Docimacy

Product Safety Does Magnetic Jewelry Pose a Serious Threat to Children?

A few years ago, I asked a young woman how she could have her nose pierced. Her answer: “I didn’t. These are magnets.”

She then proceeded to show me (ugh) that two magnets on either side of her nose held the stud in place. I couldn’t decide if that was better or worse than nose piercing. I was relieved at the time, though, to also learn that tongue studs were usually of the magnetic variety.

But magnetic jewelry may have a darker side, posing a threat to little children, reports The Chicago Tribune. That’s because these magnets are as strong or stronger than the ones found in children’s toys, which can cause serious injuries or even death. Take a look at this chart to see just how strong some of these magnets are in relation to those in toys.

Blowback From Using Corn as a Petroleum Substitute

Sometimes being “green” can be bad for us and those less fortunate. It feels odd to write those words, but mandatory ethanol production has a lot of unintended consequences.

The most notable to Americans is rising food prices, writes The New York Times. As you can see from the chart, it’s not your imagination that feeding our kids is getting ever-more pricy. Until now, I thought more expensive mini-wheats was just a feature of living in the big city, but apparently food prices have risen sharply since I left California and moved to Chicago.

There are two primary culprits, which are inextricably linked: 1. higher oil prices, which make it more expensive to grow, harvest and ship food. 2. The subsequent rise of corn-made ethanol.

Recalls Speed Racer, Bead Toys, Magnets Teethers, Fishing Games, Strollers

There have been quite a few recalls this week, so I’ve had a hard time getting them all together. Before I get started, the Thomas cartoo n above was named one of Time Magazine’s Top 10 cartoons of the year.

Here Are the Recalls:

About 300,000 Baby Bead and Wire Toys and Speed Racer Pull Back & Go Action Cars are being recalled by Greenbrier International because of excessive levels of lead, reports the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The Chinese-made toys were sold March 2007 through November 2007 at Dollar Tree, Dollar Bill$, Dollar Express, Greenbacks, Only One $1 and Deal$ stores nationwide.

About 153,000 Horseshoe Magnets sold to schools are being recalled by United Scientific because the paint contains high levels of lead. The Indian-made magnets were sold from March 1995 through September 2007 at stores nationwide.

Recalls Fisher-Price Voluntarily Pulls High-Lead Toy From Illinois

If you have any doubt that toy sellers are not looking out for our children’s best interests, maybe this will change your mind: Fisher-Price is pulling a high-lead toy only in Illinois, according to a Consumer Reports safety blog.

Technically, the red blood pressure cuffs, which contains 4,500 to 5,900 parts per million of lead according to Illinois, is violating that state’s laws but not federal regulations. How can this be?

Unlike Illinois, the United States only bans high levels of lead from painted surfaces but not the plastic itself.

In this case, there is so much lead on the red plastic blood-pressure cuff, a child could receive a dose of more than 15 micrograms of lead each day, writes Consumer Reports. (Other colored cuffs seem to be okay.) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes 10 micrograms is the uppermost limit kids should be exposed to.

Here’s what Consumer Reports writes:

Food Recalls Agencies Slow to Act on Lead Found in Mexican Candies

It’s bad enough when lead is in toys and other objects. It’s downright horrifying when it shows up in candy.

But most frightening of all is how long a contaminated food product stays on the market after problems have been discovered. Take Barrilito, a Mexican-made, dark, syrupy candy that was recalled on December 4th by the Food and Drug Administration after it was found to contain lead at 0.101 to 0.132 parts per million. The FDA warns that lead above 0.1. parts per million is “a potential public health hazard.”

While the recall was jointly announced December 4th  by the Texas Department of State Health Services and the FDA, the e-mail alert wasn’t sent out until Dec. 12th. Why the long delay on a food product recall?

The FDA also delayed sending an e-mail alert on Queso Fresco Cheese, which it recalled December 6th for listeria contamination. Listeria can result in stillbirths and endanger immune-compromised individuals. Waiting six to eight days to send food recall alerts seems extraordinarily negligent.

But lets get back to the lead-in-candy story, which goes deeper back in time. Hunting around for more information, it turns out the California Department of Public Health warned the public to stop eating Barrilito on August 22nd. That’s nearly four months ago!

