Frigidaire recalls 35,000 washers due to fire risk

Frigidaire has recalled 35,000 washing machines because a defect could lead to a fire. The washers were sold under the Crosley, Frigidaire, Kelvinator, Kenmore, Wascomat, and White-Westinghouse brand names. There are no reports of injuries.

These are new washers, made in the U.S. and sold by Sears and other retailers from February through May of this year. To determine whether your front loader, top loader, or laundry center has been recalled, check the serial numbers here. 

If you have a recalled model, unplug the machine and stop using it immediately. If you bought it at Sears, call them at (888) 549-5870 or log on to www.sears.com. Otherwise, call Frigidaire at (800) 734-4519 or log on to www.pumprecall.com to schedule a free repair.

Obama picks Anne Northup for CPSC Commissioner

President Barack Obama has chosen Anne Northup, a former Republican representative from Kentucky, to fill the last open commissioner position at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Northup served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2006. Her nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

Also awaiting Senate confirmation is Robert Adler, who was nominated for a CPSC commissioner position in May. Until his nomination, Adler had served on the Board of Directors of Consumers Union for the past 20 years. He is currently a professor in business and law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The recently passed Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act increased the number of CPSC commissioners from 3 to 5. Inez Tenenbaum was confirmed as chair in June.  Nancy Nord and Thomas Moore currently hold commissioner positions at the CPSC.

Senate confirmation hearings are scheduled for next Wednesday morning.—Don Mays

U.S. House passes Food Safety Enhancement

Last night, the House of Representatives passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act, legislation designed to give the FDA more authority and oversight over food producers.  The House approved the bill by a vote of 283 to142.

In a statement after the vote, President Barack Obama said the legislation was a “major step forward in modernizing our food-safety system and protecting Americans from food-borne illness.”

Jean Halloran, Consumers Union's Director of Food Policy Initiatives, said, "This bill will go a long way to prevent a repeat of deadly contaminations like the salmonella-laced peanut butter that caused hundreds of illnesses and nine deaths earlier this year.”

Consumers Union has long advocated for measures contained in the FSEA to improve food safety by giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to recall contaminated food, requiring FDA to inspect high-risk facilities at least every six months to a year, and enacting other critical reforms, citing the string of serious food-borne illnesses linked to peanut butter, spinach, peppers, and other common foods.

Ami Gadhia, policy counsel for Consumers Union, said, "This bill will make a fundamental difference in keeping our food safe and our families safe. This reform is long overdue, and we’re optimistic that the momentum is building for these changes to finally become law.  We commend the House leadership for taking action and finding common ground on food safety.  We hope the Senate will act promptly to pass a similarly strong bill after the recess.”

The U.S. Senate will likely give this legislation high priority once they return from summer recess.

- Don Mays

Food fight on House floor postpones bill passage

Your food won’t be any safer just yet. Today, the House of Representatives failed to pass the Food Safety Enhancement Act, despite an attempt to expedite this legislation before Congress leaves for its summer recess.  The vote, 280 in favor and 150 against, fell just short of the two-thirds majority that was required under fast-tracked legislation procedures. 

The FSEA would increase regulation of food processors and growers of fruits and vegetables and give the FDA the authority to require a recall.The legislation was spurred by recalls of tainted peanuts, spinach, peppers, cookie dough, and other foods -- many of which caused widespread illness.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness annually, leading to 5,000 deaths.

"It is essential that Congress act on food safety soon. This spring nine people died from eating contaminated peanut butter. We need to reform our broken food safety system so that these incidents are prevented before they happen,” said Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union.

It is possible that the House will vote again Thursday under rules requiring a simple majority for approval.  

- Don Mays

Washers and dryers make unsafe hiding places

When we were kids, one of our favorite hide-and-seek hiding places was in the clothes dryer.  As this video shows, we weren't the only ones to find clever hiding spots in the laundry room.

But it's no game; hiding in a washer or dryer can be dangerous.  Earlier this month, a Greenville, PA, family went into a panic when their 2-year-old daughter disappeared while playing hide-and-seek.  The family dog discovered her alsleep in the drawer beneath a clothes dryer. Last February, a 4-year-old Mission Viejo, CA, girl wasn't so lucky.  When she climbed into the family's front-loading washing machine, her 15-month-old-brother managed to turn the machine on.  She died of sustained injuries.

