Today In Child Safety

Liquid Detergent Pack Poisonings Rising

A new study published yesterday at the website for the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood says that poisonings from those new "liquitab" liquid detergent packs are rising. In this study, which was done in Scotland, only 5 kids were taken to emergency rooms over an 18 month period of time but the problem is certainly far worse than those numbers suggest. Back in May the American Association of Poison Control Centers issued its own warning about liquid detergent packs, begging people to keep the things out of the reach of children.

While I'm not aware of any child actually dying after consuming one of these detergent packs several have come close. In the AAPCC's statement, for example, that group told of several children who bit into (and in some cases, swallowed) liquid detergent capsules and had to be intubated in the emergency room.

“The rapid onset of significant symptoms is pretty scary,” said Dr. Michael Beuhler in the CCPSS's statement. And the authors of the new Scottish study agree. In an interview with MedPageToday Dr.  Lyndsay Fraser explained exactly what goes on when a child swallows the stuff inside one of those tabs--"Alkaline substances exert a potent solvent action on tissue lipoproteins, producing liquefaction necrosis with intense inflammation and saponification." In other words, the stuff that makes those detergents so good at breaking down grease is, essentially, eating away at the child's esophagus and other organs.

Child safety advocates say that these detergent packs, which are often brightly colored and may even be scented, are way too tempting for kids. They would like--at the very least--to see the things sold in child-proof packaging. So far, the major manufacturers of these things have been content to stick "Keep Out Of The Reach Of Children" warnings on the containers although in June the American Cleaning Institute, which is a trade group representing the companies that sell products like detergent packs, did issue another warning of its own, urging parents to keep the packs out of the reach of children.

CareBears Pacifiers Recalled

 

 

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Images of recalled CareBears pacifiers provided by CPSC.

 

 

Pacifiers licensed with the CareBears motif are recalled due to fears that the items could pose a safety risk to the children who use them. In a press release issued last week the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, said that the pacifiers had failed to meet current safety standards. The pacifiers could come apart, the agency's alert said, and cause children who swallowed the silicone nipple part of the pacifier to choke on the item.

It's not clear what, exactly, prompted this recall. The CPSC says that it's not received any reports of any child actually choking on any part of the pacifiers. Nevertheless the agency says that if you have one of these in your home you should stop your child from using it.

About 119,000 of these are thought to have been sold in the US and its territories. They were sold through a wide variety of discount stores, including Wal-Mart stores in Puerto Rico and Consolidated Stores across the US.

If you think you might have one of these you'll want to check for a pacifier with a silicone nipple and images of little cartoon bears on the hard plastic parts. Both the pacifier and its clip should have a copyright notice with the mark "TCFC" on them.

If you find one of these stop using it immediately and contact the company directly for a return. The pacifiers were made in China and imported into this country by IDM Group from New York. IDM's telephone number to get arrange your refund is (212) 686-5221.

There is also supposed to be a pacifier recall website set up to give you more info but as of my last check at 10 this morning I found an "under construction" notice and nothing else up at www.pacifierrecall.net, which is the website mentioned in the recall notice.

Gerber Baby Foods Don't Contain Glass

If you're on Facebook you've seen warnings like this about a supposed recall of Gerber banana baby food. The fact is, it's a hoax.

If you have friends with young kids on Facebook you've probably already read all about the supposed recall of Gerber baby foods. According to posts like this one--sent to me by one of my own Facebook friends--Gerber, which is actually a brand owned by Nestlé Vevey, has issued an urgent recall of banana baby foods because someone has found glass in the jar.

It sounds scary and I'm sure it's even more so for young parents but, as you probably already suspect, it's also a complete lie.

Well, actually, it's not a complete lie. Like all good urban legends (and Facebook scare stories) this one does have a kernel of truth in there. But it's a very small kernel.

The deal is that just about a year ago the company issued a recall for a single batch of its Nestlé P’tit Pot Recette Banana baby food after a customer in France reported finding a piece of glass in it. The company investigated the claim and ultimately decided that the jar was defective. It was deemed an isolated, freak incident and the case was closed.

Well, at least it was officially closed. But scaremongers, pranksters and perhaps even a few well-intentioned parents took the story to social media sites like Facebook, tweaked a few facts and just generally scared the stuffing out of a lot of young moms.

