Los Angeles launches national data base sharing for e-scooters and bicycles
July 4, 2019, The Fourth Revolution
Los Angeles officials at the Department of Transportation announced earlier this month the creation of a new data-sharing organization designed to track electric scooter and bicycle usage across the country. Building off the city’s previous data-sharing standard, the new Open Mobility Foundation will share data from Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and other cities among its members. “The Open Mobility Foundation supports the development of an open-sourced software platform that allow cities to fulfill their multiple responsibilities for safety, limiting congestion, promoting commerce, and improving quality of life,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
Three bike helmets fail Consumer Reports’ safety tests
July 1, 2019, Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is rating three bicycle helmets “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” after they failed our tests designed to assess how well a helmet would protect a rider during a crash. The Bontrager Ballista MIPS did not pass our test of its retention system (the straps and buckles that keep a helmet in place on your head). The Morpher Flat Folding helmet and Woom Kids helmet did not pass our impact absorption tests, a failure our testers have not seen since 2006. CR has reported all these findings to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and to the manufacturers.
How one year – 1989 – changed the U.S. fireworks industry forever
July 4, 2019, Knox Pages
Fireworks have long been the pinnacle of Fourth of July celebrations, the thunderous conclusion to America’s proudest day. They have only become more popular over the years; according to the American Pyrotechnics Association, U.S. consumers purchased over 277 million pounds of fireworks in 2018, representing an 82 percent increase from the year 2000.
But before the U.S. fireworks industry boomed, it faced serious questions about its future.
Do hand dryers hurt kids’ ears? A 13-year-old Canadian girl found out and had her study published
July 3, 2019, Daily News
“Do hand dryers hurt kids’ ears?”
That’s the question 13-year-old Nora Keegan of Canada asked and successfully answered. Her results were sound enough to be published in the academic journal Paediatrics & Child Health.
Nora traveled around her hometown of Calgary for more than a year investigating hand dryers in public restrooms. She told the Calgary Eyeopener podcast that her own experiences with hand dryers led her to start the research.
Former NSA Head Mike Rogers: How a Crisis Can Drive Strategic Change
July 2, 2019, knowledge@wharton
In 2014, Navy Admiral Michael S. Rogers took over as head of the National Security Agency and its much younger sibling, the U.S. Cyber Command, at the height of the Edward Snowden scandal. Snowden, a former CIA contractor, leaked information to the media that the U.S. was spying not only on its enemies, but also on its citizens and allies. Congress and the public were enraged and called for President Obama to make substantive changes.
Internally at the NSA, Rogers was fighting another battle. The workforce, he said, “was a little shell-shocked.” Employees felt picked on by the public.
Prop 65 may be requiring more warnings by more food companies
May 13, 2019, Food Safety News
Almost as many food companies this year have been caught up in California’s Proposition 65 cancer and toxic warnings than during all of last year. Speaking last week in Chicago, Food Industry Counsel Shawn Stevens said so-called “60-day” notices were filed against 308 food companies so far in 2019, compared to 330 during all of 2018.
Amendments to Prop 65 that stem from 2016 took effect on Aug. 30, 2018, with changes involving the “clear and reasonable ” warning requirement for labels and signs that may be required to bring a business into compliance.
Opinion: A new era for New York environment
July 5, 2019, Adirondack Daily Enterprise (Guest Commentary)
Hands down, the biggest winner from this year’s legislative session was the environment. From start to finish, we saw the beginning of a new era for our environment. From the most aggressive climate law in the nation to congestion pricing to banning offshore drilling, 2019 was a banner year. The legislature passed bills to conserve New York’s waterways and biodiversity, permit new low-emission transportation options, encourage the use of renewable energy, reduce waste and protect children’s health.
EU Commission releases 2018 RAPEX summary statistics on unsafe consumer products
July 3, 2019, In Compliance
The Commission of the European Union (EU) has released statistics on notices of unsafe, non-food consumer products that have been processed through the EU’s rapid information system (RAPEX) for the year ending December 31, 2018.According to the Commission’s report, 2257 notifications of products posing a serious risk to consumer health and safety were processed through the RAPEX system during 2018. This represents a nominal increase from 2017’s numbers when 2201 notifications were reported and are generally consistent with results from prior years.
Once again, toys represent the product category with the most notifications, with 31 percent of all notifications processed
Analysis-Testimony takeaways: How new China tariffs could hit U.S. apparel trade
July 1, 2019, Just Style
Dozens of company and industry representatives descended on Washington over the past two weeks to testify on the impact of any further tariff escalation on US apparel, footwear and textile retailers, importers and manufacturers. The year-long US-China trade war has already seen additional punitive tariffs of us to 25% imposed on $250bn in goods from China, with textiles and clothing so far largely outside the scope of the levies. But this would all change if the Trump administration went ahead with threats to expand the tariffs to virtually all Chinese imports by imposing an extra 25% on another $300bn worth of products.
New EU regulations on market surveillance and product compliance
June 28, 2019, Steptoe
On June 25, 2019, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (the Market Surveillance Regulation). The new Market Surveillance Regulation is part of the “Goods package” which also contained the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mutual recognition of goods lawfully marketed in another member state, adopted in March 2019 (the Mutual Recognition Regulation).
