Product safety

Unfinished Rules at CPSC Have Been Delayed for More Than a Decade, Public Citizen Report Shows

March 3, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Seven rules that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been working on since at least 2004 – two since 1994 – cover hazards that the agency blames for more than 900 deaths and more than $460 million in property damage annually, a Public Citizen report published today reveals.    » read more »

Senator asks for support of her legislation banning six phthalates in children’s toys

February 29, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today applauded the recent decisions by Toys “R” Us and Wal-Mart to require their suppliers to produce toys without phthalates.

Phthalates are chemicals added to common plastic products to make them soft and pliable. They are found in a variety of children’s toys and childcare products, such as teethers, rubber ducks and soft bath books.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: "Embers" Tea Light Candles

Units: About 146,000

Retailer: Christmas Tree Shops Inc., of South Yarmouth, Mass.

Hazard: The tea light candles have a clear, plastic shell that can melt or ignite, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Remote-Controlled Helicopter Toys

Units: About 30,000

Importer: Soft Air USA Inc., of Grapevine, Texas    » read more »

February 7, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Pendants and Candle Charms

Units: About 460,000

Importer: Benjamin International, of Middlebury, Conn.

Hazard: The recalled pendants and charms contain high levels of lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.    » read more »

February 6, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Sketchbooks with Colored Spirals

Units: About 80,000

Distributor: eeBoo Corp., of New York, N.Y.

Hazard: The paint on the sketchbooks’ colored spiral metal bindings contains excessive levels of lead violating the federal lead paint standard.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.    » read more »

February 05, 2008 -- Reps. Henry A. Waxman, John D. Dingell, Bart Stupak, and Frank Pallone, Jr., called on members of one of FDA’s own advisory committees to provide Congress with its assessment of the resources needed to remedy the crisis at the agency stemming from years of chronic underfunding.    » read more »

February 1, 2008 -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urging parents with Evenflo Discovery child safety seat Models 390, 391, 534 and 552 manufactured between April 2005 and January 29, 2008, to immediately check their seats. Evenflo is recalling approximately one million Discovery child safety seats that could fail to adequately protect children in a high impact side collision. The model numbers and date of manufacture are located on a white label at the bottom of the car seat.    » read more »

Recalls of Hazardous Goods Often Take More Than Three Years to Begin

Jan. 31, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite a law requiring manufacturers to provide the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) with “immediate” notification of dangerous products, the agency typically delays nearly seven months after learning of dangerous, defective products before telling the public, a Public Citizen study of CPSC settlements published in the Federal Register reveals.    » read more »

Urges USDA to conduct industry-wide investigation

January 31, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today urged the Department of Agriculture to conduct an industry-wide investigation, following the release of a video which documented cases of animal cruelty and illegal activity at the Westland’s meat packing plant in Chino, California.    » read more »

January 30, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today wrote to both U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and California Attorney General Jerry Brown calling for an immediate investigation of a California meat processing plant, in light of an under cover report released today that documents numerous potential violations of laws intended to prevent animal cruelty and preserve food safety.

The text of the letters follows:

January 30, 2008

The Honorable Ed Schafer

United States Department of Agriculture    » read more »

January 29, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Crafters Square Hot Melt Mini Glue Guns

Units: About 253,000

Retailer: Dollar Tree Stores Inc., of Chesapeake, Va.

Importer: Greenbrier International Inc., of Chesapeake, Va.    » read more »

Unsupervised Ingestion Accounts for 66 Percent of Incidents

January 28, 2008 -- An estimated 7,000 children ages 11 and younger are treated in hospital emergency departments each year because of cough and cold medications, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately two-thirds of those incidents were due to unsupervised ingestion (i.e., children taking the medication without a parent′s knowledge). The study was published online today by the American Academy of Pediatrics journal, Pediatrics.    » read more »

Statement of Joan Claybrook, President, Public Citizen*

Jan. 24, 2008 -- The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) concedes that testing vehicles for roof crush on both sides of the roof is effective, but the proposal makes no mention of the safety advantages of doing this.

The proposal is still a static test – one based on mathematical calculations, rather than a dynamic physical test – and it still is at 2.5 times the weight of the vehicle.    » read more »

January 24, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Big Wooden Blocks and Jumbo Wooden Train Sets

Units: About 15,000

Retailer: Christmas Tree Shops, of South Yarmouth, Mass.

Manufacturer: First Learning Company Ltd., of Hong Kong    » read more »