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• Evenflo Car Seat Recall

  David Lowe | May 11, 2007 6:48 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  The Consumer Product Safety Commision and Evenflo, Inc. have announced the recall of the Evenflo Embrace Infant Car Seat Carriers. The recall comes in the wake numerous reports of the handle on the car seat/carriers unexpectedly releasing, resulting in 160 injuries to children, including a skull fracture, concussions, cuts, scrapes and bruises.The recalled units are described as follows:The...

• Bush Nominates Fox to Head Consumer Safety Henhouse

  David Lowe | May 09, 2007 10:32 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  The Bush administration's nomination of Michael Baroody to head the Consumer Products Safety Commission is up for hearing before the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance and Automotive Safety.Baroody's nomination is being opposed by a coalition of eight consumer groups,including Consumers Union and Public Citizen. Public Citzen President Joan Claybrook explains the...

• Focus on Diacetyl and Bronchiolitis Obliterans

  David Lowe | May 07, 2007 4:33 PM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Academic studies have shown a strong connection between the food flavoring diacetyl and the rare but life threatening disease bronchiolitis obliterans that has disproportionately hit workers who handle diacetyl in the manufacture of microwave popcorn and food flavorings. In fact, bronchiolitis obliterans has has been nick-named "popcorn workers" disease. Flavoring manufacturers have already...

• Motorcycle Safety: Drivers of Cars And Trucks Have Responsibility Too

  David Lowe | May 01, 2007 1:01 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  It is appropriate that all of us think about motorcycle safety, those who ride motorcycles, and those who share the roadways with cyclists.The Motorcycle Safety Foundation lists the following tips for car and truck drivers to consider as they approach motorcyclists on the roadways:QUICK TIPS: Ten Things All Car & Truck Drivers Should Know About Motorcycles 1. There are a lot more cars and trucks...

• Stronger Warning Issued to Parents Over Magnetic Toys

  David Lowe | April 26, 2007 6:45 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  I wrote last November about a recall of Polly Pocket magnetic toys, which were being swallowed and injuring children. Now, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a stronger warning to parents about children swallowing magnetic toys in the wake of reports of hundreds of emergency room visits by children, many requriing surgery, and one death caused by ingestion of parts from these...

• Motorcycle Accidents Can Be Reduced With Training

  David Lowe | April 22, 2007 8:59 PM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  May is Motorcycle Awareness Month. Many riders will be pulling the tarp off of their machines and hitting the roadways now that Spring is upon us. The National Association of State Motorcycle Safety Administrators (SMSA) stresses that one out of five motorcycle crashes involves an unlicensed, and untrained rider.This strongly suggests that motorcycle crashes and fatalities would be reduced if...

• Traumatic Brain Injury-- The Long Road to Recovery

  David Lowe | April 19, 2007 7:11 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Traumatic brain injury is a frequent and devastating consequence of a car accident. A column by award winning writer Crocker Stephenson in today's Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel provides a poignant account of a couple driving their car on a foggy day, broadsided by a delivery truck, and each left with serious consequences of brain injury from the force of the brain slamming into the skull that...

• Jury Service-- Seeing It From The Other Side

  David Lowe | April 16, 2007 11:35 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Here I am, Monday morning in the Milwaukee County Courthouse-- a familiar time and location. But this time I am sitting in the jury assembly room with a jury summons in my hand. This is my first opportunity for jury service, and one that I am looking forward to. We are sitting in auditorium type seating, unacquainted with one another, no one talking, all somewhat uncomfortable in these strange...

• Nail Gun Injuries On the Increase

  David Lowe | April 13, 2007 4:33 PM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  Nail guns are easy to use, but not necessarily easy to use safely. Today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report issued by the Center for Disease Control reveals that over the five year period between 2001 - 2005, emergency departments saw 37,000 patients annually for nail gun injuries. This represents a remarkable surge in the occurrence of nail gun injuries, particularly in the consumer...

• Truck Driver Fatigue Tracked In Survey

  David Lowe | March 29, 2007 6:06 AM | 0 CommentsMilwaukee, WI

  A survey of truck drivers conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reveals that In any given month, at least one out of eight long-distance truck drivers dozes at the wheel.A story about the survey published in today's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel summarizes the causes of accidents involving truck drivers in this way:A 2006 government study of large-truck crashes involving death or...