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Consumer Group Focuses on Child Safety

Baby asleep on nursing pillow
ESPC photo
The Empire State Consumer Project recommends not allowing babies to sleep on pillows designed for nursing.

You might learn a little more about child safety from the Rochester-based Empire State Consumer Project, which just released its 2014 children's products safety report.

What's on the list?

President Judy Braiman points to one example her organization doesn't recommend use of - "U-shaped" nursing or soft pillows or bumper pads in cribs. "Any type of soft bedding could be a suffocation hazard for children, like bumper pads. In the state of Maryland, they have outlawed bumper pads, because children that are especially 'creepers' - the ones that sort of crawl. They don't have the muscle control to get themselves out of harm's way."

Braiman suggests nothing be put in cribs with babies, not toys, blankets, mobiles and even sheets that aren't secure around the mattress because babies can get entangled in them. She says when she visits second hand shops and garage sales, she sometimes finds products for sale that are dangerous.

The longtime consumer activist also shared concerns about products for young people that have too much lead or other heavy metals in them. She pointed out you should be aware of products that are dangerous, especially if you run a garage sale. "There are regulations for second hand shops or garage sales. They can be fined by the government or even action taken if they sell products that have been recalled or that are dangerous," said Braiman. "And many people that have garage sales don't even realize this."

Among the items she finds dangerous for children to encounter are the liquid nicotine used for E-vape smoking, laundry detergent pods and even MiroLax and Orajel - over the counter products.

A couple of years ago, her organization discovered levels of arsenic in apple juice that prompted federal action.

Empire Consumer Project Childrens Products Safety Report 2014