Firefighters Applaud Lighter Ban
North Carolina Firefighters are pleased with a recent statewide ban on novelty lighters. These novelty lighters are modeled after a wide variety of items, including toys, that catches a child’s interest to play with them.
This has lead to the start of many accidental fires since parents can’t always tell the difference and they don’t notice it in time to stop their kids from playing with them. North Carolina thought it best to just ban lighters made to look like things other than lighters, which is probably the best solution to that problem. As they say, an ounce of prevention.
Firefighting is one of many jobs where its better when they are doing as little as possible, like a funeral home operator. They can then be ready for real emergencies rather than accidental fires started through something like a kid playing with a lighter they thought was a toy.
For more on this statewide lighter ban, go here.
I am just wondering if those so called novelty lighters were in fact lighters or if they were some of those toys that were recalled for starting on fire when played with.
It would be quite the twist if they were just toys that started on fire when you played with them, or is that a fair description of a lighter?
Posted on October 10th, 2009 by Mike
Filed under: Toy Recalls | No Comments »
The recall doesn’t have to do with a block choking hazard though. It’s about a burn hazard for remote controls used with a train kit.
Approximately 131,000 rattle units were recalled on January 15th and 20,000 were previously recalled in March of 2008. They presented a choking hazard to children because the tail on the rattles could come off.
Here’s one of the more rare recall reasons, explosion and projectile hazard. Several different spa and aromatherapy kits, around 516,000 units total, have an issue with with containers for bath balls and bath fizzies. The lids on the containers don’t have holes in the top so carbon dioxide pressure can build up and pop the tops off. The lids can become projectiles when enough pressure builds up and chemicals used can irritate eyes with splashing with some reports of injuries.
It’s back to the original problem with this toy construction site, excessive lead hazard with 3,000 units being recalled. They were sold during the last few months of 2008 for about 20 dollars.
The State Farm Good Neigh Bears®, another product manufactured in China, were given away for free by agents and during some sponsored events between September 2005 and March 2007. The stuffed animal bear’s eyes can fall off and pose a choking hazard to children, with one report of a child putting the eye in her mouth. Over 800,000 bears are included in the recall for the United States and Canadians have 27,000 to worry about.
At the time of recall, there were 22 broken peg reports, but no one filed an injury report. The recall affects about 500 units that were last sold in March of 2008 from the Land of Nod Catalogue, their website and various store, so it’s kind of late since it was almost a year ago they were even last sold.
