Be Child Safe

Author: Marianne Halterman

  • The Smoke Around E-Cigarettes

    I didn’t know much about e-cigarettes until I began researching an article for this blog. The more I read, the more I realize many people out there are using e-cigarettes who don’t know much about them either! And the research isn’t what one would call available in abundance. “Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) –also known as vaporizers, digital, electronic or e-cigarettes–do not produce a combustible ‘smoke’ like traditionally burned cigarettes, nor do they contain tar, a by-product of burning tobacco” according to a National Conference of State Legislatures January 11, Press release, entitled “Alternative Nicotine Products: Electronic Cigarettes”.

    All e-cigarettes work basically the same way, says Web MD’s fact sheet. The fact sheet described their construction as containing a battery, a heating element and a cartridge that holds nicotine and other liquids, including flavorings which are mostly chemicals. So, what is the person who uses an e-cigarette to gain from this product? Vapors from nicotine and chemical flavorings…although less nicotine than is in an average cigarette, along with the effects of chemicals/flavorings. Perhaps therein lies the rub?

    More than 25 years ago, a spokesperson for Philip Morris tobacco company asserted the teenager of today would be tomorrow’s potential regular customer. While the industry then-spokespersons agreed the industry didn’t approve of teenagers smoking, tobacco industry marketing efforts belied the industry wanted to grow regular smoking customers of the adult variety. So it goes with e-cigarettes.

    E-cigarette “vaping” is on the rise among teenagers, companies who sell E-cigarettes are advertising and making the product attractive to kids… and legislators are trying to do what they can to ban e-cigarettes being sold to minors.

    There can be deleterious effects from e-cigarettes, and the proof is in the number of calls to poison control centers. The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids’ data compiled from the Association of Poison Control Centers points to the number of calls to poison control centers involving exposure to e-cigarettes and liquid nicotine increased from 1,543 in 2013, to 3,957 in 2014. (Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Anthony Green, Director, Public Policy in a letter to SafeKids Coalition Leaders.) In addition, a recent New York Times article, “No Smoke, But Haze Around the E-Joint” notes that people are also using the e-cigarette system to consume marijuana (also called a “JuJu Joint”) which many feel is a gateway drug for teens. (“No Smoke, But Haze Around the E-Joint”, Peikoff, Kira, January 12, 2015, The New York Times, New York.)

    I am pleased that last April 2014, Virginia joined a host of other states which have banned the sale of alternative nicotine products to minors. Virginia retailers had until July 1 to begin following the law that unanimously passed the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate. As of January 11, 2015, 41 states have jumped on the bandwagon banning the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors. I support The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids’ efforts … and until we hear something good about e-cigarettes, hope you will do the same!

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  • Good News on the Horizon

    February 3, 2015–It’s good to see companies doing healthier things for consumers, especially where children are concerned. After all, kids are our future! The national fast-food chain, Wendy’s, announced in January 2015, it would remove soda from its “kids’ menus” in response to requests from organizations such as Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and MomsRising.org. This means that menus which include children’s food choices will not even mention the word “soda.” However, those who wish can still order soda for their children, according to Food Safety News, January 16, 2013. Wendy’s is not alone in their effort to help reduce children’s consumption of sugary drinks and prevent childhood obesity. Companies, such as Arby’s, Chipotle, Subway, and Panera, are also on the bandwagon.

    Food Safety News also notes that the American Heart Association (AHA) discourages the consumption by children of more than three to four teaspoons of sugar a day and points out that a 12-ounce can of soda contains more than 10 teaspoons of sugar… while a 2-liter bottle of soda can contain as much as 27 teaspoons of sugar! Definitely food for thought!

    CVS’ Larry Merlo announced in February 2014 that the CVS Caremark would no longer sell cigarettes from its stores. This, in an effort to reduce the number of smoking-related diseases in the U.S. population. Smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year and contributes to lung cancer, heart disease and many other ailments. Not selling cigarettes may represent an estimated $2 billion loss in cigarette-related sales to the corporation–but Merlo says CVS is evolving into more of a healthcare company, and selling cigarettes simply represented a philosophical contradiction. (For more on this, please visit: www.cbsnews.com/news/cvs-ceo-larry-merlo-on-plan-to-stop-selling-tobacco-products/ )

    BeChildSafe.org wishes other companies would take a courageous look at their missions and goals in the interest of better fitting their products to their consumers’ health and safety, especially where children are concerned. Bravo, Wendy’s! Bravo, CVS!

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  • Performance Packaging Recalls Children’s Food Pouch Attachment Due to Choking Hazard

    Recall Date: February 3, 2015

    Recall Number: 15-068

    Recall Summary

    Name of Product: The PouchPop™ Topper

    Hazard: The tube of the pouch topper that screws onto the food pouch can separate from the round base, posing a choking hazard to young children.

