Child Safety

As long as there have been bicycles, kids have fallen off them and scraped a knee. But pediatricians suggest the injuries are getting more numerous and more serious.

In many cases, they say they are also preventable.

A new report from a child safety group, Safe Kids Worldwide and Nationwide insurance, found about 40% of parents it surveyed admitted their children don't always wear helmets. If they did, the group says there might be a significant reduction in the 426,000 children who typically visit the emergency room each year due to a wheeled sports related injury. The injuries include skateboards as well as bicycles.

The report focused on parents' role in preventing the injuries, stressing there would be fewer injuries if parents insisted their children always wore a helmet while riding.

Helmet use rising

The good news is that helmet use is rising, but as usual, there are huge gaps that doctors say need to be filled. And they point to research showing helmets and other protective gear provide the best way to do that.

"We know that kids follow their parents' lead, and if they see their parents wearing their helmets, it's much more likely they'll do so as well," said Torine Creppy, Interim President at Safe Kids Worldwide. "And just making sure that kids have a comfortable, properly-fitted helmet will do wonders to keep that helmet in place and give kids a safe ride."

Unfortunately, these injuries can be fatal. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks unintentional injuries to children, and while the majority occur in auto accidents, the CDC found "a substantial number" of cyclist deaths among children from 2000 to 2006.

Head injuries

Over a 10-year study period, the National Institutes of Health counted 845 serious non-fatal bicycle accidents involving children and 46 fatalities, in a population of 1,000,000. In 70% of fatalities children had head injuries.

There is some good news, however. Lately the rate of ER visits stemming from a bike or skateboard accident has gone down, even as scooter-related injuries surged by 40% over a decade.

"While it's encouraging that the bike-related injuries are down, the number of kids still getting hurt is far too high – especially considering that many of these injuries could be avoided by simply wearing a helmet and other safety equipment," said Mike Boyd, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Nationwide. "We're hoping this information will remind parents and children alike about the importance of wearing a helmet every time they bike, skate or ride a scooter."

Last August, we reported on Consumer Federation of America (CFA) findings which showed that off-road vehicle deaths were up 10% year-over-year. Advocates pointed to the use of “off-highway vehicles” (OHVs) on roadways as a major factor in the uptick.

While taking ATVs and other such vehicles on busy streets is certainly dangerous, a new study suggests that the age of riders may be an even bigger risk factor. Researchers from Wake Forest say that young children who ride ATVs are especially susceptible to severe injury.

“The injuries children sustain from ATV-related accidents are frequently more severe than injuries received from motor vehicle crashes,” says lead author Dr. Thomas Pranikoff.

Many crash victims under 16

Pranikoff and his colleagues analyzed data from 16 published studies conducted between 2000 and 2010 on the causes and risk factors of ATV-related injuries for American children, as well as the most recent data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The information showed that nearly 100,000 ATV-related injuries that occurred during the period were serious enough to warrant an emergency room visit. Of that number, around 25% of the crash victims were under the age of 16.

And, perhaps more worrying, were the statistics related to fatal injuries. The researchers found that as more powerful ATVs were released on the market, more accidents involving rollovers, collision with stationary objects, and ejection from the vehicle occurred. The underuse of safety equipment also contributed to the uptick in injuries, the researchers said.

New approach needed

Pranikoff explains that current legislation and programs to reduce ATV injury rates have been largely ineffective, and that coming up with a new approach to reach young riders will be vital going forward.

"As ATV use continues to rise in the United States with bigger and faster machines becoming more prominent, research to define effective means of changing ATV-riding behaviors in children, whether implemented in hospital, school or other settings, will be crucial in reducing pediatric injury and death," he said.

The full study has been published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Curiosity can lead to the discovery of new concepts and skills, but it can also land kids in dangerous situations. When kids deem certain household items worthy of a taste test, a visit to the emergency room may follow.

Young children can be tempted to taste fun-looking household items such as laundry pods, energy drinks, and candy-sized prescription pills. But ingesting these items can trigger a range of reactions, including breathing problems, accelerated heart rate, blocked intestines, and affected mental states. 

To keep children out of harm's way in their home environment, experts are stressing the importance of taking poison prevention measures around the house.

Most poisonings happen at home

Approximately half of the 2 million poisonings reported each year to poison centers across the nation involve children under 6 years old. The vast majority (80%) of poison control calls originate at home, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.

