The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 worked to modernize the Consumer Product Safety Commission and help make sure children's products were safe by establishing improved safety standards and other safety requirements.

It included new mandatory toy safety standards, mandatory testing for many children's products, new lead paint rules, and banned the sale of some products with phthalates, especially small plastic toys that kids might put in their mouth.

For parents who continue to be concerned about all of the toy and baby product recalls, especially the large number of recalls due to lead paint, including:

• Thomas & Friends Toys - lead paint - 2007
• Fisher-Price Toys - lead paint - 2007

At one point, there were so many toy recalls and worries about lead poisoning, that some parents had considered the possibility of testing their child's toys for lead themselves.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was a much needed law to help make toys and other children's products safer.

Enhancing CPSC Authority and Discretion Act

Like many laws though, the law could be improved to address criticism that some people have and fix any unintended consequences that the law had on people and certain businesses.

Refining the law to address the concerns of ATV manufacturers (have problems with the law because ATVs have lead in battery terminals, etc.) and small businesses and people who make handmade toys and crafts doesn't mean totally taking it apart and weakening the law.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Enhancing CPSC Authority and Discretion Act as voted on by a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade will do.

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Accidents are the leading cause of death for kids at just about all ages.

Although the leading causes of these accidental deaths are car accidents, drownings, poisonings, fires, falls, and gun accidents, etc., there are many hidden dangers that parents are less aware of that can lead to accidents and tragedies.

Especially this time of year, lawn mower accidents can be a big problem. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that about 10,000 children require care in the emergency room each year because of lawn mower accidents. This includes about 2,500 kids who are under five years of age.

A few recent law mower incidents highlight how important it is to keep lawn mower safety in mind if you have kids, especially to remember that the AAP recommends that 'Most children will not be ready to operate a walk-behind power mower or hand mower until at least 12 years of age or a ride-on mower until at least 16 years of age. '

Also, the AAP recommends that 'Young children must not be allowed to play in or be adjacent to areas where lawn mowers are being used,' and that 'children younger than 6 years should be kept indoors during mowing.'

Recent lawn mower accidents and tragedies, which have occurred in just the past few weeks, include:

• a 10-year-old in Berrien County, Georgia who was killed in a lawn mower accident when the lawn mower he was riding some how ran him over. His mother found him lying under the lawn mower.
• a 4-year-old in Nyona Lake, IN who suffered severe lacerations after being run over by a riding lawn mower (his mother couldn't see him as she was backing up)
• a 4-year-old girl in Hot Springs, Montanna who lost her leg in a lawn mower accident when she fell off the lawn mower she was riding on with her dad
• a 2-year-old in Revell Downs, MD who lost his right leg below the knee and his left foot after he ran into the path of a lawn mower
• a 3-year-old who fell and got his leg caught under a lawn mower that his dad was using in Pennsylvania

Accidents happen. With an increased awareness of the dangers that can lead to these accidents, parents can hopefully take steps so that they are less likely to happen to their kids.

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The recent battle in Florida, with the American Academy of Pediatrics and Florida Pediatric Society on one side and the proponents of a newly passed gun bill, which limits how much pediatricians can talk about gun safety, on the other side has had one good effect. It has greatly raised awareness about gun safety and the dangers of unsecured guns.

Unfortunately, there was another shooting tragedy yesterday. This time, in Georgia, a 9 or 10-year-old shot a two-year-old while they were playing in a van while the family was preparing to move to a new apartment. The child was taken to a nearby hospital, airlifted to a Children's Hospital, and remains in critical condition.

Investigators who were at the scene have been reported to have said that 'tragic shooting should serve as a wake-up call to parents about guns.' As with many of the other recent shootings, it should also be a wake-up call about the dangers of the NRA/Rick Scott gun bill in Florida, which may also be introduced in other states.

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An interesting article was published online today in Scientific American.

The article, 'HIV May Be Culprit in Spread of Measles,' suggests that instead of blaming 'lax vaccination efforts' for recent measles outbreaks, the 'real culprit may be HIV.'

It is important to note that while this may be true, since children with HIV don't respond as well to the measles vaccine as children with a normally functioning immune system, and may be more likely to get measles, the measles outbreaks the article is talking about are in Africa. Specifically, the article discusses developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. So high rates of HIV-infected children may be a good reason for why it has been hard to eradicate measles in this area.

Since most of the measles outbreaks in the United States are linked to international travel to and from Europe, where measles has been linked to low vaccination rates and has not necessarily been linked to countries with high rates of HIV infected children, any HIV and measles connection would not seem to have much to do with our outbreaks.

The HIV and measles connection does support the idea that antiretroviral drugs should be made more available to HIV-infected children, so that their measles vaccines are more effective. And it is one more good reason for why 'lax vaccination efforts' are a bad idea.

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