Our own investigation of laundry-room hazards revealed a disturbing number of kids - more than 2,000 each year - get seriously hurt, and a few die, after reaching, climbing, or falling into washers and dryers, or toppling down from them. The now-popular front-loading washer design can be particularly dangerous to hiding kids since the controls are often located on the front panel within easy reach of a young child, and the doors lock when the machine is started.  What makes these easy hiding places is that the doors on these machines are often left open as a strategy to minimize mold growth around the rubber gasket, a common complaint for front-loaders. Plus, laundry machines are now being moved up to the living quarters, where young kids can have unrestricted access.

Manufacturers warn about allowing children to play on or climb in these appliances.  Miele has develop a child-entrapment sensing system to prevent such tragedies.  With any machine, even though the risk is low, it's worth taking precautions to keep little ones away from the washer and dryer, whether you're doing the laundry or just playing hide-and-seek.

- Carolyn Cairns and Don Mays

This week in safety: Summer recalls

With boating season at full throttle, we'd like to call attention to the recall this week of 94,000 Sevylor tow-behind tubes because the hitch that connects the towable to the boat can break and project pieces of the plastic toward the boat or rider. Sevylor has gotten one report of an occupant of a boat being struck by a piece of the hitch, which was still attached to the towrope.

The recall includes 27 models, including the one at right, that were sold over the past four years for between $50 and $240. See the recall notice for more details.

Water tubing has been growing in popularity and too often ends up in a trip to the ER or worse. The danger comes from the lack of control by either the driver of the boat or the rider in directing the tube away from objects in the water or along the shore. This month alone, there has been a series of news reports about tubing accidents. In Florida, a 14-year-old girl is recovering from serious head trauma suffered when she hit a grove of Mangrove trees while being towed behind a boat. Two Illinois teens were airlifted to a hospital with serious injuries after the tube on which they were riding hit a floating dock. And a 10-year-old Mississippi girl died after the inner tube on which she was being towed hit some tree roots below the water level in a river. Cautionary tales, indeed.

Other news
Don't kill your neighbor with undercooked hamburger
The Barf Blog
It seems everyone in the media is bent on cross-contaminating and under cooking their food this summer. Raw burgers are not safe to eat. Hamburger is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 160 F degrees as measured by a tip sensitive meat thermometer. Read more ...

How the Magnetix case helped shape the CPSC
The Product Safety Newsletter
If the so-called "Summer of Recalls" was the fuel that fed the creation the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), the Magnetix case was a spark, revealing early indicators of widespread dissatisfaction with the powers of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Read more ...

Some iPods do more than shuffle and repeat -- they catch fire
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
You've probably never wondered if your iPod represented a fire hazard. But if you had, your suspicions would be validated by a story at Ars Technica, which looks at reports of iPods bursting into flames. Read more ...

Product safety chief puts industry on notice
Associated Press via the Washington Post
Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said this week that her agency will get new enforcement tools next month -- and she plans to use them in order to protect consumers, especially children. Read more ...

Editorial: Proposed law seeks to document infant deaths
Scripps Howard News Service
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, in which a baby dies in its sleep for apparently no reason, has long been a mystery. But a groundbreaking series of stories over two years by Scripps Howard has proven what many medical professionals suspected -- that many SIDS deaths were largely not only explainable but also avoidable. Read more ...

Safety news from the CR blogs

• Cars: IIHS crash tests five coupes
• Cars: Private used-car warranties are no match for an inspection
• Cars: State-by-state guide to cell phone laws
• Cars: Should we return to a national speed limit?
• Babies & Kids: Is it safe to get items from a swap meet?
• Health: FDA warns that e-cigarettes contain toxins and carcinogens
• Health: The hazards of skinny jeans
• Health: Safe ways to keep your pets tick and flea free
• Health: Tips for bath time safety

Car seats, chopped meat and other recalls
Dorel today recalled 28,350 infant car restraints because the the shell can become detached from the base. Recalled were certain models of Maxi-Cosi Mico infant seats. Dorel is notifying all registered owners and will send them a new base. Non-registered owners should call Dorel at 877-657-9546.

• King Soopers recalls 466,236 pounds of ground beef products (salmonella)
• 30,000 208-Volt and 240-Volt thermostats (various brands) (shock hazard)
  
• 4,700 2009 model year Polaris all-terrain vehicles (fire hazard)
• 3,700 LeapFrog "My Pal Scout" electronic plush toy dogs (choking hazard)
• 1,600 Lego Power Functions IR remote controls (batteries can overheat)
• 600 "Reflections of Magic" hanging mirrors (laceration hazard)

Lettuce recall underscores need for food safety reform

About 22,000 cartons of romaine lettuce, distributed by Tanimura & Antle Inc. of Salinas, Calif. were recalled today because they might be contaminated with salmonella, according to reports from the Associated Press.

