The CPSC has announced the results of a special investigation into the effectiveness of home lead testing kits. The verdict? Don’t waste your time.
Quality & Safety
How To Carve A Pumpkin Without Severing An Artery
By 10.22.07
Its’ pumpkin carving time, folks, and while fake blood is cool—real blood isn’t.
Walmart Recalls "Realistic Animals" Tainted With Lead
By 10.21.07
A plague of lead has stricken Walmart’s stock of “realistic animals”. Affected animals include farm animals, jungle animals, and even the feared dinosaur. The animals are currently trapped in chinsy cellophane bags clad shut by a brandless cardboard strip that proudly boasts: 88 Cents!
“Wal-Mart said independent testing revealed excessive levels of lead in the base material, not the surface coating.”
Chinese Goods No Longer Welcome At Trader Joe's
By 10.20.07
Caving to xenophobia, Trader Joe’s announced that it will purge its shelves of all single-ingredient Chinese products by January 1. Will consumers be any safer?
Russia Bans Import Of U.S. Chicken, Pork
By 10.20.07
Russia has banned the import of chicken and pork from 30 U.S. facilities in the wake of a midsummer audit. Russia has not disclosed what, if anything, the audits uncovered, according to a concerned spokesman from the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.
All of the banned poultry plants were major suppliers of U.S. poultry to Russia and are some of the most efficient facilities in the country, the export council said.
Now At Dairy Queen: The Worst Food Safety Record In The Industry!
By 10.20.07
Dairy Queen is the king of food safety violations, according to nationwide health inspection reports. Hygiene issues comprise almost 25% of DQ’s violations; busy employees apparently can’t be bothered to wash their hands or store food at the proper temperature.
FDA Requiring Hearing Loss Warnings On Viagra, Cialis, Levitra
By 10.19.07
Stop doing that or you’ll go deaf! That’s the new warning (sort of) the FDA will require on popular anti-impotence drugs, spurred after a published report of a man who suffered sudden hearing loss after taking Viagra. The FDA took a look at side effect data and found 29 cases since 1996 where men suffered from similar hearing loss after taking one of the three drugs. “In two thirds of the cases, the hearing loss was ongoing, the agency said.” A drug to treat pulmonary hypertension, Revatio, will also receive the warning because it contains the same ingredient as Viagra.
25 Safest Cars Of 2007
By 10.19.07
These are the 25 cars you’re least likely to die in, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Picks 2007. They do front and side crashes at high speeds. They see how much of a crick in the neck you get after being hit in the rear. One thing that stands out is that cars with optional electronic stability control are getting good grades.
By 10.19.07
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Payless Girls’ Boots (falling), Kong Maxx Ladder Stands Sold at Gander Mountain (falling), Sportsstuff Air Pumps included with Launch Pod Water Trampoline (laceration), Gymboree Toy Pirate Swords (laceration), Shain’s of Maine Kahlua Brownie and Double Fudge Brownie Ice Cream (undeclared egg).
By 10.18.07
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Despite problems involving Chinese-made goods sold in the U.S., a Chinese spokesperson says that orders for Christmas toys are “up” and that factories can’t keep up with demand. But he also says, “I urge the importers of Chinese toys to come to China and buy more Chinese toys and I wish children around the world a Merry Christmas,” which makes the claim sound like PR spin. [Reuters]
By 10.17.07
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Albert’s Skull Pails Filled With Halloween Candy Mix (lead), Antioch Cool Clip™ and Mini Cool Clip™ Bookmarks (lead), Guidecraft Tabletop Puppet Theaters (lead), John Deere Gator Utility Vehicles (injury), Nautilus Bowflex® Ultimate 2 Home Gyms (injury), Plow & Hearth Recalls Aluminum Chimenea (fire, burn), Dunkin’ Donuts Glow Sticks Due (choking, strangulation), Procycle Rocky Mountain-Solo Bicycles (fall).
Free $5 Tylenol Coupons
By 10.17.07
Because of recent recalls of useless and potentially deadly children’s cold medicines, Tylenol is giving out $5 coupons. Be advised though that you have to install a special coupon printing program to take advantage of the offer. Turn on your printer, disable popup blocks, hit the red button, install the program, and a $5 coupon good for TYLENOL, MOTRIN, PediaCare, Benadryl, SUDAFED, St. Joseph, or Immodium pops out.
By 10.17.07
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Wired talks to farmers who own cloned livestock and dairy cows—2nd and 3rd iterations of valuable original “models.” The FDA hasn’t officially approved cloned meat and milk for supermarkets yet, though, and lots of consumers still freak out. (Did you when you read that first sentence?) [Wired]
This Huffy Bike Will Injure You
By 10.16.07
If you own this Huffy bike, you should be aware that at any moment “the bicycle crank can unexpectedly come off, causing the rider to lose control, fall and suffer serious injuries.”
By 10.16.07
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Yamaha Snowmobiles 2007 Model Year PZ50 (injury, death), Oro Disc Brakes on bikes (loss of braking), 2007 Huffy “Howler” and “Highland” Bicycles (crank falling off, loss of control), Lochmead Farms Country Fresh Chocolate Premium Ice Cream (undeclared almonds), Arko Veal Co Beef Patties Mix (E. coli), J & B Meats Corporation Inc various meats (E. coli).
U.S. Marshals Seize Supplements Illegally Marketed As Treatments For Various Diseases
By 10.16.07
U.S. Marshals have seized approximately $71,000 in shipments of supplements that were being illegally marketed as treatments for a variety of diseases, including diabetes, anemia, and hypertension.
USDA Food Inspector Calls Job "Just A Joke"
By 10.15.07
An article in the Chicago Tribune takes yet another look at our broken food safety system, declaring that a USDA Food Inspector’s job is now less about inspecting meat and more about inspecting paperwork.
After the Jack in the Box case, the USDA required each meat plant to adopt a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plan. The plans let companies design their own food safety measures, usually around the need to process beef quickly.
Medtronic Stops Selling Faulty Defibrillators
By 10.15.07
Medtronic is “recalling” its latest heart defibrillator models because of faulty wiring, which could lead to either it not working when you most need it, or it shocking you randomly in the heart with painful electric jolts. “The company is urging all of the roughly 235,000 patients with the lead, known as the Sprint Fidelis, to see their doctors to make sure it has not developed a fracture that can make the device misread heart-rhythm data.”
