When you hear about a restaurant being shut down for a health hazard, you might assume that it’s because of an outbreak of illness, or because someone barfed. A Panera restaurant in Seekonk, MA closed down today to protect everyone after a carbon monoxide leak in the restaurant made 18 customers sick. [More]
poisoning
Tide Detergent Pod Containers Make Easy Trick-Or-Treat Baskets, But Is It A Good Idea?
By 9.10.15
Back in 2012, Procter & Gamble changed the packaging of Tide Pods to look less like candy in a jar after children showed an affinity for putting the colorful, shiny, toxic detergent packets in their mouths. While the move – and constant reminders to keep the detergent far, far away from kids – was meant to deter children from snacking on the poisonous packets, consumers are apparently finding a new use for the bright orange opaque container, a use that some say might not dissuade youngsters from thinking the contents are edible: Halloween candy buckets. [More]
Class-Action Lawsuit Claims 10 Automakers Hid Keyless Ignition Carbon Monoxide Dangers That Led To 13 Deaths
By 8.27.15
At least 13 people have died because 10 major automakers concealed the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in more than five million vehicles equipped with keyless ignitions, a new class-action lawsuit claims. [More]
EPA: Vacationing Family “Seriously Exposed” To Toxic Pesticide While Staying In Luxury Condo
By 3.24.15
When you’re staying in a fancy, luxurious vacation condominium at a Caribbean resort, there’s a certain expectation that your health won’t be seriously threatened. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says members of a Delaware family have become seriously ill after their $800-per-night condo at a resort in the U.S Virgin Islands was possibly fumigated using toxic pesticides normally found in industrial farming. [More]
Procter & Gamble Was Testing Opaque Detergent Pod Jars Before U.S. Launch
By 11.20.13
Since detergent pods hit the market back in 2012, authorities (and Consumerist) have been warning consumers to keep the products far, far away from children who might mistake them for candy. Procter & Gamble reports that incidents of young children poisoned by Tide’s detergent pods are way down. Public awareness probably helped, but putting them in jars that make them look less like candy has helped a lot more. [More]
DNA And Fingerprints Collected From 1982 Tylenol Poisoning Suspect
By 1.9.10
The 1982 Tylenol poisoning murders, the chief reason why the tamper-proof packages of modern over-the-counter medications must be broken into with, at minimum, a chainsaw, are being investigated again in light of new tips and new forensic techniques. Well, that only took 28 years. [More]
Man Who Poisoned Children In Campbell's Soup Fraud Sentenced To 100 Years
By 5.22.09
In January 2006, William Cunningham laced soup with lighter fluid, peppers, and eventually Prozac and Amitriptyline, then fed it to his 18-month-old daughter and 3-year-old son. He then claimed the soup had been tampered with and threatened to sue Campbell Soup if they didn’t pay up. Yesterday he was sentenced to 100 years in prison.
14 Brands Of Pet Food Recalled
By 9.15.08
Mars Petcare US is recalling 14 brands of dry dog and cat food made between February and July of this year, after two people who may have had contact with some of the food became infected with Salmonella. If you feed your dog or cat any of the brands listed below, here’s how to check the package code.
Actually, The Lamp Oil Looked Like Apple Juice
By 7.3.08
There’s more to the story about the person who died from drinking lamp oil. One 84-year-old NJ lady died after mistaking tiki torch oil for apple juice. 4 other NJ residents were hospitalized after doing the same. One of them was an 8-year old girl, now suffering permanent lung damage. Oddly, the victims were located in separate parts of the state. NJ Poison Information and Education System executive director Steve Marcus told Gothamist, “During my 40 years in medicine, you get an occasional kid who ingests kerosene, but I have never seen this kind of cluster.” (The Happening Part 2? Neurotoxins disable the part of people’s brains that makes them distinguish between household cleaners and refreshing beverages?) All of them drank the same product, oil in a clear plastic bottle labeled “Tiki Torch Fuel,” sold by Lamplight Farms, Inc. Amber in color, it’s visually indistinguishable from apple juice. Don’t forget to always keep chemicals under the sink and away from food, and always in original bottles. That some of these almost seem designed to look like tasty energy drinks doesn’t help matters.
Meat Industry Discovers Consumers' Trust Has Eroded
By 12.18.07
The meat and poultry industries have learned that if you poison your customers enough times, they’ll eventually start losing trust in you—although, oddly, they won’t change their purchasing habits. That’s the takeaway from a study carried out by Meatingplace.com (snicker) and “its sister publication POULTRY” (ha ha WHERE’S CHRIS HANSON). However, no description of the study is provided other than that Zoomerang.com was used, so we’re not sure if the results are at all meaningful. We’re just glad the meat industry is starting to notice something’s wrong.
Toys Are Super Dangerous!
By 12.5.07
We can probably all agree that there haven’t been enough tainted-toy stories this year, so the Wall Street Journal is reporting that tests on about 1,200 toys by consumer and health organizations have revealed that about a third contain not just lead but “other potentially harmful chemicals, including mercury, cadmium and arsenic.” Oh, they must be talking about the new Bratz Heavy Metal dolls, R’senic and Mercurie.
By 9.7.07
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Ohio’s legislature passed the Product Liability Act in 2006, which capped certain court damages at $5,000 and created special protections for companies that once sold paint containing lead. Gov. Ted Strickland vetoed it, but the Ohio Supreme Court overturned the veteo last month on a technicality. Today, a group of consumer advocates in Ohio turned in 1,800 signatures in an attempt to bring the issue to a public vote in November ’08. [Business Week]
Surprise, “Cars” Toy Box Full of Lead
By 11.9.06
Cars don’t use leaded gasoline anymore, but boy, oh boy … do toy companies still use lead paint! This Disney/Pixar branded toy chest is painted with red paint that “contains high levels of lead. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.”
Succumbing to Shirley Temple’s Deadly Charms
By 5.5.06
The children’s toy industry apparent refusal to stop putting lead in jewelry products lends itself to this morning’s best lede: “The good ship Lollipop has some unsafe cargo.”
