Archive for the ‘Safety’ Category
Stealthy battery poses deadly threat to kids
Wow, this on the NYTimes’ Well blog really got my attention …
For Very Young, Peril Lurks in Lithium Cell Batteries
Last fall, 13-month-old Aidan Truett of Hamilton, Ohio, developed what seemed like an upper respiratory infection. He lost interest in food and vomited a few times, but doctors attributed it to a virus. After nine days of severe symptoms and more doctor visits, the hospital finally ordered an X-ray to look for pneumonia.
What they found instead was totally unexpected. The child had ingested a “button” battery, one of those flat silver discs used to power remote controls, toys, musical greeting cards, bathroom scales and other home electronics.
The battery was surgically removed the next day, and Aidan was sent home. But what neither the doctors nor his parents realized was that the damage had been done. The battery’s current had set off a chemical reaction in the child’s esophagus, burning through both the esophageal wall and attacking the aorta. Two days after the battery was removed, Aidan began coughing blood, and soon died from his injuries.
To this day, Aidan’s parents don’t know where the battery came from. “This is something I would never want another parent to live with,” said Michelle Truett, Aidan’s mother. “I was oblivious as to how dangerous they were, and I want more people to know the danger.”
Such deaths are extremely rare. There were fewer than 10 documented during the last six years. But ingestion of lithium cell batteries, which children may mistake for candy and elderly adults for medication, is a surprisingly common problem, documented this week in two reports in the medical journal Pediatrics.
About 3,500 cases of button cell battery ingestion are reported annually to poison control centers. But while swallowing batteries has occurred for years, the development of larger, stronger lithium cell batteries has increased the risk of severe complications. Read more here.
AP: Lawmakers move to ban drop-side cribs
by Jennifer C. Kerr, Associated Press Writer
Article Last Updated; Monday, May 24, 2010 12:00AM
WASHINGTON — The baby crib, usually a safe haven for little ones, became a death trap for 6-month-old Bobby Cirigliano.
- Photo by Cirigliano Family/AP
The side rail on his drop-side crib slid off the tracks and trapped his head and neck between the mattress and the malfunctioning side rail. His face pressed against the mattress, the boy suffocated.
“I just don’t feel complete anymore,” says his mother, Susan Cirigliano of North Bellmore on New York’s Long Island.
Bobby was one of at least 32 infants and toddlers since 2000 who suffocated or were strangled in a drop-side crib, which has a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily than cribs with fixed sides. Drop-sides, around for decades and probably slept in by many of today’s parents, are suspected in an additional 14 infant fatalities during that time.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates cribs, has warned about the problem. Its chairman, Inez Tenenbaum, has pledged to ban the manufacture and sale of cribs by the end of the year with a new performance standard that would make fixed-side cribs mandatory. It could be several months into 2011 before becoming effective.
The industry has already started phasing out drop-sides and big retailers such as Babies R Us and Wal-Mart have taken them off sale floors. Yet there are still plenty for sale on the Internet, and that’s part of the reason Congress is getting involved.
“There’s a great urgency here. We have to make sure that no parent is unaware that drop-side cribs could kill their children,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said in an Associated Press interview.
She plans to introduce legislation this week to outlaw the manufacture, sale and resale of all drop-side cribs and ban them from day-care centers and hotels. Gillibrand wants to accelerate efforts for a ban, from Congress or the CPSC, and highlight concerns about the cribs to parents who are using them.
“There still are thousands and thousands of children who are sleeping every night in drop-side cribs and we need to protect them,” said Gillibrand.
She outlined her bill at a news conference in New York on Sunday, joined by Bobby Cirigliano’s parents and the family of 10-month-old Tyler Witte, who died in a drop-side crib in 1997.
More than 7 million of these cribs have been recalled in the past five years, often because screws, safety pegs or plastic tracking for the rail can come loose or break. The industry insists that babies are safe in drop-sides that haven’t been recalled.
“We believe firmly that when these products are assembled and used properly, they are the safest place to put your child,” said Mike Dwyer, executive director of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, which represents over 90 percent of the crib industry.
But when the hardware malfunctions, the drop-side rail can detach partially from the crib. That creates a dangerous “V”-like gap between the mattress and side rail where a baby can get caught and suffocate or strangle.
Dwyer says manufacturers have seen cases where parents installed the drop-side improperly, sometimes upside down, or they have reassembled a crib for a second or third child with some of the screws or other hardware missing.
In addition to the CPSC’s pledge to vote on a ban by year’s end, two New York counties – Nassau and Suffolk, on Long Island – have banned the sale of drop-sides.
Late last year, crib manufacturers were already moving in that direction when they voted to eliminate the drop-side design and instead opt for four fixed sides, but the standard is a voluntary one.
Despite the industry’s move to end production, there are plenty of new and used drop-side cribs for sale online.
The Associated Press found them for sale on websites for Sears, Kmart and Amazon.com. Craigslist also had scores of used ones for sale.
The industry doesn’t have figures on how many drop-sides might still be on the market, but Dwyer says it’s a small percentage.
