Among the sites that can help you track product recalls is www.cpsc.gov, of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. It is ‘charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products,’ and is ‘committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children.’
The site informs that the CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products – such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals – contributed significantly to the 30 per cent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.
Among the recent recalls listed in ‘February 2010 Recalls and Product Safety News’ are the following:
- Dollar General voluntarily recalling about 9,600 ‘Special Forces and Police SWAT Toy Gun Sets,’ because the orange tips located at the end of the toy guns’ barrels (which are designed to distinguish them from real guns), can easily be removed from the barrels, posing a choking hazard to children.
- GTM Sportswear Inc. voluntarily recalling about 2,10,000 children’s jackets with drawstrings, owing to the strangulation hazard to children.
- About 1,74,000 Papyrus Brand greeting cards with bracelets voluntarily recalled because the surface paint coating on the bracelets sold with greeting cards contains excessive levels of lead violating the federal lead paint standard.
Wish we had a similar site in India, too.
