P&G Says 17,600 Products Could Be Affected By Coronavirus In China, Highlighting Supply Chain Risk
February 20, 2020, Forbes
Consumer goods giant P&G, joining a chorus of companies including Apple, Adidas and Starbucks, warned Thursday that its sales and profit in China, its second-largest market, would be hurt by the coronavirus outbreak there. But the risk goes beyond that. “We access 387 suppliers in China that ship to us globally more than 9,000 different materials, impacting approximately 17,600 different finished product items,” Jon Moeller, Procter & Gamble’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said Thursday at a conference in New York. “Each of these suppliers faces their own challenges in resuming operations. ”With the U.S. depending heavily on China—“the world’s factory”—for imported categories from shoes to mobile phones, retailers and brands are on their toes, waiting to see how the outbreak could end up affecting what consumers see on U.S. store shelves.
COMMENTARY: Toxic flame retardants don’t need to be in furniture
February 20, 2020, Baltimore Sun
Maryland has many good reasons for wanting to protect the health of its residents and environment by banning toxic flame retardants that have historically been required in many products in the name of fire safety. We now know that these requirements have led to growing health concerns for product purchasers and firefighters just doing their jobs. Proposed legislation in Maryland would do just that. For decades, flame retardants have been used in everything from furniture to children’s products, driven by regulations that haven’t actually ended up doing much to protect consumers. These toxic chemicals have been linked to cancer, thyroid disruption, memory and learning problems, delayed mental and physical development, and reduced fertility.
Number of chemicals in commerce has been vastly underestimated
February 12, 2020, Chemical & Engineering News
For the first time, scientists have created a global inventory that lists more than 350,000 chemicals and mixtures of chemicals registered for commercial production and use, up to three times as many as is commonly estimated (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2020, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b06379). This inventory can help researchers track compounds that are expected to be volatile, persistent, or capable of long-range transport, which is important for building a picture of global chemical safety, says Cynthia de Wit, an analytical chemist at Stockholm University.
‘We got Jaguar, Champion…Air Jordan:’ Look at counterfeits found at local ports
February 13, 2020, KOMO News
A team of Customs and Border Protection officers, equipped with box cutters and inspection tape, cut through box after box of suspected counterfeits. “We got Jaguar, Champion. That looks like Air Jordan,” said officer Kristian Jaech as he sifts through one of 91 boxes. “This is one shipment. One mega shipment.” On a typical day, CBP processes $7.3 billion worth of imported goods and seizes $4.3 million worth of products with Intellectual Property Rights violations across the country, according the CBP’s latest numbers.
A renewed warning about cedar chests linked to child deaths
February 17, 2020, Fox Q13
Here’s a warning from the Consumer Product Safety Commission for anyone who owns or might be looking to buy or sell an antique cedar chest. According to the CPSC, 14 children suffocated between 1977 and 2015 after being locked inside these chests. A recall was issued several times before, but it may be time for another warning after these chests have showing up locally on second-hand resale websites like Facebook Marketplace and Nextdoor. The type of cedar chests affected are identified by these brands: Lane or Virginia Maid cedar chests manufactured between 1912 and 1987. The deadly component is with the top latch of the chest. Once you shut it, it locks and the only way to open it is from the outside.
New Mexico Sues Google Over Children’s Privacy Violations
February 20, 2020, New York Times
New Mexico’s attorney general sued Google recently, saying the tech giant used its educational products to spy on the state’s children and families. Google collected a trove of students’ personal information, including data on their physical locations, websites they visited, YouTube videos they watched and their voice recordings, Hector Balderas, New Mexico’s attorney general, said in a federal lawsuit. “The consequences of Google’s tracking cannot be overstated: Children are being monitored by one of the largest data mining companies in the world, at school, at home, on mobile devices, without their knowledge and without the permission of their parents,” the lawsuit said.
Danger associated with children’s balloons
February 16, 2020, Rome News Tribune
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warns parents and caregivers of young children about the suffocation hazard presented by uninflated toy balloons and pieces of broken balloons. Of all children’s products, balloons are the leading cause of suffocation death, according to CPSC injury data. the balloon breaks, however, CPSC recommends that parents immediately collect the pieces of the broken balloon and dispose of them out of the reach of young children.
http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/lifestyles/local/suffocation-danger-associated-with-children-s-balloons/article_382b2efa-4f42-11ea-9843-67d02ea2f3bc.html
These government Twitter accounts weren’t hacked. They’re sassy, fun and strange on purpose
February 22, 2020, CNN
It takes a lot to get noticed. Joseph Galbo knows that. As Thanksgiving approached last year and he needed to let homeowners know about the dangers of unattended cooking, Galbo took to Twitter and posted a photoshopped image of an oven-roasted turkey … holding a lit match.“Is your turkey a saboteur?” the post inquired. Welcome to the eccentric Twitter account of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, which Galbo, a 33-year-old New Yorker, manages. The small — but vital — federal agency is tasked with running public safethttps://keyt.com/news/politics/2020/02/22/these-government-twitter-accounts-werent-hacked-theyre-sassy-fun-and-strange-on-purpose/
DuPont ramps up safety suit production as coronavirus causes shortages in China
February 21, 2020, CNBC
• Thousands of DuPont employees are working around the clock to increase production of protective garments.
• The suits are in high demand by first responders and medical workers in high-impact regions like Wuhan, China.
• Reports from China show workers running low on safety supplies including garments and masks to protect against the spread of coronavirus.
Amazon withdraws child car seats from sale in the UK over safety fears
February 17, 2020, The Telegraph
Amazon has pulled several children’s car seats from its site over safety concerns, after they appeared similar to so-called “killer seats” which were found on sale last year.
The suspect seats were discovered by BBC Panorama as part of a documentary to air this evening. They were said to have no safety labels on them with one as cheap as £3.99.The design was said to be similar to fabric-based seats removed from the site in 2014 following an investigation by Trading Standards in Surrey At the time of the probe, one product was found to tear apart when involved in a 30mph-crash. A spokesman for Amazon said safety was “extremely important to us and we regret that these products were available from third party sellers using our stores. After a thorough investigation, we identified the issue and are removing these products, and we’re also contacting each customer who purchased one of these products to explain the situation and issue a refund. We will continue to leverage and improve our tools and technology to ensure only safe and compliant car seats are available worldwide.”
