Three children were rushed to the emergency room after eating air freshener earlier this week. The children purchased the air freshener from a store, believing it to be a gummy fruit snack. The product called “Fruit Bomb” was in a small foil pouch, about the size of a package of M&M's, with cartoon characters on the outside of the bag.
Even the storeowner thought the product was candy, displaying the merchandise with other candies and chocolates.
The product did not have list of ingredients on the wrapping, and it is believed to be a citrus scented chemical that when mixed with baking soda, releases a fruit fragrance.
The children weren't seriously injured, but the incident raises concern about food safety.
When I was a child, I used to buy handfuls of penny-candy from the local general store. But my parents never had to worry about what was inside a tootsie-pop.
In recent years I've seen candy shaped like Lego pieces and lollipops with little light bulbs in the center. I've even seen candy that you lick off the paper (so very sixties).
I'm sure when I was a child I ate some peculiar sweets.
Blue raspberry, though common today, was a hip new thing in the 1980s. In fact, my father once confiscated a blue raspberry ice-pop because he thought I was ingesting frozen Windex.
Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
My concern is that storeowners are able to stock and sell merchandise from overseas without indication of ingredient or chemical content.
It should be mandatory for all products sold in the United States to have a list of active ingredients and/or nutritional content. And if it is a law, it needs to be enforced.
Though the children in this case were not injured, they easily could have been. I once bought an air freshener for the car, thinking it was a can of cat food. It is an easy mistake to make, even for adults.
Bottom line; the store has a responsibility to know what it is selling and the parent has a responsibility to know what their child is buying and eating.
Otherwise, who or what is keeping these children safe?
Estabrook's column appears Mondays and she can be reached at estabrookcarole@yahoo.com.
The product did not have list of ingredients on the wrapping, and it is believed to be a citrus scented chemical that when mixed with baking soda, releases a fruit fragrance.
The children weren't seriously injured, but the incident raises concern about food safety.
When I was a child, I used to buy handfuls of penny-candy from the local general store. But my parents never had to worry about what was inside a tootsie-pop.
In recent years I've seen candy shaped like Lego pieces and lollipops with little light bulbs in the center. I've even seen candy that you lick off the paper (so very sixties).
I'm sure when I was a child I ate some peculiar sweets.
Blue raspberry, though common today, was a hip new thing in the 1980s. In fact, my father once confiscated a blue raspberry ice-pop because he thought I was ingesting frozen Windex.
Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
My concern is that storeowners are able to stock and sell merchandise from overseas without indication of ingredient or chemical content.
It should be mandatory for all products sold in the United States to have a list of active ingredients and/or nutritional content. And if it is a law, it needs to be enforced.
Though the children in this case were not injured, they easily could have been. I once bought an air freshener for the car, thinking it was a can of cat food. It is an easy mistake to make, even for adults.
Bottom line; the store has a responsibility to know what it is selling and the parent has a responsibility to know what their child is buying and eating.
Otherwise, who or what is keeping these children safe?
Estabrook's column appears Mondays and she can be reached at estabrookcarole@yahoo.com.
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Post your comment - click hereThere are 2 comment(s)
brew1234 wrote on Jul 30, 2008 12:24 AM:
Brian33908 wrote on Jul 28, 2008 1:52 PM:
I fear a frivolous lawsuit may follow. Let's hope the family doesn't view this incident as a lottery ticket. "