Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Another popular brand of strollers are being recalled by the manufacturer due to the risk of children’s fingertips being amputated or lacerated, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Graco Children’s Products Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., is recalling about 1.5 million strollers because the stroller’s canopy hinge mechanism can amputate or lacerate children’s fingertips while the canopy is being opened or closed. To date, Graco has received reports of five fingertip amputations and two fingertip lacerations. The recall involves Graco Passage, Alano, and Spree strollers and travel systems. For a list of Model numbers affected by the recall, visit Beasley Allen Recalls.

Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this month, the Associated Press exposed yet another disturbing Chinese trade secret when it reported that some manufacturers in China are making children’s jewelry with the highly toxic metal cadmium. Children’s jewelry now joins the growing list of dangerous and sometimes deadly products pouring into the United States from China – a list that includes toys covered with lead paint, pet food and baby formula tainted with melamine, sulfuric drywall that has ruined thousands of homes, and other poorly made or defective merchandise.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the world’s largest retailer, is pulling items of children’s jewelry known or suspected to be manufactured with high levels of toxic cadmium from store shelves. The move follows an Associated Press investigation published earlier this week which found some China-based manufacturers were creating children’s jewelry with varying amounts of cadmium — a heavy medal considered by the federal government to be one of the most toxic substances on earth.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yoshi Inaba, Toyota’s highest ranking executive in the United States, says that his company’s latest recall of millions of vehicles has taught Toyota some valuable lessons. Speaking to an audience gathered at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Inaba seemed eager to hit the re-set button with the American public through admission of Toyota’s past errors.

Read the rest of this entry »

On the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s priority list of the 275 most toxic substances in the environment, the heavy metal cadmium is ranked seventh. Unfortunately, in an investigative report, the Associated Press found that cadmium is being used in large quantities to make children’s jewelry and other products that are sold in the United States. The country of origin for almost all of these products is China.

Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved a new rule this week that establishes guidelines and requirements for mandatory recall notices. While nearly every recall announced by the CPSC is conducted with the voluntary cooperation of the manufacturer (every one of last year’s product recalls was voluntary), forced, mandatory recalls are sometimes necessary when the manufacturer is either unwilling or unable to participate in the voluntary recall effort.

Read the rest of this entry »

While most safety recalls involve products with defects that may cause direct physical harm to consumers, this week the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of books that give bad advice and may cause consumers to hurt themselves.

Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced yesterday that RC2 Corp. of Oak Brook, Illinois has agreed to pay a $1.25 million civic penalty for importing toys to the United States that violated the federal lead paint ban. RC2 is the importer and seller of Thomas & Friends ™ Wooden Railway toys.

Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission unanimously approved a new rule that will require manufacturers of “durable” infant and toddler products to establish a product registration program. The Commission approved the new measure on December 16, 2009.

Read the rest of this entry »

Collier Ursprung was a year and a half old when his parents walked into his bedroom and found the toddler standing in his crib with the cord of a window blind wrapped three times around his neck. “As he pulled it kept getting tighter,” his father, Robert, told ABC News. “We just averted a disaster that could have changed our lives forever.”

Read the rest of this entry »