They’re a staple of toddler’s birthday parties, children’s holiday parties and other seemingly carefree events. Your children take off their footwear and climb into the inflated bounce house and you’re free from worry (and perhaps bother) for a few minutes. Or are you? If the allegations in California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s lawsuit against several companies involved in manufacturing children’s bounce houses are correct, some of the inflatable structures contain unsafe amounts of lead in their vinyl covering. (more…)

Baby slings – soft fabrics that wrap around the chest so that busy parents can carry their babies or just stay close as they bond with their infants – are potentially dangerous products that continue to be of great concern. This past week the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall of about 40 Sprout Stuff infant ring slings. The CPSC advised consumers to immediately stop using Sprout Stuff infant ring slings due to a risk of suffocation to infants. This recall follows one on March 24, 2010 by Infantino LLC, of more than one million Infantino “SlingRider” and “Wendy Bellissimo” infant slings. (more…)

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted last week to approve (4-1) a final rule interpreting factors to be considered when seeking a civil penalty amount for knowing violations of CPSC laws.  The new factors required to be considered are: (1) the nature, circumstances, extent and gravity of the violation, including the nature of the product defect or the substance; (2) the appropriateness of the penalty in relation to the size of the business or of the person charged, including how to mitigate undue adverse economic impacts on small businesses; and (3) other factors as appropriate. These factors are in addition to the factors already required to be considered: the severity of the risk of injury; the occurrence or absence of injury; and the number of defective products or the amount of substance distributed. (more…)

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) directed the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to assess and report to the House and Senate enforcement efforts, difficulties encountered, as well as recommendations for improvement to the lower numerical level limits for lead content of children’s products the CPSIA established. The CPSC issued its report on January 15, 2010, noting that it has continued to find excessive lead levels in children’s toys and products.  Most of the lead content violations were identified by screening children’s products at ports using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology. In these cases, the violative products were seized and never entered into the U.S. marketplace.  (more…)

Characters in children’s movies are increasingly using seat belts, bike helmets and crosswalks, but there is still much room for improvement, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found. Approximately one half of scenes still depict unsafe practices, and the consequences of these behaviors are rarely shown. The report says the entertainment industry should continue to improve how it depicts safety practices in children’s movies, and parents should highlight the depiction of unsafe behaviors and educate children in following safe practices. (more…)

The 2009 Trouble in Toyland report is the 24th annual Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) survey of toy safety. This report provides safety guidelines for parents when purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that may pose potential safety hazards. This year’s report focused on three categories of toy hazards: toys that may pose choking hazards, toys that are excessively loud, and toys that contain the toxic chemicals lead and phthalates. This year’s report is interesting because it is the first year that any effect would be felt from The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), which greatly strengthened the clout of the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission (“CPSC”) to promulgate and enforce rules.  Last year we wrote about toy hazards the CPSC identified for the holiday season. (more…)

Drop-side cribs with plastic hardware were recalled and banned all in one day – this past Tuesday, November 24, 2009. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc., of British Columbia, Canada, this announced the voluntary recall of more than 2.1 million Stork Craft drop-side cribs, including about 147,000 Stork Craft drop-side cribs with the Fisher-Price logo. The dangers to infants include suffocation and falls if the drop-side either separates from the mattress, creating a gap, or falls off of the crib.  The recall involves only those cribs with plastic trigger and one-hand-system drop-side hardware. It does not involve any cribs with metal rod drop-side hardware.  (more…)

In a recent blog, we wondered why a television advertisement for the stop-smoking drug Chantix contained an exhaustive list of side-effects yet did not disclose that the drug was subject to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) “black box” warning. By virtue of this omission, a viewer might easily underestimate the seriousness of the televised side-effects. We honestly thought that Pfizer, the drug’s manufacturer, would so tenaciously fight against mentioning the existence of a “black box” warning that its inclusion in an ad was not a realistic possibility. But shortly after this blog (maybe we are a bit behind), we viewed a television ad for the most popular birth control medication in the U.S., Yaz, that began, “You may see some Yaz commercials that were not clear. The F.D.A. wants us to correct a few points in those ads.” (more…)

The Suffolk Legislature voted on October 13, 2009, to ban the sale of drop-side cribs, potentially virtual death traps to infants.  Drop-side cribs have caused many deaths and injuries, and prompted massive recalls. It is the first such restriction in the nation. The problem with drop-side cribs is that they have more moving parts than cribs with four fixed sides, making them more likely to develop gaps where a child can become trapped and be asphyxiated. The safer style are drop-gate cribs with four immobile sides – including those that have a small six-inch section at the top of one side that can fold down for greater access without endangering the infant. County Executive Steve Levy reportedly favors the measure but must hold a public hearing before it can become law. (more…)

For the first time since 1980, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has revised the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads compliant with the FTC Act. The revisions of the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising addresses endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers. They affect testimonial advertisements, bloggers, and celebrity endorsements. At least one of the revisions may affect lawyer advertising, whether it be print, online, radio or television advertising. (more…)