Got recalled Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl? Want a refund? Don’t want to deal with the online form? CVS and Walgreens have told the media that consumers can bring recalled medicines to their stores for a refund. [More]
safety
Should There Be A National Standard For Teen Drivers' Licenses?
By 5.4.10
Right now, 42 states allow teens under the age of 16 to get their learner’s permit and seven of those offer permits to 14-year-olds. Additionally, many states have differing rules about when a teen driver can obtain his full driving rights. A handful of Senators are hoping to gather support for a law that would do away with these variances and also raise the permit age nationally to 16. [More]
Who Keeps Trying To Kill Our Babies?
By 4.27.10
This “Recalled Baby Products 2009-2010” graphic from the website hugamonkey is massive, and it shows how many types of products were recalled over the past 16 months. You can use it as a reference tool to see if there’s anything in your home on the list, or to remind yourself why you’d rather have a houseplant. [More]
55th Floridian Dies After Being Tased, Should They Be Banned? Tasers, That Is.
By 4.27.10
Derrick Humbert, 38, became the 55th Floridian to die from a Taser. He was riding his bicycle and officers asked him to stop. Instead, he rode around the corner and fled through a yard. The officers in pursuit tased him as he tried to scramble over a fence, shooting 50,000 volts of electricity into his body. 28 minutes later, he was in a coma in the ambulance, and was pronounced dead at the hospital. [More]
Mattel Trusted To Check Its Own Toys For Lead
By 4.27.10
The Consumer Product Safety Commission thinks it’s OK for Mattel to use its own facilities for mandated “third party” tests to make sure the toys aren’t contaminated with lead or other stuff that’s not so good for human beings, the AP reports. [More]
New Dry Max Pampers Causing Rash, Burns, Sores, Boils?
By 4.26.10
Pampers new brand of Dry Max diapers causes rashes, burns, sores, and boils on their babies, some parents are alleging in a growing online backlash. But is it really Dry Max, or just typical diaper rash that the parents are incorrectly correlating with the new diaper? [More]
Recall Recall!
By 4.21.10
Tropical Bedding Mattress Sets (fire)
Le Hing Baby Walkers (falling)
Mares Dive Computers (drowning)
Hammary Furniture Chests and Tables (lead)
Oriental Furniture Roman Shades and Roll-Up Blinds (strangulation)
How To Use Makeup Testers Without Giving Yourself A Disease
By 4.20.10
Elizabeth Brooks, a professor at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, has some advice for people trying out makeup when they’re out shopping. As most people know, makeup can harbor bacteria and viruses, and shared testers are the worst offenders: Brooks tested hundreds of makeup counter samples for a study and found 100% of it was contaminated with things like staph, strep, and E. coli. [More]
Toyota Stops Selling Lexus SUV After Consumer Reports Says "Don't Buy"
By 4.13.10
It’s a big deal when Consumer Reports awards a “Don’t Buy” rating to a vehicle, and when it announced earlier today that the 2010 Lexus GX 460 should be avoided because of safety risks, the story started popping up all over the web. Now only 12 hours later, Lexus has announced that it is asking dealers to temporarily stop selling the vehicle while it looks into the situation, and that it’s taking the Consumer Reports claim “very seriously.” [More]
Gas Fire Columns Recalled For Being Too Aptly Named
By 4.5.10
Some outdoor gas fire columns sold through Costco in the past 6-7 months have been recalled, because “gas can leak from connections in the column, posing a fire hazard.” I guess that’s why the photo shows it next to a serene koi pond–it’s so you can grab a rake and push it into the water if it gets too fire column-y. [More]
Macbook Pro Shocks Owner, Leaves Marks
By 3.31.10
Karen says Apple is shocking her. Not with their innovative product design, but literally, her 2004ish 17″ Macbook Pro is shooting electricity into her arms. “We’re not talking, little static shocks,” Karen writes, presumably, using the selfsame laptop, “these are fully legitly painful shocks.” [More]
Recalled Baby Gates Failed To Prevent Plummeting Babies
By 3.25.10
Evenflo Top-of-Stairâ„¢ Plus Wood Gates are supposed to stop your baby from plummeting down the stairs. Unfortunately, they do not do this, so they have been recalled. [More]
1 Million Infantino Slings Recalled After 3 Babies Suffocate
By 3.24.10
The CPSC announced today that the The Infantino “SlingRider,”– a soft fabric baby carrier with a padded shoulder strap — has been recalled after three reports of deaths that occurred in these slings in 2009; a 7-week-old infant in Philadelphia, Pa.; a 6-day-old infant in Salem, Ore.; and a 3-month-old infant in Cincinnati, Ohio. [More]
Little Girl Gets Arm Trapped In Coke Machine
By 3.11.10
A curious six-year-old girl in Aberdeen, Scotland, had to be freed by firefighters after she got her arm stuck inside a Coca-Cola vending machine on Sunday. [More]
Gerber Machete Recalled Because It Could Cut You
By 3.11.10
Gerber Legendary Blades is recalling 149,000 machetes in its Gator line, because you could slice your hand open if it slides across the blade. Yeah, we kind of imagine that’s one of the things you’d want to watch out for if you’re carrying an 18-inch blade that’s razor-sharp on one side and saw-toothed on the other. Of course, it’s one thing to slash yourself because you’re off playing Indiana Jones without knowing what you’re doing, and quite another to have it happen because the knife’s handle wasn’t designed as well as it could have been. [More]
Don't Let Your Battery Charger Expose Your PC To Hackers
By 3.9.10
If you’re using the Energizer Duo battery charger, and have connected it to your PC to check the charge levels of the batteries, you may have inadvertently exposed yourself to a program that could give hackers access to your computer. The charger has been discontinued, and Energizer recommends removing the software along with the file that enables the backdoor. [More]
Mercedes Shows Off New Safety Feature For Cars
By 3.9.10
Last week, Mercedes showed a bunch of journalists some new safety features it’s working on to prevent deaths in the event of a car crash, and BNET describes them. I hope you like air bags going off all around you–the demo even has air bags for the car. Sadly, the people-scooper feature–something about when you hit a pedestrian, the car “scoops” the body onto the hood and keeps the person there, probably so that his screaming can alert you that you’ve been in an accident–will only be available in Europe. [More]
