0 Drowning is leading cause of unintentional death among children 1 to 4

A report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission finds that there were more than 400 deaths over a five year period among children 5 years old and younger due to unintentional drowning in the home. It can take just a few inches of water for a young child to drown. The CPSC is urging parents to look for and protect against drowning risks inside and around their homes. The report on in-home drownings and non-fatal submersions in products including bathtubs, buckets, and bath seats, as well as other products, shows that from 2006 to 2010, there were 684 incidents involving children younger than five, including more than 434 deaths and...

0 Consumers Union calls for investigation into dangers posed to children by single-use detergent packs

Today Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission to take steps regarding the dangers posed to children from single-use detergent packets. Since the beginning of the year, poison-control centers have received almost 3,000 calls regarding exposure to single-use laundry and dishwasher detergent packs involving children five and younger. Single-use laundry detergent packets, similar to what we've seen in dishwashers for years, are the latest thing in detergent and the fastest growing segment of the industry. The small size of the packets makes them attractive to children, and the...

0 Members of Congress introducing bill to limit arsenic in rice products

Our analysis found varying levels of arsenic in more than 60 rices and rice products. Three members of Congress on Friday said they are introducing the "R.I.C.E Act" to limit the amount of arsenic permitted in rice and rice-based products. The proposed legislation follows a Consumer Reports investigation that found worrisome levels of arsenic, including the inorganic form, in many of the more than 60 products tested. There are currently no federal standards for arsenic in most foods, including rice and rice-based products. The "R.I.C.E Act" (Reducing food-based Inorganic and organic Compounds Exposure Act) requires the U.S. Food and...

0 Trader Joe's peanut butter recall shows the need for tougher food safety regulations

Boutique food chain Trader Joe's has issued a nationwide safety recall for its Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter, said the Food and Drug Administration. The concern over possible salmonella contamination in the 16-ounce jars of the peanut butter staple underscores the need for the Food Safety Modernization Acta toughened safety bill whose implementation has been stalled by the U.S. government for the past nine months, says Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. According to the FDA, the agency is still investigating how the peanut butter might have become tainted with the salmonella bug. And while both the agency and...

0 Teens are learning distracted driving behavior from parents

Risky driving behavior by teenagers is too often learned through observing their parents, according to a new survey. About 90 percent of the teens report observing their parents talking on a cell phone while driving, while 88 percent said they saw them speed. Conducted by Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions), the survey of 1,700 11th and 12th graders finds these teens witness frequent, dangerous driving behavior by their parents. And the teens mimic these bad practices. Behavior Parents (observed) Teens (self-reported) Talking on cell phone while driving 91 90 Speeding 88 94 Texting...

0 Sony's new PlayStation 3 is slim, light, and on sale soon

Photo: Sony Sony has announced some upcoming updates to its console-gaming line, including a slimmer PlayStation 3, PlayStation Plus for the Vita hand-held console, and games for PlayStation Mobile. Most significant, the-long rumored even-slimmer PlayStation 3 is now official: The company says it is 20 percent lighter and roughly 25 percent smaller (at 1.4 x 2.3 x 9 inches) than the current PS3 system. A $270 package goes on sale on September 25, including 250GB of memory; a couple of games, Uncharted 3: Game of the Year Edition and Dust 514; and a $30 voucher to purchase digital content for the latter, a combination first-person shooter...

0 FDA, Illinois Attorney General find levels of arsenic in rice comparable to Consumer Reports' findings

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Illinois Attorney General's office said on Wednesday that their own tests of rice and products such as infant rice cereals have detected the most toxic form of arsenic at levels that were consistent with Consumer Reports' results. While there are federal limits for arsenic in drinking water, no such limits exist for most foods. Consumer Reports' food-safety experts have asked the FDA to set standards, starting with rice and fruit juices. Our previous tests found some apple and grape juices also can contain high levels of inorganic arsenic, the form that is known to cause cancer of the bladder,...

0 Tuna in schools often high in mercury, study finds

Canned white tuna served in schools has higher than expected levels of mercury, according to a study released yesterday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and eight other consumer and environmental groups. Our previous research found similar concerns for canned tuna purchased in grocery stores. Some children may be at greater risk from mercury in tuna than previously thought, according to the report. Independent studies indicate that mercury causes adverse effects at much lower levels of exposure than previously indicated. The team of researchers tested the mercury content of 59 samples, representing eight brands of tuna,...

0 Is organic meat safer?

An article out last week about organic food argued, among other things, that while organic meat does have lower levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria than conventionally raised meat, that really doesn't mean much since bacteria are killed during cooking anyway. Our response: Hogwash. If that were true, "we would not have had 136 illnesses and one death from antibiotic-resistant salmonella in ground turkey last year, or an estimated tens of millions of food-borne illnesses every year," wrote Jean Halloran, Ph.D., director of food-policy initiatives for Consumer Reports, in a letter to the editor published today in the New York Times....

0 Window blinds from Blinds Xpress recalled due to strangulation hazard

An example of the Blinds Xpress window blind cord that might entrap and choke unsupervised children. A recall of nearly 500,000 window blinds from Blind Xpress in Linovia, Mich., has been issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The horizontal and custom-made vertical blinds have cords that can strangle young children, warns the federal agency. As with previous recalls of window blinds. the Blind Xpress models have adjustment cords that might entangle unsupervised children. Consumer-safety groups, such as Consumer Reports, and industry associations, including the Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC), have for years warned...

0 Don't give up on organic food, our experts urge

A new review of previous research on organic food is getting a lot of media attention for concluding that the published literature "lacks strong evidence" that organic food is significantly more nutritious than conventionally grown food. But news reports covering the findings may be oversimplifying or distorting what the study really found, according to our in-house experts, and consumers shouldn't be misled into believing that there isn't a benefit to paying more for organics, particularly for certain populations. The review, conducted by researchers at Stanford University, was a meta-analysis of data from 240 studies comparing organically...

0 Single-dose detergents a poisoning hazard for young children

In the wake of five incidents in which children were seriously injured after swallowing detergent pods, a group of doctors is calling for improved safety warnings and childproof packaging for single-dose laundry and dishwasher detergents. "This is a significant public health issue," which requires a rethink, the doctors wrote in a pediatric journal. "Dishwasher and washing machine liquitabs are now a common finding in most homes, but unfortunately, seem very attractive to young children due to their bright colouring and soft sweetie-like texture," the Scottish doctors wrote in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. They said they have...