Interesting article from Utah discussing the intersection of job creation, public health, corporate greed, and the environment. Arkansas faces many of these same issues in the rapid expansion of natural gas drilling operations. http://www.truth-out.org/utah-doctors-join-occupy-movement/1326501550

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product. Name of product: O-Grill Portable Gas Grills Units: About 4,530 Manufacturer: Uni-O (Xiamen) Industries Corporation of Xiamen, China Hazard: The regulator on the grill can leak gas which can ignite, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: Uni-O has received 10 reports of grills catching fire. No injuries or property damage have been reported. Description: This recall involves Iroda O-Grill models 1000 and 3000 produced before 2010. Some were also sold under the Tailgate Gear brand. Both models are lightweight, portable, clamshell-type propane grills with steel bodies, cast iron cooking surfaces, retractable legs and a handle. They can be used with either 1-pound propane cylinders or 20-pound propane tanks. The grills come in orange, red, green, blue, silver and black and have the words "O-Grill" stamped on the metal grill cover. Recalled O-Grills do not have ventilation slots in the regulator cover where the propane bottle screws in. Grills with ventilation slots in the regulator cover are not subject to the recall. Sold by: LL Bean, Stoneman, BBQG, Walgreens, REI, Dillards and Dick's Sporting Goods nationwide from November 2008 through December 2010. The O-Grill 1000 sold for $149 and the O-Grill 3000 sold for $189. Manufactured in: China Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the grills and contact Uni-O to receive a free replacement grill. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact the firm toll-free at (888) 847-8968 between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's website at www.regcen.com/OGRILL http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12077.html

Florida drugstore chain Rexall Inc is recalling softgel vitamins because their mislabeled bottles contain tablets made from crustacean shells, a potential allergen, the company said. Rexall's Calcium 1200 mg plus 1000IU Vitamin D3, 60 softgels are actually in bottles holding Triple Strength Glucosamine Chondroitin and MSM Tablets, the company said in a statement carried on the Food and Drug Administration website on Tuesday. Glucosamine is made from crustaceans' shells and may contain trace quantities of undeclared shellfish, said the company, of Deerfield, Florida. "People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to shellfish run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume this product," the statement said. The Rexall Calcium 1200 mg plus 1000IU Vitamin D3 was distributed through Dollar General Corp, which has 9,800 stores across 38 states. The recall involves one lot number, 387651-04. No illnesses or deaths have been reported. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/17/us-recall-rexall-idUSTRE80G1VX20120117

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product. Name of Product: ANTILOP High Chairs Units: About 169,000 (133,000 in the U.S. and 36,000 in Canada) Importer: IKEA North America Services LLC, of Conshohocken, Pa. Hazard: The high chair's restraint buckle can open unexpectedly, posing a fall hazard to the child. Incidents/Injuries: IKEA has received eight reports worldwide of restraint buckles that opened unexpectedly, including three reports of children who received minor injuries after falling from the high chair. Description: This recall involves ANTILOP high chairs sold in red, blue or white. The plastic high chair has detachable silver-colored metal legs. High chairs included in the recall have a manufacture date between 0607 and 0911 (YYMM format) from supplier number 17389. The production date and supplier number are molded into the underside of the seat. "ANTILOP," "IKEA" and the model number are printed on a label affixed to the underside of the seat. Model numbers included in the recall are: ANTILOP high chair blue Model # 701.467.92 ANTILOP high chair red Model # 501.467.93 ANTILOP high chair white Model # 300.697.24 Sold exclusively at: IKEA stores nationwide from August 2006 through January 2010 for about $20. Manufactured in: China Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the high chairs and contact IKEA to obtain a free replacement seat restraint. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact IKEA toll-free at (866) 966-4532 anytime, or visit the firm's website at www.ikea-usa.com http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12079.html

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of about 55,000 LED flashlight sets due to an increased fire hazard. Sold exclusively at Target, the agency said the flashlights can heat up to the point of causing a fire. The sets were sold from October 2010 to December 2011. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12080.html

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product. Name of Product: Bicycle helmets for children and youth Units: About 30,400 Importer: Triple Eight Distribution, Inc., of Port Washington, N.Y. Hazard: Product testing demonstrated that these helmets do not comply with CPSC safety standards for impact resistance. Consumers could suffer impact head injuries in a fall. Incidents/Injuries: None reported Description: The recalled items are multi-purpose helmets also sold for use as bicycle helmets. Little Tricky helmets are marketed for children and youth, and feature a large Little Tricky logo on both sides of the helmet. They come in one size and in black, white, pink and green. Triple Eight S/M EPS Liner helmets feature a hard black inner EPS foam liner and come in black, white, bone, blue and army green. Sector 9 S/M EPS Liner helmets feature the same EPS liner and come in gray, white, black, blue and green. Both the Triple Eight and Sector 9 helmets have an interior label indicating the size “S/M” for small/medium and a manufacture date indicated as month/year (ex. APR/2011). Only Triple Eight and Sector 9 size “S/M” EPS Liner helmets are affected. Sold at: Bicycle and sports stores and other retailers nationwide and online from August 2006 through November 2011 for about $40. Manufactured in: China Remedy: Consumers should stop using the product immediately and contact Triple Eight for a full refund. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Triple Eight toll free at (888) 548-8518 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.triple8.com http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12082.html