    Remedy: Replace, Refund

    Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled PouchPop toppers and contact Performance Packaging for instructions on receiving a free replacement product or full refund.

    Consumer Contact: Performance Packaging toll-free at (844) 560-7227 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. PT Monday through Friday or go to www.pouchpop.com and click on “PouchPop Product Recall” for more information.

    Recall Details

    Units: About 6,000

    Description: The recalled PouchPops are silicone toppers that screw onto a baby food pouch that allow infants to feed themselves. The PouchPops were sold in a four-pack of four colors including green, orange, red and yellow and have a cylinder-shaped tube stem that attaches to a round base. The pouch toppers have a “SipP” logo and smiley face embossed on the circular base.

    Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received four reports of breaks above the round base of the toppers. No injuries have been reported.

    Sold exclusively: Online at www.Amazon.com, www.littlegreenpouch.com and www.jackbenatural.com from May through September 2014 for about $10.

    Manufacturer: Performance Packaging, of Las Vegas, Nevada

    Manufactured in: United States

  • Measles Update: To Vaccinate or Not, Is this the question?

    The current measles outbreak which appears to have originated in California and has most likely been traced (according to CNN and other media reports) to an Arizona family who visited a Disney theme park, whose children apparently were not vaccinated with the MMR (Measles-Mumps-Rubella) vaccine. Family members contracted measles and subsequently may have exposed an estimated 195 other people including children (Dr. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN-TV, January 30, 2015).

    The re-occurrence of the measles virus in this stunning way has reignited the controversy over whether or not to vaccinate children against measles. According to CNN news this evening, California statistics presently show that measles cases are on the rise, with cases occurring 44% more frequently than in the previous year. Fifty-two of the current cases are linked to the Disneyland outbreak. The number of cases presently is 91 actively occurring in 14 states. A school district in California has informed parents of 66 children that their children who were not vaccinated with the MMR vaccine must remain at home.

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recent statement quoted in The Washington Post (1/22/15) calls measles “so contagious that if one person has it, 90% of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected.” (Morning Mix, The Washington Post, Fred Barbash, January 22, 2015, Washington, D.C.)

    On its website, CDC advises measles “is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus” which can spread easily–through microdroplets from an unchecked sneeze or coughing. Contracting measles at any age can have serious effects on the body, and disastrous effects if the victim already has a challenged immune system, is ill, is an infant or is elderly. Symptoms are: fever, runny nose, cough, reddened eyes, sore throat, followed by a rash which spreads all over the body. Lymph glands may also swell. Measles can cause deafness, brain damage, blindness and death. Please see http://www.cdc.gov/measles/ for details. The United States experienced a record number of cases in 2014: 644 cases in 27 states. (The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, http://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html).

    In years past, measles was the single biggest cause of blindness in children in low-income, developing countries, causing blindness in an estimated 15,000 to 60,000 children annually (PubMed.gov, Surv Ophthalmol. 2004 Mar-Apr;49(2):243-55.).
    Those who oppose vaccinating their children are concerned that vaccines may be toxic, have deleterious effects, or that vaccines do not appear to be working as well as they did. The CDC maintains that it’s not that the vaccine isn’t working, it’s that it isn’t being used! Some parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children–because they are questioning the efficacy and the effects of vaccines in general. However, the unchecked spread of measles is very distressing to the medical community and makes the rest of the population more vulnerable to the effects of measles.

    I personally can attest to the fact that getting measles at any age is no picnic. I contracted measles at age 28 from a neighbor’s child I babysat–and due to my age, it was a protracted and uncomfortable recovery. Measles at any age is serious.

    Parents, family members and caregivers of young children, please talk with your primary care provider or pediatrician and make sure to get all your questions about Measles, Mumps and Rubella and the MMR vaccine answered as soon as possible.

    If you think your child may have the virus, please call your Primary Care Provider as soon as possible and ask for instructions immediately!

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  • IKEA Recalls Crib Mattresses Due to Risk of Entrapment

    Recall Date: January 13, 2015

    Recall Number: 15-059

    Recall Summary

    Name of Product: VYSSA crib mattress

    Hazard: The crib mattresses could create a gap between the mattress and crib ends larger than allowed by federal regulations, posing an entrapment hazard to infants.

    Remedy: Refund, Replace

    Consumers should inspect the recalled mattress by making sure there is no gap larger than the width of two fingers between the ends of the crib and the mattress. If any gap is larger, customers should immediately stop using the recalled mattresses and return it to any IKEA store for an exchange or a full refund.