"As we get into spring and summer months, and children are spending more time at home … despite how much supervision we give them, children still are very capable at finding substances and possibly causing a poisoning emergency,” says Dr. Cyrus Rangan, a pediatric medical toxicologist at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA).

Ways to keep kids safe

Rangan offers these tips for preventing kids from ingesting toxic household substances or unsecured medications.

• Keep meds out of sight. Some determined kids will break into tamper-resistant bottles if given enough time, says Dr. Rangan. To mitigate this risk, he recommends keeping prescription medications high and locked away, “out of sight, out of mind.” Additionally, he recommends not transferring pills to other containers, such as day-of-the-week pill organizers.
• Don’t call it candy. These days, pills and vitamins come sugarcoated and even in “gummy” form. But persuading kids to take a multivitamin by pretending it’s candy can be a confusing trick. “Medicine is medicine, candy is candy,” says Rangan, who recommends keeping the two separate in a child’s home and in their mind.
• Watch out for new poisons. Newly popular products -- such as laundry/dishwasher detergent pods, e-cigarettes, and energy drinks -- can pose a poison risk to kids. All of these products contain highly concentrated chemicals (detergent, nicotine, caffeine), and can be dangerous for young children, who might be tempted to taste these scented/flavored products.
• Store cleaning products out of reach. To kids, bleach looks like water and cleaning powders look like cupcake sprinkles. Kids can also mistake the brownish cleaning liquid in a bottle in your garage for apple juice, says Rangan. “Because they look the same and are sometimes in bottles that are very, very similar, a young child tends not be able to tell the difference." 
• Call in an emergency. If your child does come in contact with a toxic substance, call 911 if the child stops breathing or responding. Otherwise, Rangan says to call the national 24-hour Poison Control Hotline, 1-800-222-1222.

Bulky winter coats and car seats can be a dangerous combination, experts say. The padding on thick, winter coats can compress in a crash and lead to an increased risk of injury, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)

In a statement, the group explained: “In a car crash, fluffy padding immediately flattens out from the force, leaving extra space under the harness. A child can then slip through the straps and be thrown from the seat.”

To reduce the risk of injury, the AAP recommends taking traditional puffy coats off so that the harness can be tightened properly. Now, a new startup is aiming to keep kids secure and warm while eliminating the need to take a child’s coat off in the car.

Crash tested

A New England startup called Buckle Me Baby Coats says it has designed a coat which acts almost like no coat at all.

In a crash test at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, the coat -- which boasts no excess fabric between the child and their harness -- reduced the movement of the child dummy and had a statistically insignificant amount of slack compared to no coat. 

How does it work? The side and shoulder seam opening on the coat allows the front panel to be pulled out of the way and the harness to be placed properly on the shoulder and chest without any bulky material in the way.

Panel covers buckles

Once the child is in the car, a large chest panel covers the buckles and prevents kids from accessing the chest clip. If kids get hot, the front panel can be unfolded and rolled to the side. 

Because of the panel, parents do not have to remove the child's coat, which can help keep kids warm in cold weather. 

The company is currently raising funds on Kickstarter ahead of its anticipated Fall launch.

The idea of keeping tabs on a baby’s vital signs by strapping an electronic sensor to their sock may sound appealing to many parents, but pediatricians argue that there is little benefit to these smartphone-connected baby monitors.

False alarms may frighten young parents and lead to unnecessary tests performed on healthy babies, said Dr. Christopher P. Bonafide. What’s more, there is no evidence that baby vital signs monitors prevent any potentially fatal problems in normal infants.

“These devices are marketed aggressively to parents of healthy babies, promising peace of mind about their child’s cardiorespiratory health,” said Bonafide, a doctor at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“But there is no evidence that these consumer infant physiological monitors are life-saving or even accurate,” he said, adding that these products “may cause unnecessary fear, uncertainty and self-doubt in parents.”

Concerns regarding effectiveness

In an article published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Bonafide and his colleagues compared claims made in ads for high-tech baby monitors with what these devices are actually capable of.

The authors focused their research on five models of smartphone-integrated infant physiological monitors from names like MonBaby, Baby Vida, and Owlet.

While manufacturers do not claim their products treat, diagnose, or prevent disease, a video advertisement for Owlet suggests otherwise. It mentions SIDS and suggests that the device may alert parents that something is wrong.