Stepped up efforts by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to be more proactive have resulted in hundreds of millions of violative or dangerous units of products being stopped at U.S. ports and prevented from ever reaching the hands of consumers. Working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), CPSC staff screened thousands of consumer products that were either in violation of U.S. standards or otherwise unsafe and stopped them from ever reaching store shelves. The hard work of CPSC and CBP staff in 2010 and 2011 resulted in more than 6.5 million units of about 1,700 different children's products being stopped at our nation's ports, due to safety concerns or the failure to meet federal safety standards. "Intercepting dangerous products as quickly and as early as possible, well before they make their way into the hands of children and other consumers, is consistent with our vision for CPSC to continue enhancing its protection of America's families," said Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. The products stopped are wide-ranging. In addition to toys and other children's products, items targeted at import include mattresses, art materials, household chemicals, lighters, fireworks, bike helmets and all-terrain vehicles. Some of the reasons they were stopped include violations of the standards for flammability, lead paint and lead content, phthalates and small parts. Port surveillance is not new. Imported products have long been screened at the port by CPSC and CBP. However, since its creation in 2008, CPSC's import surveillance and inspection team, has steadily increased the size of its staff at some of the largest U.S. ports of entry, at CPSC's headquarters and at a CBP operations center. "The marketplace of imported consumer goods has expanded rapidly in recent years requiring CPSC to take an increasingly global view of consumer product safety," said Carol Cave, Director of the Office of Import Surveillance and Inspection. "In response to the lead in paint recalls in 2007, CPSC started to place investigators at key ports of entry full time," Cave added. "Having CPSC staff who have the training and equipment necessary to identify non-complying products under CPSC jurisdiction at the ports has improved coordination and cooperation with CBP and industry." According to Cave, working side by side at the ports has lead to more effective import enforcement by reducing exam times and increasing interagency communication. "We are working smarter," adds Cave, "but, because of the large volume of products being imported that are under CPSC's jurisdiction, it is critical that, as the agency moves forward, we systematically evaluate the risk of incoming shipments and expand the number of staff inspecting merchandise." Chairman Tenenbaum is announcing that the results of efforts at the ports will be published regularly in 2012 to inform and reassure consumers that CPSC is on the job working to keep consumers safe by detecting and detaining dangerous or violative imports before they reach store shelves. "We want the American public to know that CPSC stands for safety and we are doing all we can to identify and stop unsafe products from being introduced to our marketplace, so that consumers will have fewer things to worry about," Tenenbaum said. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12083.html

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of about 43,000 five-light floor lamps due to the risk of electric shock. Imported by Big Lots, the agency said the wiring on the light sockets can become exposed, increasing the risk of shock and injury to users. The light bulbs in the lamps can also overheat, causing the shades to melt. http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12086.html

Max Brantley also took issue with the comments of State Senator Gilbert Baker. http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/01/02/corporations-eye-court-takeover

In this morning's frontpage Arkansas Deomcrat Gazette article entitled "Justice: Keep Drama out of Judicial Races", State Senator Gilbert Baker took exception with the efforts of the Arkansas Bar Association's Task Force on Judicial Election Reform. With regard to the task force's efforts to form a rapid response team to quickly rebut misleading advertisements about judicial candidates, Baker was quoted as saying, "[the task force] will try to eliminate the people's involement and eliminate free speech." So what is eating Gilbert Baker? It appears clear the aim of the task force is to clean up Arkansas judicial elections in order to prevent the million dollar judicial races filled with mudslinging and misleading advertising that have become so common place in states bordering ours. What is wrong with cleaning up judicial elections? The task force isn't trying to prevent Arkansans from voting in judicial elections. If anything the task force is searching for ways to provide the electorate with more and factually accurate information about judicial candidates. What's wrong with more information? I find it hard to imagine that the "people" Gilbert Baker references are the fine citizens of his district in Faulkner County. I think the more likely truth is that the "people" Baker references are the same "people" in the Citizens United opinion that says corporations have the same free speech rights as private individuals. If Baker has his way, these corporate "people", many of them out of state and some of them out of the country, will be able to flood the media markets of Arkansas with issue ads against judicial candidates and there will not be a rapid response team of Arkansas judges and Arkansas lawyers in place to combat the misinformation.