Archive for January, 2010

Regal Lager Announces Recall to Repair CYBEX Strollers January 27th, 2010

Regal Lager Announces Recall to Repair CYBEX Strollers; Risk of Fingertip Amputation and Laceration Hazards

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following products. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: CYBEX Strollers

Units: About 1,100 in the United States and 90 in Canada

Distributor: Regal Lager Inc., of Kennesaw, Ga.

Hazard: The stroller’s hinge mechanism poses a fingertip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is unfolding/opening the stroller.

Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received one report of a child placing his finger in the stroller’s hinge mechanism, resulting in a finger fracture.

Description: This recall involves Ruby, Onyx and Topaz models of CYBEX umbrella strollers. “CYBEX” is printed on the side of the strollers.

Sold at: Department and juvenile product stores nationwide between August 2009 and November 2009 for between $140 and $260.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled strollers and contact Regal Lager to receive a free hinge cover retrofit kit.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact the Company Service Center at (800) 593-5522 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s Web site at www.regallager.com/recalls – consumers can also email the firm at info@regallager.com.

Note: Health Canada’s press release is available at http://cpsr-rspc.hc-sc.gc.ca/PR-RP/recall-retrait-eng.jsp?re_id=953.

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including pictures of the recalled product, please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10123.html

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‘CPSC 2.0′ Launches Product Safety Agency into Social Media — Learn more at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09346.html.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. 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 decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC’s Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC’s teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270. To join a CPSC e-mail subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain recall and general safety information by logging on to CPSC’s Web site at www.cpsc.gov.

Call for Parents & Young Infants to Participate in National SIDS Research Study January 26th, 2010

Dear Parents,

I am a SIDS researcher at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. I have been working on the issue of SIDS in day care settings for many years now. Babies experience a lot of change when they start day care. These changes may affect the baby’s risk for SIDS. We want to see how these changes for the baby during the weeks before and after s/he starts day care affect the baby.

I would like to study young babies, half of whom are entering day care and half of whom are at home during the day with a parent, by measuring sleep patterns and hormones that are markers for stress and circadian rhythm in infants.

Here are the criteria for participating in the study:

  1. Your baby has to be less than 3 months of age when you begin the study.
  2. If your baby will be entering day care, it needs to be a licensed day care center (not a family day care home), and your baby has to start at the day care center when s/he is between 60 days (2 months) and 120 days (4 months) of age.
  3. Your baby has to be born full term (at least 37 weeks gestation) or with a birth weight of at least 5-1/2 pounds.
  4. Your baby cannot have any medical problems that require ongoing care by a subspecialty doctor.

If you agree to participate in the study, this is what we will be doing:

  1. We will ask you to sign an informed consent form, basically stating that you understand the study and what your and your baby’s roles in the study are. Someone from our research team will review this document with you.
  2. We will ask you questions about yourself, your baby, and what you do at home with the baby, such as what the baby eats and where the baby sleeps. This will take approximately 10-15 minutes and can be done over the phone.
  3. We will ask you to put an Actigraph watch (see picture) on your baby’s ankle for 4 weeks. If your baby will be starting day care, you will put the watch on the baby’s ankle 2 weeks before s/he starts day care. The Actigraph looks like a small watch and measures your baby’s movements, so that we can tell when s/he is asleep and when s/he is awake. The watch is waterproof and shockproof, so you do not have to take it off.
  4. You will fill out a diary of the baby’s feeds and sleep times on the days that the Actigraph watch is on.
  5. On 6-8 different days, we will ask you to collect your baby’s urine and the baby’s mother’s urine in the morning and the evening. We will give you a special pad (it looks like a sanitary pad) to put in the baby’s diaper to collect the urine. It does not stick to the skin or cause any pain or discomfort. You will then use a syringe (which we will give you) to draw out the urine from the pad and put it in a special container. You will need to put the urine samples in your freezer (we will give you a special box to put it in) until you are ready to send them to us. The urine will be tested for two hormones that tell us about stress levels and about your sleep and awake patterns.
  6. We will remind you, by email, phone call, and or text message, on the days when you have to collect the urine. We will also remind you when you are to place the Actigraph watch on your baby’s ankle.
  7. You will be in the study for approximately 4 weeks.

index_clip_image002If you live in the Baltimore-Washington area, we will likely come to your home to bring the Actigraph watch and other study materials to you. If you do not live in this area, we can send the materials to you in the mail and provide instructions on returning it back to us (we will pay for the shipping).

Families that complete the study will receive a total of $150 ($50 at the beginning and $100 at the end). If your child is in day care, the day care center will receive a total of $50 at the end of the study. The $150 will be in the form of gift cards. (Target has been the most popular for participants in other studies; I am open to other suggestions.)

We have received approval from the Children’s National Medical Center institutional review board to assure that there are no ethical concerns with the research study. If you are currently pregnant or have a baby who is 3 months or younger, I hope that you will consider participating in this study.

If you are interested in participating, or if you have questions about the details of the study, please contact me directly. I’m happy to answer any and all questions.

Thank you very much for considering participation.

Best,

Rachel Moon, M.D.
Director, Academic Development
Associate Chief, Division of General Pediatrics and Community Health
Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health
Children’s National Medical Center
Professor of Pediatrics
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Tel: 202-476-5476
Email: rmoon@cnmc.org

Drop Side Cribs Recalled by Caramia Furniture Due to Fall and Entrapment Hazards January 14th, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following products. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Diane Crib

Units: About 1,000

Distributors: Caramia Furniture and Mother Hubbard Cupboard’s, of Ontario, Canada

Hazard: The slats on the cribs drop-side can detach from the top and bottom rails, posing fall and entrapment hazards to the child.

Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received 18 reports of slats detaching from the rails of the crib. No injuries have been reported.

Description: This recall involves Caramia “Diane” drop-side cribs. The cribs were manufactured between September 2002 and June 2004. A label affixed to the inside of the headboard or footboard lists the manufacturing dates.

Sold at: Buy Buy Baby and juvenile product and mass merchandise stores nationwide from September 2002 through December 2005 for between $240 and $370.

Manufactured in: Slovenia

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled Diane crib and contact Caramia Furniture to receive a free replacement drop side. The free replacement will be available beginning March 2010.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Caramia at (877) 728-0342 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.caramiafurniture.com.

To see this recall on CPSC’s web site, including a picture of the recalled product, please go to:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10113.html

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