    Consumer Contact: IKEA toll-free at (888) 966-4532 anytime or online at www.ikea-usa.com and click on the recall link at the top of the page for more information.

    Recall Details

    Units: About 169,000

    Description: This recall involves IKEA VYSSA style crib mattresses with the following five model names: VACKERT, VINKA, SPELEVINK, SLÖA and SLUMMER. The involved mattresses were manufactured on May 4, 2014 or earlier. An identification label attached to the mattress cover has the date of manufacture in Month-DD-YYYY format and the VYSSA model name. A gap between the mattress and crib ends larger than two finger width is an indication of the defective mattress.

    Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received two reports of infants becoming entrapped between the mattress and an end of the crib. The children were removed from the gap without injury.

    Sold exclusively at: IKEA stores nationwide and online at www.ikea-usa.com from August 2010 to May 2014 for about $100.

    Importer: IKEA North America Services LLC, of Conshohocken, Pa.

    Manufactured in: Mexico

  • 2015 Virginia Legislature Bills Related to Child Safety

    SB 781- Passing with a double yellow line: drivers allowed to pass a pedestrian, stopped vehicle, etc.

    SB 803- Speed limits in school zones; counties allowed to increase or decrease.

    SB 925- School zone speed limit photo-enforcement system.

    HB 1309- Local school boards; arming of school security officers.

    HB 1317- Speeding; reckless driving.

    HB 1324- Boating safety education.

    HB 1355- Photo monitoring; use of systems to enforce traffic light signals, appeals.

    HB 1515- Safe sleep education

    HB 1531- Speed limits in school zones.

    HB 1644- Commonwealth Transportation Board; membership; terms; vacancies.

    For more details, please visit www.virginiageneralassembly.gov.

  • 2015: Keeping Children Safe is Our Most Important Duty

    It’s 2015 and I wanted to write something inspiring for the first BeChildSafe piece of the year.  Then I heard some news.  A deranged parent, a father, had thrown his 5-year old daughter from a bridge in Florida yesterday.  The child’s mother who has Multiple Sclerosis was inconsolable.  Not ten minutes later, I read about an 8-year old child in a Bergen County, NJ school (where I grew up) who was at the school for a soccer program and somehow a folding table collapsed on him and killed him. There were no more details.

    Learning of these two sad events within moments of each other, to be honest, my spirits were dashed. I cannot dare to imagine how devastated the families of these children must be.  I had wanted to say in this first piece of the year, that perhaps children were safer than in any other year. I wanted to say that parents are really paying attention to their children and were carefully, lovingly caring for them. And these two random events made me question, all over again, where we are going in our society… Crime against the very young is becoming a common theme in today’s news.  A father in Chicago was recently charged with the murder of his toddler.  Did drugs enter in? It’s no longer difficult to imagine the worst.  A young woman in Virginia most likely will go to prison for her part in the death of a child in her care.

    Such sad news only makes me more determined to continue alerting parents, caregivers and family members to safety issues we learn about, because the safety and the care of children is probably the most important duty– as a caregiver or family member, as extended family members, as “A Village”, as a society– that we have.

    Also, I urge anyone who reads this blog or cares about kids to remember and practice, “If you see something, say something.”  If you suspect a child is being neglected, hurt or abused in any way–whether it is by a parent, extended family member, caregiver or even a family friend, to contact the appropriate authorities.

    Please do what you can do to keep kids safe in 2015!

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  • Children’s Pajamas Recalled by Star Ride Kids Due to Violation of Federal Flammability Standard

    Recall Date: January 08, 2015

    Recall number: 15-057

    Recall Summary

    Name of product: Children’s Pajama Sets

    Hazard: The pajamas fail to meet federal flammability standards for children’s sleepwear, posing a risk of burn injuries to children.

    Remedy: Refund

    Consumer Contact: Star Ride Kids toll-free at (866) 349-7094 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or online at www.starride.com and click on the Product Recall link on the bottom of the page for more information.

    Recall Details

    Units: About 7,000

    Description: This recall involves Star Ride Kids girl’s pajama sets. The recalled pajamas are made of polyester and sold in sizes 4 through 14. The pajama sets consist of polar fleece pants with a bow and elastic at the waist and a jersey two-piece long-sleeve shirt. Style reference number 5217 or 5250 is on a label in the side seam of each shirt. “Star Ride Taking It To The Next Level” is on a label in the waistband of each pair of pants. The logo “Star Ride” is printed on the inside back of the neck of each shirt. Some shirts have a hangtag on the wrist with the words “flame resistant sleepwear.” The sets were sold in the following combinations:

    Style Reference No. 5217

    Black and white zebra printed pants paired with a blue top with a zebra printed heart on the center front.
    Pink and black zebra printed pants paired with a white top with pink, heart-shaped peace signs and the word “Peace” printed on the center front.

