McDonald's Agrees to Pay $4 Million to Government For Not Reporting Playground Injuries

WASHINGTON, D.C. - McDonald's Corp. has agreed to pay the government $4 million in damages for failing to inform the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) of playground injuries at some of its restaurants.

The injuries involve the "Big Mac Climber," a metal platform resembling a hamburger, that is no longer in any McDonald's playgrounds. Over 400 children were injured on Big Mac Climbers in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in falls. Nearly 20 children suffered concussions or skull fractures and 80 children had broken bones.

The settlement marks the second time that McDonald's has failed to report dangerous playground equipment. In 1995, McDonald's agreed to settle a case involving children being injured on the "Tug-N-Tum" merry-go-round by implementing a $5 million children's safety campaign. McDonald's also agreed to report other dangerous playground equipment and pay up to $5 million if it failed to do so. (6/30/99)

California Drugstore Chain Caught Selling Outdated Formula

Rite Aid, a California-based drugstore chain, has been selling outdated formula. A consumer complained, and San Diego investigators discovered more than 200 outdated products in nearly 50 of Rite Aid's 660 stores. In addition to expired infant formula, they found outdated condoms and baby medicine.

Rite Aid may have to pay civil penalties of up to $2,500 for each outdated product it sold. You should always check the expiration date on products before you purchase them. (6/21/99)

Breast Milk Kills Cancer

SWEDEN -- We all knew that breast milk is an amazing, unparalleled food for babies. But wait -- there's more! Breaking news from Sweden has found that breastfeeding also protects babies from cancer. No one knows how, but biologist and physician Catharina Svanborg actually saw breast milk kill cancer cells in her laboratory.

Svanborg began combining breast milk and cancer cells seven years ago as a way to learn to fight germs. She and her associates then discovered that a component of mother's milk actually kills off every type of cancer cell they tested. Svanborg is now trying to prove to other scientists that her discovery is legitimate. (6/1/99)

Postpartum Depression Can Afflict Mom *and* Baby

Postpartum depression is a condition that as much as 20 percent of new mothers encounter. A new study by Emory University, however, found that PPD also affect babies. Researchers found that the babies of 14 depressed mothers had the same high blood level of the hormone cortisol (an indicator of stress) as did the moms. Two to three months later, when the mothers had been treated for PPD and cortisol levels had returned to normal, the babies' levels remained higher than normal. The study was presented at the annual convention of the American Psychiatric Association.

Researchers think that the babies' high levels of cortisol resulted from one of two types of responses from the mother, including: moms with PPD cope with stress by ignoring the baby or by overwhelming her with attention, both of which give the baby anxiety.

If you think you have PPD, seek help from your primary caregiver. (6/1/99)

CPSC Urges Pool Owners to Take Precautions to Prevent Drownings

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Around much of the nation, Memorial Day weekend signals the time to open the family pool for the summer. Pool owners, especially those with young children and grandchildren, should always keep in mind the deadly hazards a pool can pose. A young child can drown quickly and silently, often without any splashing or screaming. It can happen in just the few minutes it takes to answer the telephone.

More than 375 children under 5 years old drown in pools each year nationwide -- most in residential pools. Drowning ranks as the leading cause of death to young children in several sunbelt states. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reminds pool owners there are steps they can take to avoid these drownings.

Physical barriers designed to limit access to pools provide an important layer of security. Effective barriers include fences or walls, and power safety covers over pools.

Fences and walls should be at least 4 feet high and installed completely around the pool. Fence gates should be self-closing and self-latching. The latch should be out of a small child's reach.

If your house forms one side of the barrier for the pool, then doors leading from the house to the pool should be protected with alarms that produce an audible sound when a door is unexpectedly opened. A power safety cover, a motor-powered barrier that can be placed over the water area, can be used as an alternative to door alarms. For above-ground pools, steps and ladders to the pool should be secured and locked, or removed when the pool is not in use.