These baby vital signs monitors have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- and manufacturers can continue to avoid FDA medical device regulation because they do not claim that the monitors prevent SIDS, the authors explained.

“Since these baby monitors are not regulated by the FDA, we have to question what testing has been done to assure the safety and quality of these designs,” said David T. Jamison, executive director of Health Devices at ECRI Institute.

False alarms

In response to the JAMA opinion piece, Owlet said that the company has performed “extensive product safety testing" and noted that its products are compliant with CPSC standards. 

"By giving parents the right information at the right time, we empower them to make informed choices," Owlet said, adding that the company’s mission is to "help parents take a proactive approach to their baby's health and wellness."

But Bonafide says that even if these monitors prove to be accurate, “there is a serious question whether these are appropriate in monitoring healthy infants. A single abnormal reading may cause overdiagnosis -- an accurate detection that does not benefit a patient.”

Baby vitals monitors can often mistake a baby’s kicks, rolls, or a harmless fluctuation in their vitals as a life-threatening situation, Bonafide explained. These false alarms may lead to a trip to an emergency department, where babies may be forced to undergo unnecessary blood tests, X-rays, and even hospital admission.

Sling carriers keep infants snuggled up close to their caregiver, which can help strengthen the bond between a mother and her child. Moms who practice attachment parenting are often proponents of babywearing, as research suggests that it can diminish fussiness and aid the development of a baby’s emotional, intellectual, and physiological systems.

But baby slings can also be dangerous if proper precautions aren’t taken. In 2010, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned parents of small babies that sling-style carriers may pose a risk of suffocation.

"A very young infant's head will be folded forward. That cuts off the airway, and they essentially suffocate,” explained Don Mays of Consumer Reports.

Now, the CPSC has approved a new federal safety standard to improve the safety of infant sling carriers. Per the new standard, all slings must come with a more permanently attached warning label and clear instructions for use.

Preventing deaths and injuries

Sling carriers must be structurally sound and able to carry up to three times the manufacturer’s maximum recommended weight, according to CPSC requirements. Additionally, warning labels must be more permanently attached to the sling and instructional literature must be included.

Under the new federal safety standard, warning labels and instructional literature are required to include:

• Pictures to show the proper position of a child in the sling.
• A warning statement about the suffocation hazard posed by slings and prevention measures.
• Warning statements about children falling out of slings, and a reminder for caregivers to check the buckles, snaps, rings, and other hardware to make sure no parts are broken.

Wearing babies safely

Parents and caregivers should be cautious when using sling-style carriers for babies younger than four months of age, says the Commission. Without fully developed neck muscles, newborns may be unable to get themselves out of a position that blocks their breathing.

A second suffocation hazard can arise when sling-bound infants are in a curled position with the chin bent toward the chest. The airways can be restricted, limiting the oxygen supply and preventing the baby from being able to cry for help.

To keep infants safe, parents and caregivers should always follow these tips:

• Make sure the infant’s face is not covered and is visible at all times
• If nursing the baby in a sling, change the baby’s position after feeding so the baby’s head is facing up and is clear of the sling and the mother’s body.
• Be vigilant about frequently checking your baby in a sling. Make sure nothing is blocking the baby’s nose and mouth and that the baby’s chin is away from their chest.

With chilly winter weather comes the need to bundle up young children prior to setting foot outdoors. But how does that bulky winter coat affect your child’s safety in his or her car seat?

Puffy outerwear and car seats can be a dangerous combination, experts say. The extra padding intended to protect kids from frosty temperatures can impede the effectiveness of car seat harness straps.

Car seat technician Ashley Simpson asks parents to imagine themselves in a bulky snowsuit while putting on a seat belt, then imagine taking the snowsuit off and putting the belt back on.

“How much of a size difference is there? There is probably a few inches difference,” Simpson, a Community Service Trooper for the Michigan State Police, wrote. “Car seat harness straps are exactly the same, except they are there to protect your child during those unfortunate accidents.”

Risk of injury

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) makes a similar statement, noting that bulky winter coats and snowsuits can compress in a crash and lead to increased risk of injury.

“In a car crash, fluffy padding immediately flattens out from the force, leaving extra space under the harness. A child can then slip through the straps and be thrown from the seat,” the group explains.