The cartons of bulk or wrapped romaine are marked with the lot code 531380 and were harvested June 25-July 2. They were sold to retail, wholesale and food service outlets across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. (See the company's press release to see if your state is one of the 29 to which it was shipped.)

"This latest recall underlines how urgently we need Congress to pass the Food Safety Enhancement Act, which is awaiting a floor vote in the House,"  said Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union. "Almost every week brings a new food recall.  The FSEA will require FDA to take steps to prevent problems like this before they happen, like requiring produce growers to follow food safety standards.  Recalls like this are expensive to the industry, and there is a risk that not everyone will get the message and that the lettuce may make people sick.  We need the House to pass the food safety bill before the August recess."

The recalls that have been made so far this summer—nonfat dry milk, beef, cookie dough, alfalfa sprouts —only underscore that point. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness annually leading to 5,000 deaths.

Most persons infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment. The elderly, infants and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.

Buster Brown recalls 1.4 million pairs of kids clogs

It's not enough that they could be considered the homeliest shoes around; now Buster Brown is recalling some 1.4 million pairs of clog shoes because the decorative wheels can detach and become a choking hazard to children.

The plastic shoes, designed to resemble cars, were sold nationwide at major retailers including Sears, Target, Payless and Walmart, and online at Amazon. This is the second recall of the clogs—73,000 pairs were recalled in April. Altogether, there have been three reports of wheels detaching and no injuries.

The clogs came in child and youth sizes and were sold from August 2007 through June 2009 for $10 to $25.  Photos and a list of the styles being pulled can be found on the recall notice issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Take the shoes away from your child and return them to the place of purchase. For more information, contact Buster Brown & Co. at (888) 869-1044 or or send an e-mail to Busterandtige@brownshoe.com.

Our Take:  Parents should take heed when any part of a product intended for young children breaks as the part can pose a choking hazard.  Report such incidents to the CPSC and to Consumer Reports.

Study withheld on risks of cell-phone talking and driving

In case you missed it, the New York Times broke an important story today about a study on the dangers of cell-phone talking and driving that was apparently quashed by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration a few years ago. The report raises significant concerns about safety when driving while talking on a cell phone—whether hand-held or hands-free.

Our experts said that the New York Times story exposing the withheld report raises serious concerns about NHTSA—an agency whose mission is to improve vehicle safety and save lives. One thing is very clear: Talking or texting on a cell phone while driving is a dangerous distraction. It's not just a matter of whether the phone is hands-free, it's the conversation that distracts. And texting while driving raises this level of risk exponentially.

This is an issue that we've been covering for quite some time and it's well past time to pay attention. Read the recent coverage on our Cars blog:

• NHTSA withholds government study exposing cell phone driving dangers
• The dangers of talking or texting while driving
• Should cell phone use by drivers be illegal?

CPSC: Stamina recalls ellipticals CR labeled "Don't Buy"

Two elliptical trainers that our testers found to be safety risks were recalled today by Stamina, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced. In June, we judged the Stamina 1725 and similar Stamina 1772 "Don't Buy: Safety Risk," a new designation previously termed "Not Acceptable." The recall also involves a third model, the Stamina 1723. Taken together, the recall includes 11,000 machines.

The problem our testers discovered was that the bolts attaching the pedal arm to the drive-wheel assembly loosened, and came off in one instance. That put the user at risk of losing balance and possibly falling.

The recall notice states the hazard as: "the elliptical pedal shafts must be securely tightened to the cranks.  If not securely tightened, the pedal shafts could become loose from the cranks, which could result in serious injury to the user and/or damage to the product." 

In late April, our Technical Division told Stamina officials about our findings. Stamina said it was aware of the issue and had updated its manual to instruct users to tighten the bolts before each use. But we considered this instruction unrealistic. We advised owners of these machines to stop using them immediately and notify the company at 800-375-7520 about any problems.

The remedy Stamina is offering consumers, according to the recall notice, is "modified warnings and assembly instructions" in the form of new owner's manuals, which it is offering to consumers on its Web site or in printed form.

Made in China, the ellipticals were sold at various retailers and Web sites from October 2007 to May 2009 for between $200 and $400. For more information, contact Stamina at (800) 375-7520  or visit Stamina's Web site.

Our take: Although the updated manuals provide more detailed assembly instructions and a warning on the risk of injury, should the joint loosen, the onus remains on the consumer to ensure that this joint is tight. We believe this is an unreasonable expectation. Since the product itself was not altered, we retain our recommendation of "Don't Buy: Safety Risk".