The fact is, though, that the supposed recall is completely phony. The baby food with the glass in it was sold only in France--it was never sold here in the US. There is absolutely no recall of Gerber baby foods going on here and there never was. Unfortunately, so many people are continuing to spread this nonsense that Gerber has actually had to make a public statement trying to debunk the hoax. "There have been some inaccurate reports of a Gerber recall. There is NO RECALL in effect for any Gerber products sold in the US. All Gerber products are safe to consume," goes the statement on Gerber's website.

Parents and grandparents, please, do me a favor and help put a stop to this. Phony stories like this one aren't just scary for young parents and annoying to the rest of us. They also--at least in my opinion--undermine the effectiveness of legitimate child safety recalls. 

Early Anesthesia Linked To Learning Difficulties

Photo by Army Medicine. Used with permission.

A new study just published this morning at the website for the journal Pediatrics links exposure to anesthesia and learning difficulties later in the kids' lives.

This isn't the first time a scientist has noticed a potential link between anesthetics and developmental problems but this study was a large one. It looked at data on 2868 Australian children born between 1989 and 2002. The children's data was part of the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study.

Of the kids covered in the study 321 had some exposure to anesthesia before they were 3; the rest did not. When researchers looked more closely at those kids they found that the tots scored lower than other kids their age on tests that measured things like language ans cognition. Those lower scores held up even when the data was adjusted to take into consideration various demographic factors.

That, alone, is chilling news but what makes this study even more worrisome is that the learning difficulties associated with anesthesia seem to appear after only a single exposure.

I'm betting a lot of parents have never considered that drugs used even in routine surgical procedures could have potentially life-long effects on their children but a growing number of medical professionals have. The US Food and Drug Administration has been looking at data from animal studies since 1997 and has long recommended that surgical procedures that could be safely put off until the child turns 3 be postponed.

But what do parents do when a child has to have an operation? It can't be performed without any anesthesia. Even if it wasn't unthinkably cruel to the child there's considerable evidence that exposure to pain is also damaging to kids.

The FDA's meeting last year concluded with experts formally recommending that surgeries be delayed as long as practical and elective operations be avoided altogether until the child is older. When a surgical procedure is necessary the panel recommended that children be given the safest medications available for the shortest period of time possible and in the lowest dose that is effective.

Crib Decorations Recalled Over Strangulation Fears

Photo of Babylicious Crib Fringe provided by CPSC.

Babylicious Products has announced a recall of its Crib Fringe product over fears that tots could strangle themselves with the fabric decorations.

In a statement posted on its website Babylicious said that it will refund $12 for each crib fringe that is returned to the company.

The mailing address for that is:

Babylicious Products Inc.
c/o Box 55, Suite 800 – 1090 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada  V6E 3V7

If you'd like more information about this recall you can contact Babylicious directly at 1-855-684-8399.

Babylicious says the deadline for doing so is September 30, 2012, but it's unclear whether that applies to customers in Canada, where the company is located, or both Canada and the US. (I've never actually heard of a company setting their own deadline for a return in the US.)

The CPSC is advising US parents to remove the fringe immediately. The agency says that no injuries have been blamed on the decorations.

These products were made in China and sold through various kids' stores across the country. They were also available online. New, they cost $24 for a package of 2. They look like triangles of fabric that are stitched onto narrow strips of matching fabric. The fabrics came in a variety of patterns and colors.

PBteen Bunk Beds Recalled

Williams-Sonoma-owned PBteen has announced a recall of just under 400 of its Beadboard Bunk Beds product over fears that the beds could present a danger to users if their front panels break.

The CPSC says that it's logged 13 reports involving beds with cracked or broken front panels. None of those incidents resulted in an injury.

The beds being recalled are twin-over-full styles with a twin mattress in the upper bunk and a full mattress in the lower bunk. You can see in the photo provided by the CPSC where the main area of concern is with the recalled beds.

And while the agency provided only a single image of the bed in a wood tone the beds came in several colors.