A ban – by Congress or the CPSC – won’t come soon enough for Bobby Cirigliano’s parents or his sister, Jennifer, who was 3-years-old when her brother died. She remembers him every day, her parents say. When the family moved to their new house on Long Island, her dad promised to build her a tree house.
“I want it as high as the sky,” she told her dad, “because then I can see my little brother.”
Guest blogger offers cell-phone safety tips
Today, guest blogger Stephanie Harris, a local mom and chiropractor, brings us some important information about cell phones, kids and radiation. I’m delighted that she’s chosen to write about this topic because I find it very concerning (though I admit to having resorted to handing over my Blackberry to entertain my 18 month old while eating out — it still has smudges from the Thai restaurant a relative recently treated us to). It’s hard to believe a device so widely used could be dangerous, but one need only look at the concerns surrounding plastics to know that prevalence provides no assurance of safety. And on cell phones, I would add the obligatory reminder that they are most hazardous when used while driving (which I also acknowledge having done).
Cellular phones are not childʼs play
In our modern world where we rely increasingly on technology in our daily lives, what parent doesnʼt regularly use a cell phone? They are so convenient for sending a text that you are late for a play date, for catching up with a friend while sitting and nursing your baby or for coordinating child care responsibilities with your spouse. What was almost unheard of two decades ago has now become an indispensable utility in our lives today.
As a mom of young children and a cell phone user myself, I have drastically changed my cell phone habits in the last six months after encountering some warnings about the use of such devices around small children. As a parent and a chiropractor, I feel obligated to gently disclose these warnings to other parents, for the sake of our childrenʼs safety. This article is not meant to scare you, but is meant to increase your awareness about how we may be unknowingly subjecting ourselves and our families to radiation through the excessive use of cellular phones.
Cell phones emit electromagnetic radiation when in use and even to some degree when idling in “standby” mode on the countertop. During a call where the user holds the phone to his head, radiation can penetrate the skull and affect cellular electrical activity in the brain. This is particularly concerning when the user is a child, whose skull is much thinner than an adultʼs, so the radiation can penetrate more deeply into a childʼs brain. There are studies coming out which are linking cell phone use to an increased risk of brain and/or salivary gland cancer. Some are referring to cell phones as todayʼs “cigarette”, saying that it is only a matter of time before research shows a direct link of their ubiquitous use to cancer.
Like all things, it is possible to use a cell phone with moderation. Here are a few steps you can take to reduce your familyʼs exposure to cell phone radiation:
- Buy a low radiation phone. Visit www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation for a list of phones and the radiation levels they emit.
- Use speakerphone mode whenever possible.
- Text instead of talk. Texting uses less radiation than talking.
- Turn off your cell phone when at home and use a land line to make and receive calls.
- Children should avoid holding a cell phone to their heads unless it is an emergency.
- Avoid talking on a cell phone while holding or wearing your baby.
This is not a comprehensive list, and this article is really just the tip of the cell phone iceberg. For more information, please visit the Environmental Working Groupʼs website, www.ewg.org. There are also many articles on the subject at www.mercola.com (type in “cell phone” in the search box).
Stephanie Harris, D.C., has a family wellness practice in downtown Durango. She can be reached at drstephdc@gmail.com.
Boy wonder: White wins gold
Well, I guess having that private halfpipe in Silverton last winter paid off. Shaun White won gold Wednesday night in the Men’s Halfpipe competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics. I’m sure his parents are beaming with pride and breathing a big sign of relief.
Several weeks ago, 60 Minutes did a feature on White that traced his career back to its beginnings, when his working-class parents would travel hours to take him to competitions in their old van that also served as sleeping accommodations. Even though they knew he was good, I can’t imagine they had any idea how far this edgy sport would take their son. I’m sure there are many parents in Durango who know what it is to support their child’s athletic aspirations despite the hardships.
The hardest point for the White family was after they saw young Shaun seriously injured in a skateboarding demo. The 60 Minutes video includes a clip of the accident and it’s enough to make any parent’s heart skip. After a collision with a much larger boy, he lay limp in the bowl and people rushed to his aid. He was carried away by paramedics and taken to the hospital, where it was discovered he had a cracked skull.
Obviously, he recovered. But the danger that he continues to take as he pushes his sport to new limits is very real. At the beginning of the week, a 21-year-old competitor died on the luge course, proving that even athletes at the top of their sports can make fatal mistakes.
I feel that the potential benefits of participation in sports, even dangerous ones, generally outweigh the risks because of the discipline and fitness they encourage. (We introduced our 3-1/2 year old to skiing this season so I’d be a hypocrite to say otherwise). But I think it’s important to mitigate the danger with proper equipment (obviously) and (less obviously) listen very closely when they may be giving subtle signs that they are in over their heads.
Bomb threat imbroglio
If you live in Durango and have children, then you were probably affected by yesterday’s bomb threat. Though it caused a major disruption to students’ day, it fortunately was just a hoax. Police say they have a “person of interest” in connection with the fiasco but no arrests so far.
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