Showing posts with label Kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kids. Show all posts

Some One Million Crib Recall Underway In The United States

The largest crib recall in history is underway following findings showing that a couple of kids have been killed by their cribs. Some one million cribs with older drop-side hardware were recalled following an announcement by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Simplicity for Children Inc., asking consumers with such cribs to return them.

The agency and the company are concerned with failure in the "drop-side" of the crib when it is incorrectly assembled. According to the CPSC, the drop-side failures result from both the hardware and crib design. These two faulty elements all too easily trick consumers into unintentionally installing the drop-side upside down. Thus installed, the hardware can weaken and cause the drop-side to detach from the crib, creating a gap in which infants can become entrapped and, there, suffocate. Thus far this failure has led to three infant deaths.

"According to First Candle, a leading promoter of infant health, infants who sleep in an adult bed with their parents are up to 40 times more likely to die through suffocation or other means than infants who sleep in a crib. Parents need to know that babies are
safest in a separate sleeping space designed for them," said Simplicity President Ken Waldman.

This is the largest recall of cribs in United States history. The cribs were made in China.

All of the cribs in question were manufactured by the first part of 2006, and none of the cribs that Simplicity is presently distributing to stores have this design problem.

Once again, a controversy is surrounding products made in China and sold for children in the United States.

However, the last time such a thing happened, which was with the recent recall of supposedly lead paint toxic toys made in China for the giant Mattell toy manufacturer, it ended up being a red herring. Today, Mattell issued a company apology to the entire nation of China when it became clear that the amounts of lead paint that were in the recalled toys did not exceed CPSC limits. Instead, the problem lay tiny magnets in the toys that children could swallow and get sick from - which was a design problem on Mattell's end, not China's.

Critics are concerned that the real motive behind at least a lot of the "China bashing" lies in the frustration that many American consumers feel over the outsourcing of so many formerly American jobs to the Asian nation, where the workers demand only a fraction of the salary that their American counterparts would, as well as with the United States' steep trade deficit with China which American officials blame largely on China's artificially depreciated currency.

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Antidepressants Do More Good Than Harm In Kids

Julie Steenhuysen

The benefits of antidepressants for children and teens far outweigh the risk of suicide, and U.S. regulators should revise strong warnings that may have scared off some doctors and patients, researchers said on Tuesday.

A wide-reaching review of studies on antidepressants in young patients showed the risk of suicidal behavior is smaller than previously thought and should be viewed in light of the relief these drugs can offer, the researchers said.

"The benefits seem to be much stronger than the risks," said Dr. David Brent, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, whose study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The research calls into question "black box" warnings on the labels of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs that caution of a higher risk of suicidal behavior among children and teen-agers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said there is no reason for a change in the labeling and said doctors are still free to prescribe the drugs to young patients.

The FDA introduced the warnings on the most popular antidepressants in October 2004 after studies in the United States and Britain suggested the drugs may raise the risk of suicide in children and adults.

Millions of Americans use antidepressants, which include Wyeth's Effexor, Pfizer Inc.'s Zoloft, GlaxoSmithKline Plc's

Paxil, Eli Lilly and Co's Prozac and Forest Laboratories Lexapro.

MORE HARM THAN GOOD?

"Clearly, their intent was to protect people, but you have to then re-evaluate whether your warning may be doing more harm than good," Brent said in a telephone interview.

According to data from Medco Health Solutions Inc., the number of children 19 and under taking antidepressants fell by 13 percent from 2004 to 2005.

Brent noted that suicide rates in adolescents have, at the same time, begun to rise. "That is after 10 consecutive years of a decline in the rate," he said.

He pointed to a February study in the journal Pediatrics that found deaths from suicide in 10 to 19-year-olds rose 18.2 percent in 2004 from 2003. No other causes of child death increased during that period.

"It is possible that people who would benefit from this medication are being frightened away," he said.

But the FDA disagreed.

"At this time nothing indicates a need for change in the 'black box' warning, which urges attention to patients starting treatment," said Dr. Thomas Laughren, director of the FDA's division of psychiatry products, in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.

For the study, Brent and colleagues reviewed data from 27 major clinical trials assessing antidepressant use in 4,400 children and adolescents with major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders.

The analysis, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, included data from an additional 700 patients not available when the FDA issued its warning.

The study showed an increased risk for suicidal thoughts and attempts, but the size of the effect was smaller than in the FDA report. There were no completed suicides.

Brent said young people on the drugs should be monitored closely and taken off them if they derive no benefit, but stressed that depression is the leading cause of suicide. "The risk of no treatment can be deadly," he said.

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