Recalls Fisher-Price Pulls Additional Toys in Illinois, Report Says

Fisher-Price is recalling green blood-pressure cuffs tainted with lead in Illinois only, according to Consumer Reports. The toymaker is taking the action after discovering the contaminated cuffs, which are part of the Sesame Street Giggle Fisher-Price toy medical kits, contained high levels of lead.

The lead was in the PVC plastic instead of the paint, much like the red cuffs from a different set that were recalled in Illinois earlier this month.

The punch-line for American parents is that the company is still refusing to recall the product in other states because it doesn’t officially violate federal regulations. Here is Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s press release on the recall.

I don’t know about you, but if Fisher-Price and its parent Mattel can’t act responsibly in a case like this, why should I trust any of their toys?

Recalls CPSC Recalls 260,000 Pairs of Sunglasses

My kids love cheap sunglasses. And to be honest, they look so cool in those brightly-colored shades.

So it grieves but doesn’t surprise me to say that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling about 260,000 pairs of children’s sunglasses sold by FGX International because of excessive levels of lead paint.

The recall includes 15 styles of Chinese-made sunglasses that were sold from January 2007 through November 2007 at a variety of stores nationwide. I would be highly suspect of those made before then as well.

Here is a list of style names:

• Balloon
• Bond
• Boom
• Bubble Gum
• Bullseye
• Buzz
• Conqueror Jr.
• Curly Q
• Encompass Jr. IK
• Fade IK
• Gadget IK
• Iceman
• Lily
• Outer Space
• Pluto

Food Recalls Glass Found in Sauce Adds to Concern About TJ Quality*

Update: The Food and Drug Administration finally issues recall information on Trader Joe’s Pinjur.

It has been painful to watch the slow decline of Trader Joe’s, a store I’ve been frequenting since around 1987. In my opinion, the quality of their products has been noticeably deteriorating for several years.

In recent months, we’ve repeatedly found mold on bread. For more than two years, the quality of Trader Joe’s peanut butter, which sometimes tastes like burnt wood chips, has varied wildly. And I’ve repeatedly found expired boxes of soup on the shelves at various stores.

While checking out at Trader Joe’s on Saturday, a notice warning that bottles of Pinjur sauce may contain glass shards caught my eye. Here’s what the website says:

Florida McDonald’s Offer ‘Happy Meals’ for Grades

Hey kiddies! You should study! Why? Because with your great grades, you can win a McDonald’s Happy Meal!

Don’t worry about your health! You don’t need to love learning! You just need to love junk food!

Years into writing this blog and I never cease to be horrified at what school districts and businesses will concoct. In this case, McDonald’s restaurants in Seminole County, Florida, and the local school board are rewarding grade school kids with Happy Meals for good grades or good attendance, reports The New York Times.

The promotions are printed right on the jackets that kids bring home their report cards in. Parents must sign the jackets, which include pictures of Happy Meal menu items, so they’re sure to see the ads.

I shouldn’t even need to write how wrong this all is, so I’ll let Susie Linn, director of the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, do it for me:

“Turning report cards into ads for McDonald’s undermines parents’ efforts to encourage healthy eating. … It’s a terribly troubling trend. … It really, clearly links doing well in school with getting a Happy Meal.”

But Americans know the truth: the real reason to get a great education is the free food.

Housing Bubble Defined: Greed

Greed is supposed to be an ugly word. In the United States, though, it’s often considered a virtue.

But there is little doubt that it was greed that created America’s housing mess. There is plenty of blame to go around, but a case can be made that Wall Street firms hungry for high-return mortgage securities was the demand that generated the supply. Or you could argue that this mess was created by Americans who demanded a lifestyle they couldn’t afford. Perhaps it was both.

Let’s start with Wall Street, which was hungry for high-yield profits needed to reward unrealistically greedy investors. To see how this self-fulfilling greed system worked, read deep into this New York Times story and you discover that Wall Street was falling over itself to buy subprime mortgages.

By 2005 and 2006, financial institutions wanted these crappy securities so bad that it’s no wonder subprime lenders were throwing money at any Joe who walked in off the street. To heck with credit ratings or income levels!

But as early as 2006, risk managers at some of these financial institutions smelled rotten fish. While most couldn’t stop their organizations from buying questionable securities, they instead hedged against them. That’s why Goldman Sachs came out mostly ahead rather than down when its securities started to fail.