Hi,

There have been a number of Food Safety issues this year. It highlights to us consumers the need to look for ways to safeguard the food we eat. I find that one of the most useful products on the market is the Refrigerator Ozonator.

This small device can actually delay the decaying of the foods stored in our refrigerator, especially fruits and vegetables. I understand that fresh vegetables and fruits – and flowers, too – give off ethylene gas as they age. The more ethylene gas accumulates the faster will fresh produce decay. Even if we store them in the refrigerator, the ethylene gas is still present and the fresh produce rot.

With the refrigerator ozonator, that natural process is delayed. One can actually save by having less spoiled produce to throw away. According to the product blurb, the average American household can save about 150 pounds per year in produce not thrown away, equivalent to about $300 savings per year. Not bad! That’s about $25 in savings a month, and it is thus possible to fully recover the cost of the ozonator after about 2 months of use. Few investments work out that well.

But the ozonator does more than save you money on produce. The ozone in the device destroys many harmful bacteria, molds and yeast organisms that could cause infections or illnesses to the family. So the ozonator helps you stay healthy!

This product can be a great gift to your family and friends. At $49.99, it is not that expensive, yet it gives back more value in savings, food safety, and health. I see right now it is 50% off and is available only for $24.99. Click on the image above to check for your Ozonator.

Click here for more Safety Products. We invite you to share your views and comments with the rest of our readers. Since life has no reset button, think safety. And, tune into this blog and to our website daily.

Safe Living, Yovette Mumford

Hi,

In a most unfortunate turn of events, Donda West, mother of famous rapper Kanye West, died one day after undergoing cosmetic surgery. The cause of death is still being investigated but the Los Angeles County coroner’s office has said it was probably due to complications from the surgery or anesthesia.

In these times of the Extreme Makeover, Botox parties, one-hour liposuctions and quick facelifts, consumers have been led to believe that cosmetic procedures are not without risk of complications. Our television shows have trivialized the whole procedure. Celebrities proudly boast of having the biggest these, or the tightest that. The patients, the media, and even cosmetic surgeons (especially if they are on TV) tend to minimize the risk of these procedures.

One fact has been set aside in all the hype: cosmetic surgery is considered major surgery, especially from an anesthetic perspective.

Kanye West’s mother, Donda, is only the latest to fall victim to the idea that plastic surgery is as quick and easy as disposing of plastic. In 2004, Olivia Goldsmith, the best-selling author, suffered a heart attack after undergoing anesthesia for a “chin tuck” cosmetic procedure. She was 54.

To be sure, deaths in cosmetic procedures are quite rare, with one death for every 52,000 procedures. In 2006, about 11.5 million cosmetic procedures (surgical and non-surgical) were performed, an increase of 446 percent from 1997. Cosmetic surgery can be safe … but only if proper safety procedures are observed. Although safe, it is not risk-free.

Sometimes, patients thinking they have the financial means will consider herself or himself as a perfect candidate for cosmetic surgery. They tend to downplay any adverse factors in their medical history. It is not altogether unlikely that they may use deception, to convince the physician of their fitness to undergo surgery and achieve their goal of physical perfection.

We must all remember that plastic surgery is the ultimate elective surgery: none of it is necessary. Still, medical rules and common sense should not be ignored to accommodate a patient’s vanity.

Those contemplating a plastic surgery procedure must think the matter through.

• Get information. As in any serious undertaking, you should do your homework and know as much as you can about the benefits and the risks. Use the Internet and look it up in the medical websites.
• Know what to expect. Ask your plastic surgeon about the benefits and risks of the procedure. Talk about your expectations. Ask about what the side effects might be and recovery period.
• Ask around. Try looking up patients who have undergone the procedure you want and talk to them about it.
• Choose a certified plastic surgeon. It is not enough that the surgeon have training. The surgeon should be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
• Get a medical clearance. Your personal physician should clear you for the surgery. You may have to get chest X-rays and EKGs.
• Be honest. Do not minimize your medical history when examined by the plastic surgeon. Full disclosure is necessary so the surgeon will be prepared. Remember, the risk of complications will increase with conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

It may not be possible to eliminate all risks, but as an informed patient, you can help to diminish them. Cosmetic surgery may give you some peace of mind but only if you remember that it is all about safety.

We invite you to share your views and comments with the rest of our readers. Since life has no reset button, think safety. And, tune into this blog and to our website daily.

Safe Living, Yovette Mumford

Hi,

In the midst of a slew of recalls, ranging from toys to tires, Congress has finally taken long awaited action to increase the effectiveness of the federal agency in charge of consumer product safety; The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The objective of the legislation currently under Senate review has many, specific suggestions to strengthen the CPSC in order to provide for more improved consumer safety. The CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products. As it makes its way through Congress, legislation being offered would:

• Boost fines for safety violations by companies/businesses (Specifically: increasing maximum civil penalties from $250,000 to $100 million)
• Create tracking labels for children’s products to facilitate recalls
• Terminate licenses of repeat importers of defective and hazardous products
• Whistleblower protection for employees who provide information on safety hazards
• Tighten standards for lead paint in children’s products.
• Increase the CPSC budget
• Increase the CPSC staff

