Babies, Parenting, Child Health, Infant Nutrition

Child Development – University of Michigan Survey Finds Consumer Alerts Aren’t Enough to Protect Kids

11.03.2008 | 9:58:17 pm | Posted by admin

By Colleen Hurley, RD, Certified Kid’s Nutrition Specialist

child health, parenting Much of the news headlines these days are either sad stories, hazards in children’s products, or news about a celebrity’s antics. Perhaps you have decided you would rather not watch the news or read the paper, but what if there was important information? Would you feel you would be sufficiently notified of something that could potentially harm your child lurking your household? If you answered no, you are not alone. A new survey found that 1 in 7 parents were unaware of recent child safety advisories.

This year has been laden with toy recalls, advisories for cold medications, and vaccine recalls. Unfortunately, recalls only happened after these products have made their way from the shelves into our homes. The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health found that the majority of Americans would like the government to step up and ensure products are safe before they hit the shelves.

The poll also revealed that current proposed legislation in both individual states and in Congress would be met with open arms, as 90% of the people surveyed are in favor of stricter consumer product safety laws. The survey, conducted in December 2007 and January 2008, was administered to over 2, 000 adults who are part of Knowledge Network’s online Knowledge Panel. Three quarters of the households sampled had children.

It wasn’t just lead tainted toys that were discussed in the poll. In regards to the recent consumer alert about over the counter cold and cough medicines being inappropriate for use in children under 2, 14% of parents said they were unaware of the alert despite media efforts. Those who did hear the news took action as 54% said they took caution when purchasing future over the counter meds, 39% removed the products from their homes, and 11% contacted a health care professional.

Other highlights of the poll include:

94% of those surveyed are in favor of increased penalties for manufacturers who are in violation of US safety standards
93% support laws that would require FDA standard certifications for producers and importers
94% are in favor of laws requiring of country of origin labeling on drugs, foods, and devices

Overall, any legislation that would increase the safety of our children would be met with overwhelming support by Americans. The majority of parents surveyed feel that the government is simply not doing to enough to ensure safe medications and products for US children. Hopefully, the next news report on children’s products will be a great deal more positive.

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The Baby Mum-Mum blog discusses everything to do with babies and parenting with a focus on child health and child development. Baby Mum-Mum is a healthy, easy to digest baby rice snack that is enjoyed by babies and mothers around the world for its portability, gluten free ingredients and great taste.

Announcement:

On February 22, the FDA issued letters relating to labelling to 22 food companies, including several baby food manufacturers. We were advised by the FDA that we are not permitted to print the statements "Low in Fat" or "No added fat or oils" on our Baby Mum-Mum packaging.

Although these statements are true and each serving of Baby Mum-Mum does not contain any fat, the FDA has brought to our attention that these claims are technically not allowed on our packaging solely because the product is intended for consumption by infants and children under 4 years of age.

In the future, these claims will be removed from our packaging.

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