From the your tax dollars at work department.  No.  We did not make up the warning from the Consumer Products Safety Commission that appears under the headline in bold below.  After reading it, I can’t wait for possible future announcements from the CPSC that may warn parents about the dangers of children:

  • Falling down stairs
  • Opening kitchen drawers and playing with knifes
  • Putting hands in garbage disposals
  • Swallowing can openers that contain excessive levels of lead
  • (Infants) falling into open toilet bowls and drowning
  • In Iowa being attached by a shark.

CPSC Urges Parents and Caregivers to Consider Safety Before Opening Windows

Opening windows in your home to enjoy the warmer temperatures may seem harmless, but windows have proven to be sources of injury and death for young children. In recent weeks, several children have fallen from windows and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) data indicates that on average, about eight deaths occur yearly to children five years or younger while an estimated 3,300 children five and younger are treated each year in U.S. hospital emergency departments. Hospitalization was required for about 34 percent of these children after falling from a window.

These deaths and injuries frequently occur when kids push themselves against window screens or climb onto furniture located next to an open window.

“The deaths and life-altering injuries we have seen here at CPSC are heart-breaking and in many cases preventable,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “We want parents and caregivers to think safety before opening the windows where young children are present.”

“Window falls increase dramatically during the spring and summer months but they can be prevented,” said Chrissy Cianflone, Director of Programs for Safe Kids USA. “It takes active supervision on the part of the parent or caregiver, and a device called a window guard. Screens are meant to keep bugs out, not kids in. Window guards are easy to install and have a release mechanism in the event of an emergency.”

“The window fall season is upon us. The harmless act of opening a window to enjoy the beautiful weather can lead to tragedy unless parents and caregivers of young children exercise proper safety precautions,” said Mindy A. Bockstein, Chairperson and Executive Director of the New York State Consumer Protection Board. “Let’s not be lulled into a false sense of security by window screens but properly install window guards and follow other safety measures.”

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  2. Kalifornia Dictates Magic Windows on All Cars Starting 2012
  3. Toy Police Talk to Parents About New Toy Rules
  4. There Is No Joy in Toyland
  5. John Stossel on the Toy Police & the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act
  6. CAUTION — Warning Label Overload
  7. Toy Police Fine Company $200,000 for Selling Toys that Have Not Harmed Anybody
  8. Consumer Product Safety Commission Issues 52 Page Definition of “Children’s Product”
  9. No Foolin’ Here – CPSC Issues Reasonable Definition of a “Children’s Product”
  10. CPSIA – Numbers Don’t Lie – Much Ado About Nothing