Instead of strapping a coat-clad kid into a car seat, the Academy recommends dressing children in thinner layers and tucking a coat or blanket around your child over the buckled harness straps to keep them warm.

So, how can parents tell if their child’s coat is too bulky to be worn underneath a car seat’s safety straps? Lorrie Walker, Training Adviser and Technical Manager for Safe Kids.org, offers a few pointers.

Signs of a too-bulky coat

“The problem with the ‘puffy’ coat is that the harness may appear to be tight on the child when in fact, there’s too much space created by the soft fabric between the coat and the child.” Walker told BabyCenter.  

She recommends doing a quick test to see if the straps of your car seat are holding your child or just the coat. Here’s what to do:

• After warming your car, place your child in the seat and adjust the harness like you always do.

• Without loosening the harness, unbuckle it and remove the child’s coat.

• Put the harness back on the child without the coat.

• The harness should pass the “pinch test.” To perform the pinch test, see if you can pinch excess webbing at the shoulder. If you can, the harness is too loose and is only protecting the coat.

• Tighten the harness until the child is strapped in properly. The straps should be coming from at or below the rear-facing child’s shoulders OR at or above the forward-facing child’s shoulders, Walker explains.

When compiling a holiday wish list, kids don’t often stop to consider the possible safety risks of the toys they’re requesting. If you’ll be shopping for a child this holiday season, it’s crucial to note that not every toy may be safe for its pint-sized recipient.

While you’re probably already aware that sharp edges or long strings can pose a safety risk to young children, experts say there are many other guidelines that are more easily overlooked.

Toy toxicity

Steer clear of plastic toys that include phthalates and older toys made with unsafe materials. Before purchasing a used toy or passing one down from an older sibling, parents should check for worn out pieces, peeling paint, or other dangers.

“As recently as 10 years ago, the guidelines as to what constituted a safe toy were very different,” Morgan said. “Many materials and chemicals are not as safe as experts once believed they were."

Age appropriateness

Parents shouldn’t purchase a toy thinking that their child will “grow into” it, says Sue Rzucidlo, a nurse practitioner with Penn State Pediatrics. In the case of a gift such as a bike, doing so can be dangerous as the child may not have the skills to control it.

Make sure the toy will support your child’s development by checking the age recommendation on its label. And if you are purchasing a bike or another gift on wheels, Rzucidlo recommends making protective gear part of the gift

Choking risk

If shopping for a child under the age of 3, watch out for choking hazards. These may be present on toys with small removable parts or those with concealed small parts, such as button batteries or small magnets.

For children under three, choose toys that are too big to fit through a toilet paper tube.

Plenty of well-known adults have gotten into hot water by texting photos of themselves in various stages of undress. The practice is known as sexting.

These adults have found themselves in rather embarrassing situations because of their lack of judgment when the photographs became public. But when teens under 18 engage in sexting, the danger goes beyond embarrassment.

It can be a felony. A serious felony.

Possessing nude or partially nude photographs of children in suggestive poses – and in the eyes of the law people under 18 are children – is considered child pornography in many jurisdictions. People go to jail for it every day.

Making matters worse, sexting among underage youth is very common. A new study by researchers at Drexel University and found just how common.

Disturbing findings

According to the study, more than 50% of those surveyed admitted that they had exchanged sexually explicit text messages, with or without photographic images, as minors.

The researchers further discovered that the majority of these young people – many as young as 10 -- are not aware of the legal ramifications of what they're doing.

The overwhelming majority, in fact, were completely unaware that many jurisdictions consider sexting among minors – particularly when it involves harassment or other aggravating factors – to be child pornography, an offense that can result in prosecution.

The ramifications are severe. Get convicted and you could face jail time and a requirement to register as a sex offender. Researcher David DeMatteo, JD, PhD, calls it a scary and disturbing combination.

“Given the harsh legal penalties sometimes associated with youth sexting and the apparent frequency with which youth are engaging in it, the lack of comprehension regarding such penalties poses a significant problem,” he said.

The study, entitled “Youth Sexting: Prevalence Rates, Driving Motivations, and the Deterrent Effect of Legal Consequences,” was published online in the journal Sexuality Research and Social Policy.

A warning to teens

Parents' groups are not unaware of the problem and the potential danger to teens and pre-teens. Teens of America, a non-profit group founded to educate young people on the dangers of substance abuse and crime, is also focused on the dangers of teen sexting.