Although the agency provided a photo of what looks like a label stuck onto the bed the actual press release states that your bed's model number is located on your sales receipt. Apparently the labels refer to that particular part's number and your bed will bear multiple stickers and codes. The codes to check for are:

Product 9878901 Beadboard Bunk Bed Twin/Full: Sun Valley White--Its part numbers include:

• 9848672 Beadboard Bunk Rails: Sun Valley White 
• 9848748 Beadboard Bunk Lower Headboard/Footboard: Sun Valley White 
• 9848839 Beadboard Bunk Upper Headboard/Footboard: Sun Valley White 
• 9848987 Beadboard Bunk Ladder/Slats: Sun Valley White 
• 9849050 Beadboard Bunk Storage Box: Sun Valley White

Product 9878976 Beadboard Bunk Bed Twin/Full: Sun Valley Honey--Its part numbers include:

• 9848664 Beadboard Bunk Rails: Sun Valley Honey 
• 9848722 Beadboard Bunk Lower Headboard/Footboard: Sun Valley Honey 
• 9848797 Beadboard Bunk Upper Headboard/Footboard: Sun Valley Honey 
• 9848920 Beadboard Bunk Ladder/Slats: Sun Valley Honey 
• 9849043 Beadboard Bunk Storage Box: Sun Valley Honey

Product 5765458 Beadboard Bunk Bed Twin/Full: Dark Espresso--Its part numbers include:  

• 4179412 Beadboard Bunk Bed Upper Headboard/Footboard:Twin/Full:Dark Espresso 
• 4185377 Beadboard Bunk Bed Ladder/Slats:Twin/Full:Dark Espresso 
• 4185286 Beadboard Bunk Bed Rails:Twin/Full:Dark Espresso 
• 4189411 Beadboard Bunk Bed Storage Box:Twin/Full:Dark Espresso 
• 4190393 Beadboard Bunk Bed Lower Headboard/Footboard:Twin/Full:Dark Espresso 

Product 5766084 Beadboard Bunk Bed Twin/Full Chestnut--Its part numbers include:  

• 4179388 Beadboard Bunk Bed Upper Headboard/Footboard:Twin/Full:Chestnut 
• 4185336 Beadboard Bunk Bed Ladder/Slats:Twin/Full:Chestnut 
• 4185278 Beadboard Bunk Bed Rails:Twin/Full:Chestnut 
• 4189387 Beadboard Bunk Bed Storage Box:Twin/Full:Chestnut 
• 4190567 Beadboard Bunk Bed Lower Headboard/Footboard:Twin/Full:Chestnut 

Product 5766266 Beadboard Bunk Bed Twin/Full White--Its part numbers include:  

• 4179362 Beadboard Bunk Bed Upper Headboard/Footboard:Twin/Full:White 
• 4185393 Beadboard Bunk Bed Ladder/Slats:Twin/Full:White 
• 4185294 Beadboard Bunk Bed Rails:Twin/Full:White 
• 4189403 Beadboard Bunk Bed Storage Box:Twin/Full:White 
• 4190542 Beadboard Bunk Bed Lower Headboard/Footboard:Twin/Full:White

New, these beds cost as much as $2000 or so. They were manufactured in Vietnam and were on the market here from January 2008 to February 2012. If you have one of these you should stop using it immediately, the company says. If you'll contact PBteen at (855) 217-5223 a company rep will arrange a free in-home replacement of your front panel.

The company says that it's contacting all known customers itself.

FDA Warns About Codeine In Kids

After 3 children died--and another one nearly did--the US Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, is today warning parents and other caregivers about the potential dangers of giving codeine-based medications to children. All the kids who died had been given codeine after surgery to remove their tonsils and/or adenoids.

And if you're thinking that someone just got careless and overdosed these poor little ones . . . the fact is all these kids were given what was supposed to be the correct dose. The problem, says the FDA, is that they were all "rapid metabolizers" of the drug.

How does that work? Well, when you take codeine your liver turns it into morphine. That's perfectly normal and exactly how things are supposed to work. But some of us are what doctors call rapid metabolizers. Due to a genetic quirk our livers work a little too well and end up sort of dumping morphine into our system. When that happens we can, essentially, overdose--even if the actual volume of codeine we took was considered correct.

Doctors think that as many as 7% of everyone living in the US could fit the criteria of a rapid metabolizer. But in certain ethnic groups that number is much, much higher. In certain ethnicities--like Ethiopian--that percentage may skyrocket to nearly 30%.

Fortunately, there are medical tests you can ask for to see if you or yourr child is a rapid metabolizer of codeine. And if you do give a child a codeine-based medication you're absolutely urged to give the lowest dose of medication that you can and give it for the shortest time possible. 

And know the signs of codeine overdose. Those include, says the FDA:

• Unusual sleepiness, 
• Confusion and 
• Difficult or noisy breathing.

If you've given your child or grandchild a medication and he or she exhibits any of those signs don't wait, says the agency. Take the child immediately to the emergency room or call 911.