    Style Reference No. 5250

    Blue pants with the words “Happy, Love, Dreams” in a multicolored print paired with a white and blue top with the word “Hope” printed on the center front.
    Pink pants with the words “Happy, Love, Dreams” in a multicolored print paired with a white and pink top with multicolored stars on the lower left side.

    Incidents/Injuries: None reported

    Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the recalled pajamas away from children, stop using them and return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.

    Sold at: Children’s boutiques and department stores nationwide from August 2013 through November 2013 for between $10 and $13.

    Importer: Star Ride Kids, of New York. N.Y.

    Manufactured in: China

  • Comfort Research Recalls Vinyl Bean Bag Chairs Due to Risk of Entrapment, Suffocation

    Recall Date: December 19, 2014

    Recall Number: 15-053

    Recall Summary

    Name of Product: Bean Bag Chairs

    Hazard: The zippers on the bean bag chairs can be opened by children who can then crawl inside, become entrapped, suffocate or choke on the bean bag chair’s foam beads.

    Remedy: Repair

    Consumer Contact: Comfort Research toll-free at (844) 578-8933 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or online at www.comfortresearch.com and click on the Product Recall link for more information.

    Recall Details

    Units: About 125,000

    Description: This recall involves vinyl polystyrene-filled bean bag chairs with a single zipper on the exterior cover. The round vinyl bean bag chairs measure 88 and 98 inches in diameter. Colors and patterns included in the recall are black, hot pink, lime, purple, royal blue, ruby red, and baseball, basketball, football and soccer ball. A tag sewn into bean bag chair’s cover seam reads “Made By Comfort Research” and “100% Polystyrene.”

    Incidents/Injuries: None reported

    Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the recalled bean bag chairs from children and check them for zippers that can be opened. Consumers can contact Comfort Research for instructions to permanently disable the zipper.

    Sold at: Burlington Coat Factory, Kroger, Meijer and other retail stores nationwide and online at Amazon, Bean Bag Company, Groupon, Kohls, Target, Toys R Us, Walmart, Wayfair and other online retailers between January 2010 and October 2013 for between $30 and $40.

    Manufacturer: Comfort Research, LLC, of Grand Rapids, Mich.

    Manufactured in: U.S. and China

  • BRP Recalls Ski-Doo and Can-Am Kids’ Hoodies Due to Strangulation Hazard

    Recall Date: December 19, 2014

    Recall Number: 15-052

    Recall Summary

    Name of Product: Kids’ Hoodies

    Hazard: The hoodies have a drawstring around the neck area which poses a strangulation hazard to children. Drawstrings can become entangled or caught on playground slides, hand rails, school bus doors or other moving objects, posing a significant strangulation and/or entanglement hazard to children. In February 1996, CPSC issued guidelines about drawstrings in children’s upper outerwear. In 1997, those guidelines were incorporated into a voluntary standard. Then, in July 2011, based on the guidelines and voluntary standard, CPSC issued a federal regulation. CPSC’s actions demonstrate a commitment to help prevent children from strangling or getting entangled on neck and waist drawstrings in upper outerwear, such as jackets and sweatshirts.

    Remedy: Refund

    Consumer Contact: BRP toll-free at (888) 272-9222 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or at www.can-am.brp.com and click on “Visit Website, then “Owners,” then “Safety,” then “Safety Recalls” or www.ski-doo.com and click on “Safety Recall” at the bottom of the page for more information.

    Recall Details

    Units: About 3,100 in the U.S. and 5,100 in Canada

    Description: This recall involves 14 styles of Ski-Doo or Can-Am kids’ hooded sweatshirts for boys and girls. They were sold in kids’ sizes 2 through 12. The hoodies are cotton/polyester blend. There is a drawstring in the hood of the garment. Colors include raspberry, yellow, heather, charcoal gray and black. “Ski Doo” or “Can-Am” is printed on the front. Recalled style numbers include: 286485, 453215, 453265, 453320, 453321, 453375, 453376, 453464, 453618, 453658, 453660, 453661, 453707 and 453708. The style numbers indicating the different graphic treatments are printed on the white care label that is sewn into the neck and side of the garment.

    Incidents/Injuries: None reported

    Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the hoodie away from kids and remove the drawstring from the sweatshirt to eliminate the hazard or return it to an authorized BRP dealer for a full refund.

    Sold exclusively at: BRP authorized dealerships nationwide and in the BRP online stores at www.can-am.brp.com and www.ski-doo.com from April 2007 through December 2014 for between $40 and $65.

    Distributor: BRP U.S. Inc., of Sturtevant, Wis.

    Manufactured in: China