It produced the video below to help drive home the point.

Never assume

“You should never assume that anything your send or post will remain private,” said Cyndi Wheless, a juvenile court judge interviewed in the video.

What happens if a child is the recipient of a sexting image or message? Wheless says the child should delete it and tell their parents. Forwarding it to another friend makes the child just as guilty as the person who originated the message.

In the case of sexting, knowledge of the consequences appears to make a difference. The Drexel study found that those who were aware of the potential legal consequences engaged in sexting as minors much less than those who were not.

At the same time, most of the young people who reported being unaware of the potential legal consequences of sexting said they may not have engaged in sexting as a minor if they had known.

Behind a podium, near the steps of Capitol Hill, Florida resident Ellen Adams spoke about the day her life changed forever.

On September 9, 2003, Ellen’s husband Matthew accidentally backed over their one-year-old daughter Ashleigh when she wandered behind his car as he backed out of the family driveway.

Sadly, the tragedy wouldn’t end there for Ellen, as Matthew committed suicide years later.

Since that time, Ellen and many others have been trying to get the Obama Administration to enact a rear visibility rule for all newly-made vehicles, as authorized by the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush back in 2008.

The act was created to protect children from non-traffic-related accidents, like arms getting caught in electronic windows and drivers accidentally backing over children. President Obama supported the measure when he was in the Senate but his Administration has never enacted the rules necessary to implement it.

At the news conference, Ms. Adams joined several other parents who lost children in back-over accidents, hoping to bring pressure on the Administration to act. 

Action, then nothing

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) recalled that while it was a struggle to get the bill passed, he had expected that it would be put into effect quickly.

“It was hard enough getting the bill passed” he said. “Then we thought it was going to be a matter of days, weeks, months for the standards and rules to be put into effect. Now it’s five years later and it still has not gotten done.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 50 children a week are backed over by vehicles and 70% of the time the driver is the parent of the child.

And out of those 50 children in back-over accidents, 48 are treated in emergency rooms and at least two die on average. Each year, there are about 228 deaths and 17,000 injuries where children are involved in back-over incidents.

Critics say the auto industry is reluctant to add things like rearview cameras and backup sensors to vehicles because of high costs.  

But according to Jacke Gillan, President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, much of the auto industry seems to be on board with making motor vehicles safer with these added features.

“This law had the support of the auto industry, the safety community and families,” Gillan said. “We have inexpensive and effective technological solutions, consumer support, and now we need government action.”

Available and affordable

Joan Claybrook, president emeritus, Public Citizen and former Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), agreed.

"Rearview cameras are available and affordable.  Many auto manufacturers are making them standard equipment on new makes and models," she said. "Rearview cameras as standard equipment will save lives and save consumers hundreds of dollars in potential repair costs when they can actually see when backing up.  Every day of delay costs consumers and puts children at risk."

Janette Fennell, President of Kids and Cars, made her own plea to the Administration to put the law into effect.

“It is clear from so many other actions that President Obama has the safety of our children as a top priority,” she said. “We urge the President to take one simple step today and issue the rear visibility rule. These unacceptable and unnecessary deaths and injuries from back-over incidents must stop.”

A powerful story

After the press event concluded, Ellen Adams spoke with ConsumerAffairs about why she had decided to speak out.

“I felt that my story was powerful and I needed to speak it because two people passed away," she said. "It destroyed a family and if it has some shock value that’s going to help get this law put into effect, that’s good for me.”

Ms. Adams said if the added safety features had been in her husband’s vehicle at the time of the accident, her daughter Ashleigh would still be alive.

“If there was a camera on my car she wouldn’t have died,” she said. “I don’t want anyone else to go through what we went through and the numbers are rising. There are 50 a week injured and two die a week, so I’ve been with Kids and Cars probably three and a half, four years and the numbers just keep getting higher, more per week, more per week--so that’s another thing that has urged me to really try to push this. I really don’t want anyone else to die."

Earlier, Adams said there was only one thing that kept her going through her tragedy.

“People kept asking me after my daughter was backed over and killed and my husband subsequently committed suicide, why I didn’t have a nervous breakdown. My response was easy -- who would be left for my son?”

“I urge the President to protect other families from these preventable tragedies, she said.”