CPSC Sues Zen Magnets

 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, announced yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit against Zen Magnets which, if successful, will force Zen Magnets to stop selling their rare earth magnet toys, offer refunds to every customer who purchased one and embark on a public education campaign about magnet safety.

The agency says it took this step only after Zen Magnets and its competitor, Maxfield & Oberton (the distributors for the Buckyballs products), refused to go along with the CPSC's request that they stop selling their products completely. All 11 of the other distributors the CPSC contacted honored the request, the agency said.

Why does the CPSC even care about adult "toys" like rare earth magnets? Well, it's because adults aren't keeping these away from kids and kids are--believe it or not--dying after swallowing the things. You see, when a child swallows more than one of these magnets the magnets will try to re-connect inside the child's body. In a few cases the magnets re-connected through the children's intestinal walls and tore holes in the kids' intestines in the process. In some of those cases the kids actually died from the resulting injuries and infections.

Another problem, says the CPSC, is that older kids (and probably some adults) are also using these as temporary jewelry. These new rare earth magnets are much stronger than the magnets you and I played with as kids--these are actually strong enough to make temporary jewelry that look like pierced earrings, nose rings and lip rings. And, of course, some people using the magnets that way have swallowed or inhaled them in the process.

But let's get back to Zen Magnets, specifically. In its response, published on its website, the company points out that it has never marketed its magnets to kids or stocked them on store shelves next to kids' toys. And of all the accidents involving rare earth magnets that have been reported so far, not a single one of them involved a Zen Magnets product.

The company's response pulls no punches and even goes on to defend its competitor's product, pointing out that Buckyballs have been blamed in only a handful of cases while other products that are marketed to kids--like backyard trampolines, for example--injure thousands of kids every year. And just like its competitor, Zen has embarked upon a very public campaign to get its customers and fans to fight against the proposed ban of rare earth magnet products.

Readers, I know many of you may see this issue differently because you have kids and grandkids. What to YOU think? Are the number of injuries justification for a complete ban? What about the responsibility of the adults who make these items available for kids? However you feel I hope you'll leave me a comment and weigh in.

Arkansas Urges People To Act When They See A Kid In A Hot Car

Arkansas lost 3 of its youngest residents over the weekend when their caretakers left them in hot automobiles. A 3-year-old in Benton County died after crawling into his father's truck and was unable to get out. That tragedy occurred only miles away from where a young 2-year-old died after being intentionally left in his great-grandparents' hot car while they spent an estimated 2 hours shopping. Police say it's possible the car reached 150 degrees in that case. Meanwhile, on the other side of the state yet another family was devastated by the loss of their toddler when the 16-month-old's father forgot his daughter in the backseat of his car and went to work.

And that's why state officials today are begging residents, "If You See Something, Do Something."

The new campaign is a joint effort from the Arkansas Department of Health, the Arkansas Department of Human Services and the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division. The men of women of these organizations are urging anyone who sees a child left in a car to call for help immediately. 

And while it seems like common sense to most of us, law enforcement officers also stress that just cracking open a window won't help. In fewer than 10 minutes the temperature inside an automobile with its windows partially down can still rise 20 degrees.

Parts of the country have seen record heat this summer and all of these tragedies could have happened anywhere in the US. But they could also have all been prevented.

If you see something, do something.

"My Clothes" Sleepwear Recalled For Fire Risk

 

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Images of recalled My Clothes pajamas provided by CPSC.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, has just announced a recall of about 1100 sets of "My Clothes" brand pajamas and gowns for kids. The garments have failed to successfully federally mandated fire retardant standards, the CPSC said in its press release about the recall.

As difficult as it might be to imagine, these garments were all manufactured in China. They were imported by an Alabama-based company called My Clothes, Inc. and sold at kids' clothing stores and other retail outlets pretty much from coast to coast in the US. New, the sleepwear cost around $35 to $45 each.

If you think your child or grandchild might have some of these you'll need to check your garment's neck or waistband for the line "PJs by My Clothes". You'll also see a style number on that label; the ones to look out for are:

• Style 14 (nightgown)
• Style 15 (pajamas)
• Style 314RG (pajamas)

If you find any of these in your home  you're urged to take them back to your place of purchase. You'll be given a refund. If you would like more information about this recall you can contact the company that imported the recalled garments by calling (855) 776-6641.

My Clothes has also posted the recall notice to its site.