Kmart and Big Lots! are voluntarily recalling 121,000 necklaces, earrings, and rings that contain lead. This stunning announcement is sure to devastate Valentine sweethearts in pre-schools across the nation.
safety
Massive Pound-And-A-Half Rats Infest KFC/Taco Bell In The West Village
By 2.23.07
CBS 2 cameras caught dozens of them early Friday morning through the window of this closed KFC-Taco Bell in the West Village.
Smokey Bear Says 5-Light Multi-colored Floor Lamps Cause Campus Fires
By 2.22.07
SUNY Fredonia warns a cheap decorative lamp is setting dorm rooms on fire. Pretty, inexpensive lamps like these can often be found in college dorms and studio apartments.
In two separate student rooms, the plastic shades melted on the lamps. In one room, this caused the build-up of toxic fumes and the melted plastic from the shade burned a hole in the bedspread. The second instance involved another student who had turned on the lamp and, within 15 minutes, the shade melted and the heat began to turn a poster on the wall brown.
Underwriters Laboratories, the group that certifies that things won’t burn down dorms and studio apartments, believes the lamp in question is different from the one they approved. They are withholding their seal from new lamps, effectively shutting down production.
Bush Expected To Nominate Industry Lobbyist To Head CPSC
By 2.18.07
The President plans to install Baroody over President’s Day weekend as a recess appointment. The recess appointment, which is usually reserved at the end of a session or during the Senate’s summer recess, will be effective until the adjournment of the 110th Congress in 2008. After that, if the Senate doesn’t confirm the nominee, the position again becomes vacant.
Let the Taco Bell Lawsuits Begin
By 2.13.07
From the New York Post:
A 16-year-old boy says he suffered “severe and permanent personal injuries” after eating food from a Long Island Taco Bell.
Trans-Fats Banned In Philadelphia
By 2.8.07
The Philadelphia City Council has unanimously passed a city ordinance banning trans-fats from most dishes served by restaurants:
We're Scared Of Spinach
By 2.6.07
Plummeting spinach sales have also prompted the produce industry to seek federal oversight to assure buyers that fresh produce is safe.
Almost 1 Million Easy-Bake Ovens Recalled
By 2.6.07
Hasbro is recalling 985,000 Easy-Bake ovens due to reports of children’s hands getting stuck inside the oven, resulting in burns and lacerations.
US Food Safety Is Broken: Different Agencies Oversee Open-Faced vs Closed-Faced Sandwiches
By 2.1.07
A report was released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office that designated Food Safety as a high risk area “because of risks to the economy and to public health and safety.” The report finds that: “The current fragmented federal system has caused inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources,” and they’ve recommended a fundamental reorganization of the entire system.
Protect Yourself While Using Free Wi-Fi
By 2.1.07
Connecting to a hot spot can be an open invitation to danger. Hot spots are public, open networks that practically invite hacking and snooping. They use unencrypted, insecure connections, but most people treat them as if they are secure private networks.
FDA To Change The Way Drugs Are Approved
By 1.31.07 — Updated: 11.5.12
The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it is making changes in the way it operates to prevent the kind of drug safety controversies that have dogged the agency in recent years.
Why Pyrex Bowls "Explode"
By 1.30.07
A reader wrote in because he set his Pyrex bowl on the stove top to reduce some broth, and the bowl promptly “exploded.”
Cell Phone Use Linked To Brain Tumors
By 1.25.07
- Long-term (10+ years) cellphone use has been linked with brain tumors. According to the study, people who had used cellphones for more than 10 years had a 40 percent higher chance than others of developing certain brain tumors. This news comes to us from the same British researcher who said that more research was needed to determine if there actually is a relationship between (long-term) cellphone use and cancer.
Getting A Self-Charging Smoke Alarm Is Better Than Dying In A Fire
By 1.24.07
If you are anything like us, and you may well be, you forget to do things like change the batteries in your smoke alarm. Or, worse yet, you remember to take the batteries out when the thing starts beeping, but you forget to replace them. One potential answer to this problem is the self-charging smoke alarm. Simply screw the detector into a ceiling mounted light socket (providing you have one) and never need to change a battery again. This is an especially good idea for places where fires start, but people do not always go, or would not be annoyed by a beeping reminder. Garages, laundry rooms, etc. They’re a bit more expensive than your typical cheap-ass smoke alarm, but may be worth it for the forgetful among us.—MEGHANN MARCO
Study Finds Higher Levels Of Nicotine In Cigarettes
By 1.19.07
NPR has an interesting report on The Harvard School of Public Health’s findings that nicotine levels in cigarettes are rising, despite tobacco companies’ promise not to work to increase the levels of the addictive substance in their products.
Vitamine Shoppe Multivitamins Contaminated With Lead
By 1.19.07
- Of 21 brands of multivitamins on the market in the United States and Canada selected by ConsumerLab.com and tested by independent laboratories, just 10 met the stated claims on their labels or satisfied other quality standards.
Chemicals in Cosmetics You Should Avoid
By 1.19.07
Consumer Reports has an article about chemicals in cosmetics that are probably not that awesome for your health. They’re called phthalates and they are found in nail polish, body lotion, perfume, hair spray, and more.
Consumer Reports: Um, About Those Car Seats…
By 1.19.07
- Consumer Reports received information from NHTSA raising questions about the test.