May 16, 2008
Consumer advocates joined mothers pushing their children in strollers to urge House and Senate Conferees to negotiate the most consumer-protective product safety bill possible, combining the best provisions of competing bills.

The consumer groups and parents called on Congress to ensure that the final bill results in a well-funded, accountable Consumer Product Safety Commission that can protect families and repair the broken product safety net.

Consumers illusion that our product safety system is working has been shattered by the many recalls of childrens toys as well as the spotlight on a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in need of more resources, authority and transparency, stated Rachel Weintraub, Director of Product Safety and Senior Counsel for Consumer Federation of America. We call on Members of Congress to pass the strongest bill possible to protect all consumers and especially our children from hazards posed by unsafe products.

Toxic chemicals like lead and phthalates have no business in childrens toys, said U.S. PIRG Public Health Advocate Liz Hitchcock. Were counting on Congress to act quickly to help Americas littlest consumers grow up safe from toxic hazards.

As educated parents who believed that we took all safety precautions for our children, what we learned after Dannys death shocked us, said Linda Ginzel, co-founder of Kids In Danger and mother of 16-month-old Danny Keysar who died ten years ago in a dangerous crib. Still, today it continues to shock parents across the country through last years epidemic of lead-laced toys and deadly cribs there is no requirement that childrens products be tested for safety before they are sold.

In December of last year, the U.S. House of Representatives responded to public demands for greater toy safety by passing legislation to reform the Consumer Product Safety Commission, ban lead in childrens products, and increase scrutiny of imported toys.

In March, the Senate passed its CPSC reform proposal which, among many provisions, creates a publicly accessible database to help consumers identify potential hazards, makes toy safety standards mandatory and bans phthalates -- a dangerous developmental toxin -- in childrens products.

In the last fiscal year alone, there were 473 recalls involving toys and jewelry with excessive levels of lead, toys with dangerous magnets that can rip a childs intestines and stomach lining when swallowed in multiples, and cribs with hardware and side-slat failures that can cause injury and even death.

Since January, CPSC has recalled more than nine million products because they are unsafe, according to a report released by Consumers Union. We are well on our way to breaking last years record number of products recalled, said Ami Gadhia of Consumers Union.

We need a system that identifies and alerts consumers and parents in particular to these problems as early as possible, prevents hazardous products from entering the stream of commerce in the first place, holds manufacturers and others accountable when these unsafe products do wind up in stores and in our homes, and requires more effective recalls for their removal, said Gadhia.

The two bills now in conference committee -- H.R. 4040 and S. 2663 -- each contain provisions designed to improve the safety of products. The consumer groups are calling on House-Senate conferees to come together and produce a final measure that includes the strongest consumer protection provisions in each bill. Specifically, they say, the final bill should include the following provisions:

• Definition of Childrens Product. Because many families have more than one child sharing a toy box, the groups say it is critical that the scope of childrens products be broadly defined to include childrens products intended for grade-school children.

• Database. The final bill should create a publicly accessible database to improve disclosure of product safety information, such as incidents associated with cribs and toys that could injure or kill babies and children without requiring further legislative action.

• Enforcement by State Attorneys General. AGs offer additional eyes ensuring compliance with product safety laws and they need broad authority to enforce product safety laws.

• Toy Safety Standard. Current voluntary standards for toy safety should be made mandatory (subject to upgrading by the CPSC) and toys should be tested and certified to this standard.

• Lead Provision. Lower lead levels and faster implementation are desirable to protect children from the serious health risks posed by lead exposure.

• Phthalate Ban. The groups support the Senate provision eliminating phthalates in childrens products and childcare articles, which will serve to significantly curb childrens routes of exposure to these potentially cancer-causing chemicals.

• Whistleblower Protection. A comprehensive product safety bill should include whistleblower protections because such protections are critical for effective enforcement of consumer product safety laws.

• Civil and Criminal Penalties. The groups support increasing the cap on civil penalties to provide the greatest deterrent for violators of the law that will help to increase compliance with CPSC laws. They also support eliminating the free bite of the apple pre-notification requirement in existing law.

• Recall Authority. CPSC should have the authority to halt distribution of a product and notify all parties transporting, selling or distributing a product to cease distribution.

