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Consumer News & Alerts

September 10, 2007

TROUBLE IN TOYLAND
Though it might like to pick up its toys and go home, Mattel instead is recalling yet another batch of lead-paint-contaminated toys. This time it's accessories for Barbie and Fisher-Price bongo drums and locomotives on the recall list. With this latest round pushing Mattel's total toy recalls to approximately 19 million, observers are paying more attention to how the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's lack of oversight, funding, staff, and morale may be contributing to the seemingly never-ending stream of defective products being discovered on the nation's shelves.

Large as they are, the latest recalls do little to put a dent in the problem. As the holiday shopping season approaches, ships are plying the seas, many of them containing toys that are a lot more dangerous than they should be, our Joe Enoch reports.

Speaking Of Recalls...

• PET FOOD MYSTERY DEEPENS
Could it be there are multiple impurities in pet food? In the latest mystery, lab tests found the painkiller used in Tylenol in samples of CANIDAE pet food, although the company denies it. An independent lab found the acetaminophen, although as Lisa Wade McCormick reports, FDA tests found nothing. The FDA, for its part, says it is "looking into" the latest report.

• Purina Denies Claim on Bichon Frise Deaths ASPCA opens investigation into unexplained dog deaths.

• Secondhand Smoke Bad for Pets Smoking just as dangerous for pets as contaminated food.

E.COLI OUTBREAKS HIT NEW ENGLAND, PACIFIC NORTHWEST Fairbanks Farms has warned that a shipment of beef contaminated needs to be recalled. The beef was sold at Shaw's Supermarkets in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The Fairbanks recall comes only a week after the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service warned that Oregon's Interstate Meat Dist., Inc. may have produced 41,000 pounds worth of beef tainted with E.coli.

SEEING FLOATERS CLEARLY
It wasn't too long ago that the term "floater" referred to something found on the waterfront but it also refers to those small snake-like objects that float around the eyeballs of many of us as we age. Floaters that appear suddenly should be checked out by an ophthalmologist but, generally speaking, they're harmless and don't require treatment despite a recent gung-ho AP story that breathlessly described a procedure that involves zapping the floaters with lasers. Mark Huffman followed up and found that most surgeons are aghast at the idea, saying it's way too risky.

More Health And Safety News...

• Red Wine May Fight Prostate Cancer Study adds to growing evidence of health benefits.

• Researchers Link Smoking To Dementia Another good reason not to smoke.

• Study Finds High Rate of Asthma in College Athletes Symptoms not always apparent; more routine testing needed.

• Exotic Diseases Ride Home With Ignorant Vacationers Travelers who don't get vaccinations endanger themselves, others.

• Side Effects Drive Women from Breast Cancer Drug Study finds more than 10% stopped taking drugs because of pain.

• Caffeine Content Labels Suggested for Soft Drinks Researchers find content varies widely among brands.

• Popular Blood Pressure Drug Goes Generic Coreg is 30th top-selling drug; often used after heart attacks.

ROOF CRUSH ACTION SOUGHT
Safety crusaders used a variation on the black box theme to send a message to Washington -- do something about flimsy car and SUV roofs. The imposing black boxes were hand-delivered by a family whose life was altered by a flimsy Ford Explorer. Tougher roof standards could save an estimated 10,000 lives per year.

• Feds Require Side Curtain Airbags by 2013 Smaller test dummies will provide more protection for petite females.

• Toyota Wary of Lithium Ion Batteries Fire-prone batteries too hazardous for use in cars, automaker decides.

• Lemon Award: BMW's Automatic Transmission Readers report expensive problems with automatics in many BMW models.

• Chinese-Made Auto Fuses May Cause Fire California auto parts seller recalls 295,000 sets.

FORECLOSURE FRENZY
Anyone who thinks the woes afflicting the housing market are transient should think again. The Mortgage Bankers' Association has found that foreclosures for the second quarter of 2007 were at their highest level in 55 years, since the organization began reporting on them. One of every seven subprime borrowers is delinquent and the collapse of the once-seething housing market in places like California and Nevada is dragging a big chunk of the economy down with it.

More Housing Crash News...

• Pending Home Sales Tumble As mortgage market tightens, the index of pending sales is 16% below a year ago.

• Feds Urge Lenders To Act Interagency statement recommends "mitigation strategies" to avoid more defaults.

• Dodd Offers Legislation Dodd's anti-predatory lending bill would tighten subprime lending guidelines, stop unscrupulous practices.

• Connecticut Sues Brokers, Realtors 'Vast predatory lending scheme' targeted low-income homebuyers.

CHRONIC 'DATA DYSFUNCTION' PLAGUES PFIZER Pfizer may need to start selling Viagra to its own IT department. A network security company claims Pfizer's computers were hijacked by spammers to hawk junk stocks and shady business offers--including Pfizer's own "erectile enhancement" products. The investigation follows news that Pfizer had suffered its third breach of sensitive personal data in as many months, this time caused by an employee downloading information without permission from the company's network.

In Other Tech News...

• Apple Takes a BiteOut of iPhone Price Offers $100 credit to early adopters.

• AT&T Adds Parental Controls To Mobile Phones Parents can limit minutes, block calls to objectionable numbers.

• XM/Sirius Merger Gets a Boost Former FCC chair says merger would spark competition.

• Microsoft Maintains its Monopoly, States Argue Report finds court-imposed remedies inadequate.

GAS PRICES JUMP 4 CENTS IN THREE DAYS
Gas prices are continuing their upward climb once again, with oil suppliers blaming everything from low inventory to fears of refinery damage from hurricanes. Whatever the cause, consumers are seeing gas prices above the $3 mark in eleven states, and the trend may continue. Our Joe Benton has the roundup of where petrol is priciest and cheapest this week.

TSA DROPS THE BALL ON CARGO SECURITY INSPECTIONS While airline passengers endure long waits, humiliating privacy invasions, and ever-changing rules in the name of security, the Transportation Security Administration is failing to inspect much of the heavy cargo carried on passenger planes, leaving a major vulnerable point for any terrorist or saboteur. Dan Schlossberg looks at a report from Homeland Security chastising the TSA for not having enough inspectors or performing more thorough investigations.

More Travel News...

• American Opens Posh New Terminal at JFK More room, automated check-in should ease the pain.

• Panama Canal Widening Project Starts Wider canal should mean lower consumer prices.

• FAA Says New Northeast Routing Plan Will End Gridlock But residents say benefits aren't worth the added noise.

• Plane Truth is Ugly: Delays Top Million Mark Complaints rise with delays, cancellations, baggage snafus.

• Upgraded Airport X-Ray Machines Should Shorten Lines Machines now being tested at three U.S. airports.

SCAMS & OUTRAGES

• Latest Spam Scam Targets Bank Of America Customers Bogus email warns of "invalid login attempts."

• Scam Probe Uncovers 'Startling' Evidence In Nigeria Investigators recover more than 15,000 counterfeit checks.

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