batteries - Health: CR food labeling poll reveals safety concerns
- Baby&Kids: Infant gas-relief drops recalled
Don't miss these recalls
Posted by: Toxic Drywall | Mar 31, 2009 7:28:39 PM
Toxic toys are a big problem, but there are a wealth of products that are harmful to families that you never would suspect are as dangerous as they are. (Well, we all remember the Ford Explorer/Firestone Tires thing from a few years ago. SUVs, so safe to drive baby around in...until the tires explode and turns the family vehicle into a rolling fireball of death!)Now we have toxic chinese drywall to contend with. Aren't those lax import standards great? Doesn't it really make you trust the business community as having our safety in mind?
Posted by: Toothpaste | Mar 28, 2009 5:34:10 AM
Thanks for the safety tips! What we really need now is to be aware of the products, especially the imported ones, in the market before using them. Aside from those toys which are proven as unsafe to children, another item such as the toothpaste is scaring a lot of consumers in the US. Apart from toothpaste keeping your teeth and gums healthy and your breath from being able to stun a yak, some of them have stuff they aren't supposed to have. Selective Imports Corp, an imports (who knew?) company in Southern California has been taken to task in court for selling Cooldent, a toothpaste imported from China, that has dangerously high levels of diethylene glycol. Diethylene glycol, or DEG, is a thickening agent that is primarily used in products like windshield wiper fluid and antifreeze, and Cooldent contained twice the amount allowed. Needless to say, the state of California was not amused. I certainly will not be buying that toothpaste any time soon.