We lost our beautiful son to a broken childrens product safety system, said Linda Ginzel, co-founder of Kids In Danger and mother of 16-month-old Danny Keysar who died ten years ago in a dangerous crib. We need Congress to keep that from happening again. Please ensure that children are put first.

Over the last 10 years, most cities and states have upgraded their safety standards to require hotel balconies to have less than four inches between each guardrail, making it next to impossible for any child to slip through.

But "Inside Edition" investigators found hotels and homes which were built before the safer standard was enacted are allowed to keep the larger spacing, increasing the chances for an accident.

"It just didn't seem real, it still doesn't seem real to me. I'm not ready to accept it," says Lauren Shpigler in today's broadcast.

Lauren and her husband, David, were on a family vacation at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on the island of Oahu with their family. Two of their boys, Danny, 6, and Sammy, 3, wandered out onto their hotel balcony and shortly thereafter, the Shpigler heard a loud thud.

"He [Danny] turned around and had this horrified look on his face and he said, 'Sammy just fell,'" Lauren said. The Shpiglers rushed down the stairs and found Sammy had died instantly from the impact of the fall.

Danny later told them Sammy slipped through the space between the guardrails.

"At three-and-a-half years old? That's it? I can't say it's a nightmare. This is worse than any nightmare you could ever have," David Shpigler said.

To investigate the problem, John O'Conner, a Florida building inspector, accompanied Inside Edition to Orlando, a tourist mecca for families with small children, where he measured a variety of balcony railings at hotels and motels built over ten years ago. Most of them had spacing that is wider than required in new structures built today.

"This railing is just under 6 inches and it doesn't look very wide, but it's wide enough for a child to get his head through and ultimately fall through and get injured," O'Connor said during one inspection.

To see how easily a child could squeeze through some guardrails, Inside Edition constructed an enclosure with railings that were four, five, six and seven inches apart, and tested it on children ranging in age from two to three years old.

The children had no problem fitting through the six and seven-inch gaps. One two-year-old slipped through the five-inch gap, but none were able to squeeze through the four-inch gap, the current safety standard.

The Shpiglers say they've started a child-safety web site in honor of their son. They hope no parent has to go through the nightmare they've experienced with the loss of their son.

"He fell through the railings? You're not supposed to be able to fall through the railings...He was just a happy little boy that wanted to live life and he doesn't have that chance now," David said.

They hope their findings will put to rest the misconception that a parked car can be a safe place for a child or pet in mild weather.

"There are cases of children dying on days as cool as 70 degrees Fahrenheit," said lead author Catherine McLaren, MD, clinical instructor in emergency medicine. Though research has documented the temperature spike inside a car on extremely hot days, this is the first time anyone has looked at cooler days, she added.

McLaren collaborated with James Quinn, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine, and Jan Null, an independent certified consulting meteorologist, to measure the temperature rise inside a parked car on sunny days with highs ranging from 72 to 96 degrees F.

Their results, published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics, showed that a car's interior can heat up by an average of 40 degrees F within an hour, regardless of ambient temperature. Eighty percent of the temperature rise occurred within the first half-hour.

"On a cool day, you don't feel hot so you believe it will be OK," Quinn said. "But ambient temperature doesn't matter; it's whether it's sunny out." Just as the sun can warm a greenhouse in winter, it can warm a parked car on cool days. In both cases, the sun heats up a mass of air trapped under glass.

"Cars get hot, we know this intuitively," Null said. "But this study tells us that cars get hot very fast."

McLaren, Quinn and Null hope their work will help educate parents and caretakers about the risk associated with leaving a child or pet in a parked car. Null said a substantial number of caretakers intentionally leave children behind because they mistakenly think conditions are safe.

In such cases, the caretaker sometimes takes certain precautions, such as cracking a window or running the air conditioner prior to parking the car. But the researchers found that such measures are inadequate: a cracked window had an insignificant effect on both the rate of heating and the final temperature after an hour, and the air conditioner trick only delayed the temperature spike by about five minutes.

"If more people knew the danger of leaving their children in the car, they probably wouldn't do it," McLaren said. The solution is simple, she added: take your child with you when you park the car.

Null said he would like to investigate other variables, such as the car's color, the shape and size of the interior, or the effect of tinted windows. But he is satisfied with the outcome of this study on its own. "One reviewer made the comment that this paper will save lives," Null said. "That's just about the best comment you can get."