Flotation devices are never to be used as a substitute for supervision, and knowing how to swim doesn't make a child drownproof. Watch children closely while they are in the pool. (6/1/99)

Pacifiers May Help Reduce SIDS

Pacifiers may reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), research suggests. Researchers at the Dartmouth Medical School evaluated seven studies that included a total of 800 infants and found that while it is not clear that pacifier use prevents SIDS, it is clear that babies who use pacifiers may have a lower risk of SIDS.

SIDS -- the leading cause of death among infants between one month old and one year old -- is a disorder in which a baby's death during sleep remains unexplained after all known causes have been eliminated.

Researchers are not sure how or why pacifiers may lower the risk of SIDS. Theories include that it may keep the airway open, it may make babies less likely to lie face down in bed and it may strengthen the muscles of the upper airway.

However, pediatricians and the SIDS Alliance are not recommending routine use of pacifiers -- pacifiers increase the incidence of ear infections, they may cause dental problems and they can reduce the duration of breastfeeding.

As it could take years for researchers to prove that pacifiers can help prevent SIDS, the best precaution parents can take to reduce the risk of SIDS is to place babies to sleep on their backs rather than their sides or bellies. (5/17/99)

Healthy Twins Born to Sickle Cell Carrier

New York -- A couple who are carriers of sickle cell disease gave birth to twin babies who are completely free of the sickle cell gene, as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This resulted from a technique called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), in which fertilized embryos are tested for the disease before being implanted in a woman's uterus.

One out of every 625 babies born to African-Americans has this blood disorder, which can cause episodes of severe pain and a lowered life expectancy.

The woman who successfully gave birth to the disease-free twins already had two abortions because the fetuses were affected with sickle cell anemia. Three disease-free embryos were implanted, and the 34-year-old woman gave birth to healthy twins after 39 weeks of pregnancy. (5/17/99)

Playground Injuries

Read the full article here.

CPSC Revises Recommendations To Prevent Infant Deaths from Soft Bedding

WASHINGTON, D.C. - To prevent deaths from soft bedding, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) revised their recommendations for putting infants down to sleep. Soft bedding may be a major contributor to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS.

The CPSC, AAP and NICHD recommend that infants younger than 12 months be put to sleep in a crib with no soft bedding of any kind under or on top of the baby. Consider using a sleeper or other sleep clothing as an alternative to blankets with no other covering. If using a blanket, put baby with its feet at the foot of the crib. Tuck a thin blanket around the crib mattress, only as far as the baby's chest.

Parents are instructed to put infants to sleep on their backs in a crib with a firm, tight-fitting mattress; and never to place infants on top of soft, fluffy bedding because if the baby rolls over, the bedding can become molded around the infant's face. Past studies have shown that as many as one-third of the babies who die from SIDS each year may have suffocated when placed on top of soft bedding, such as pillows, comforters or sheepskins. While deaths from SIDS have dropped dramatically in recent years after the Back-to-Sleep Campaign, as many as 900 infant deaths each year are still associated with suffocation in soft bedding.

The recommendations are as follows:

• Place baby on his/her back on a firm, tight-fitting mattress in a crib that meets current safety standards.
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• Remove pillows, quilts, comforters, sheepskins, stuffed toys and other soft products from the crib.
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• Consider using a sleeper as an alternative to blankets, with no other covering.
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• If using a blanket, put baby with its feet at the foot of the crib. Tuck a thin blanket around the crib mattress, only as far as the baby's chest.
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• Make sure your baby's head remains uncovered during sleep.
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• Do not place baby on a waterbed, sofa, soft mattress, pillow or other soft surface to sleep.

(4/20/99)

Airborne Delivery of Twins

LONDON -- Joseph and Lucia Ndanyu, twins from Kenya, arrived three months early in a dramatic fashion -- aboard an airplane 35,000 feet in the sky.

A British doctor said Wednesday that the premature twins were delivered on board a Gulf Air flight from London to Abu Dhabi by a team of doctors on their way to medical conferences in the Middle East. (4/20/99)