Additionally and more dramatically, on October 31, 2007 in Washington, D.C., several members of Congress publicly called for the resignation of CPSC Acting Chairman, Nancy Nord (appointed in April of 2005 as Acting Chairman) after a report that Nord did not support a bill that would provide more funds and staffing for the agency. The copy of the full report Ms. Nord sent to the Congress can be found at: http://www.cpsc.gov/pr/Nord102407.pdf. After the call for her resignation, Ms. Nord immediately–released the following Press Release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, several members of Congress publicly called for my resignation as CPSC Acting Chairman, citing a report I recently sent to the Senate Commerce Committee expressing my views on pending legislation before that committee. In the report, I respectfully pointed out what I think are several unwise proposals in a bill to reauthorize and expand the mission of the CPSC. However, despite media reports to the contrary, nowhere in the report (or anywhere else) did I assert that the CPSC does not need additional resources. In fact, quite to the contrary, the main message of the report is that if CPSC resources are diverted to new missions and mandates, we will need a dramatic upsurge in our personnel and funding, far beyond what either the House or Senate are proposing for our pending budget. Nor have I ever asserted that the agency does not need new legal authority. Again, the opposite is true. In July I submitted to Congress a legislative package seeking no fewer than 40 new statutory enforcement tools and other changes to enhance our ability to protect the public from unsafe products. To date, the Committee has only seen fit to adopt a few of those proposals.
I am very troubled by the prospect that any time a federal agency official is critical of legislation pending before Congress; congressional leaders may seek to have that official silenced or even dismissed. At the request of the committee, and as follow-up to a meeting I had with committee staff, I provided what I and the agency’s senior staff believed were honest, constructive and apolitical comments and suggestions on a bill that could have a dramatic effect on our agency and our ability to carry out our core mission.
I do not intend to resign because I care passionately about the mission of this agency. However, I am saddened and troubled by the tactics being used in an attempt to silence debate on important policy issues.
Source:  The Consumer Public Safety Commission. October/November 2007 Press Releases.

The background that outlines why we are reviewing national product safety policies are:

• Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The safety of these products all falls under the jurisdiction of the CPSC. 
• In June 2007, more than 20 million China-made toys have been recalled for hazardous lead levels. The United States banned lead paint in toys in 1978.
• Nord has gone on the record to say she welcomes more resources and more money but she wants the right resources. The proposed legislation would have the agency more often in court and in litigation. Nord wants to hire more scientists and safety inspectors, the legislation would mean more attorneys.
• Records on file documenting nearly 30 trips taken since 2002 by Chairwoman Nord and her predecessor, Hal Stratton – airfares, hotels and meals totaling nearly $60,000 – paid for by the very groups they are supposed to be regulating.
• Prior to her post at the commission, Nord served as director of consumer affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, president of the American Corporate Counsel Association, and as a lobbyist for Eastman Kodak.
• Responsible for 15,000 products, The Commission had a high of 978 employees in 1980, but now has 420 employees. There is only one toy inspector in the entire agency.
• Imports have risen by 338% since 1974, when Congress set up the Consumer Product Safety Commission, but agency staff has since dropped to half of its original level and under Nord’s leadership is continually dropping.

Perhaps U.S. Rep Rosa DeLauro, said it best at the Congressional meeting when asking for Ms. Nord’s resignation: “It’s time for her to resign. The American public deserves better. It’s time for someone who can do a better job. We can no longer have regulatory agencies that protect corporate interests.” Can we really blame one person for this problem, I don’t think so. This situation has been brewing for decades from one administration to another.

What do you think? We not only welcome but encourage your comments.

Since life has no reset button…tune into this blog and to our website daily. Safe living, Yovette Mumford

Hi,

Last week, we witnessed the great Oprah begging for forgiveness, her eyes filled with tears of frustration and disappointment, for her school having been a place of violence and abuse on the students. One of the students at the school had been fondled, and another had been assaulted. Who did it?

News about violence and sexual harassment in our schools always – or, should – arouse a sense of anger and indignation. After all, we are in the twenty-first century, are we not? Why are we still kids being assaulted? Why are our children still being sexually molested? To have a child violently killed or raped anywhere in our cities and towns is reprehensible enough. But to allow the same things to happen in our schools is the most heinous indictment of our humanity’s lack of mental health.

Safety Issues has written about sexual misconduct in our schools, Sexual Misconduct Menaces US Schools. A report mandated by Congress found that up to 9 percent (4.5 million students) out of the country’s 50 million students at one time or another suffer sexual misconduct at the hands of a school employee. That’s a lot of students.

And what have the schools done about these? They’ve swept the problem under the rug. Other have “passed the trash,” meaning, they quietly ask the teacher to leave and transfer to another school, which leaves the wrongdoer free to prey on children in other schools. The sad reality is these wrongdoers rarely repent; they are likely to strike again.

And what has Congress done about that report? We still have to see. Our lawmakers are squeamish about legislating state punishments or a cohesive national policy.

It seems the time has come to have mental health experts, sociologists, government officials, and security experts devise and implement plans to address these issues. As we have so painfully witnessed, the present ways just do not work! And we cannot, for our children’s sake, let things remain that way.

• In most sexual misconduct cases, when a student brings up a case against a teacher or school official, the authorities are more likely to believe the authority figure rather than the child. When defendants portray the students who accuse them as seducers or false accusers, school authorities often believe – or want to believe – them.

This mindset has got to stop. Any experienced investigator will say it happens very rarely that a teacher is being pursued by a student. Instead, it happens all too often that teachers are doing the pursuing. Officials should remember it is never easy for a student to speak up about what is happening, so if someone does, the officials should give the complainant a fair hearing. This is a challenge to school officials everywhere.

• School officials should follow the law: many states require that even an allegation of sexual misconduct should be reported to the state office overseeing teacher licenses. Many school officials do not make this report.

• School and state officials should use the resources of the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification. This organization maintains a list of educators who have been punished for various reasons. It will share names only with state agencies.

• State officials should require thorough background checks on teachers and enforce mandatory reporting of abuse.

Rogue teachers will continue their predatory ways unless we do something about them. Let us help each other do so.

Please, I invite and encourage your comments on this issue. I want to hear from you. We are built around one mission, to inform you, listen to you and encourage your awareness of critical safety issues.

Since life has no reset button…tune into this blog and to our website daily. Safe living, Yovette Mumford