Hi,

The U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control recently released the results of the first-ever government study on the “choking game.” This is a game where children try to asphyxiate (themselves or with a friend’s help) and lose consciousness, and then experience euphoria with the rush of oxygen when they revive. If they regain consciousness, that is.

The CDC found that at least 82 children have been killed since 1995, just playing the game. This is just an approximation, since there are no official records. CDC had to make their estimate by scouring the news reports. The first incident was reported in 1995, and there were less than 3 deaths per year, until 2004.

And then there were more: 22 deaths in 2005, 35 in 2006, and 9 in 2007. The victims were young, ranging from 6 to 19 years old, and came from 31 states. Most kids engaged in this behavior are between ages 9 and 14.

The Web site GASP (Games Adolescents Shouldn’t Play on www.stop-the-choking-game.com) estimates even more deaths. Its campaign was started by Sharron Grant of Ontario, Canada, whose 12-year-old son strangled himself in 2005 using a computer cord to play the choking game.

According to the GASP tally, 30 children died in 2004, 74 in 2005, and 101 in 2006; they have tallied 66 deaths for 2007 and 2 so far in 2008.

The choking game has other names: Pass-Out Game, Blackout Game, Fainting Game, Tingling Game, Space Cowboy, California Dreaming, Space Monkey, and, probably the most appropriate, Suffocation Roulette, as suggested by Israeli doctors. It involves children or adolescents trying to cut off circulation by choking, strangling, or suffocating a friend until he/she passes out. Then they release the pressure, which gives a tingling sensation and euphoria that lasts a few seconds as the friend regains consciousness. They may engage in the game, and their parents may be in the next room or in the house unaware of what they’re doing.

The children love the sensation and may get so addicted they begin to play the game alone. They’ll use belts, ties, scarves, ropes, even dog leashes to strangle themselves. This becomes particularly dangerous, since no one is around to help revive them. In the CDC study, 67 of 70 deaths happened when children were playing alone. Almost 90% were boys.

When airflow has been cut off longer than the body can tolerate, the child may suffer brain damage; they may also die, and their deaths may be mistaken for suicides. They may pass out within a minute and die in as little as 2-4 minutes. They’re not trying to kill themselves; they’re normal children and adolescents trying to get high and having some fun.

Even if they don’t die, repeated sessions can lead to permanent disability. A 15-year-old boy in Minnesota was revived but suffered severe brain damage and now looks like he was born with cerebral palsy. Children can also suffer concussions, fractures, and hemorrhaging in the eyes and cornea.

Parents of victims often were not aware of the game, until their children died. Parents should talk to their teens and warn them about the dangers of this game. It is easy to hide, so it pays to be extra vigilant, and watch for:

• Bloodshot eyes
• Suspicious marks on the neck below the ears (they may try to hide the marks with clothing, scarves, etc)
• Frequent headaches, often very painful
• Loss of concentration; disorientation
• Dull noises (thuds) coming from their rooms
• Belts, ropes, scarves, etc., tied to room furniture, doorknobs, or closet poles

Children are playing this game because they think it’s fun. It’s not! It is very dangerous and they need to understand that. Life has no reset button, think safety.

Safe Living,
Yovette Mumford

Hi,

Today’s featured product in this series of blogs on safety products that make good gift ideas for the holiday season is at the cutting edge of consumer communications. Few items today are as ubiquitous as the cell phone. We use it to make or receive calls from everywhere – inside a mall, in the car, at the office, inside conference rooms, etc.

Jawbone Bluetooth Headset (JB001BLK)

There are times, though, when calls come at the most inconvenient times, as when we’re driving or in a meeting or in a restaurant or some other place with a lot of background noise. For such moments, the Jawbone Bluetooth Headset comes in very handy. The audio processing technology used enhances sound so well that your caller’s voice can be heard distinctly from all other background noise. By the same token, the Jawbone Bluetooth Headset also picks up your voice when you speak with such precision that you don’t need to speak loudly to make yourself heard. You save yourself the embarrassment of taking cell phone calls where there are many people in the room with you. Get a better idea of its features by clicking on the picture.

While Jawbone Bluetooth Headset comes with a great design and in medical grade plastic to guard against adverse reactions by the skin, the most impressive safety benefit, in my view, is its noise shield technology. There is so much unwanted sound in our daily environment. The elevated noise level is a nuisance, but it can be more than that: it presents a real danger to our health. Hearing loss is the most familiar health hazard posed by the noise, but health professionals know that noise stress is capable of causing more physical problems and disease.

Devices like the Jawbone Bluetooth Headset, with the noise shield technology, benefit users by reducing the amount of noise in their background. The fact that it helps you be discreet with your communications is surely an added bonus. The Jawbone Bluetooth Headset keeps you in touch and keeps your ears healthy, too. Life has no reset button, think safety.

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