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Personal Care Feed

Weak cosmetics laws updated, finally, but problems remain

Of the many consumer laws I’ve reported on over the years, weak laws on personal care products such as cosmetics are among the most frustrating. The United States has lagged behind the rest of the world in regulating the contaminants and ingredients in personal care products. More than 80 other countries have taken action to protect their citizens. Read more →


Top 10 tips for Baby Safety Month

Babies are among the most precious things in the world. I was fortunate to have two wonderful daughters, and luckily, they survived childhood although not as much was known back then on child safety. Here are 10 top tips that parents, grandparents, and caregivers need to follow to keep babies safe: Read more →


Journalist wins prizes in press women’s state contest

For many years, when I lived in Alaska and Washington state, I participated in the state contests of the National Federation of Press Women or NFPW. However, when the Washington chapter of the organization faded away in 2015, I missed participating in the organization and its annual contests. Read more →


Amazon, eBay, and other online retailers are selling skin creams with dangerous levels of mercury, study shows

Almost half of skin lightening creams tested contained dangerously high levels of mercury but continue to be sold by online retailers such as Amazon, eBay, and Flipkart, according to a report from the Zero Mercury Working Group, an international coalition. Read more →


Lock up poisons to celebrate the 60th anniversary of National Poison Prevention Week

Protect your kids, teens, and elders from poisonings by locking up potentially harmful household products and medications. Nearly nine out of 10 unintentional poisonings occur in the home. Thirty-one children under the age of five die in the U.S. each year from consumer products found in the home Read more →


1.7 million Fitbit Ionic smartwatches are being recalled due to burn risk

Fitbit is recalling about 1 million Ionic smartwatches in the United States and about 693,000 internationally. The lithium-ion battery in the Ionic smartwatch can overheat, posing a burn hazard. Fitbit has received at least 115 reports in the U.S. – and 59 reports internationally – of the watch battery overheating. Read more →


Keep wearing a mask and avoid crowded indoor places

It’s disappointing that the governors in blue states are removing covid restrictions. Just because cases from the huge spike in covid cases caused by the omicron variant are dropping dramatically doesn’t mean that the chances of getting covid are gone or are even reduced significantly. Read more →


Progress made in public health, climate, and consumer protection during 2021, consumer group says

Since I wrote an article recently on the top consumer and personal finance stories of 2021, I was interested in a list offered by U.S. PIRG on the progress made in health, climate, and consumer issues in 2021. U.S. PIRG, a public interest research group, and its state partners worked on or supported many of these issues. Read more →


FDA finally bans lead in hair dyes

The Food and Drug Administration has banned the use of toxic lead acetate in consumer hair dyes, an action that will help protect the public from hazardous chemicals. Lead acetate is the ingredient that slowly darkens gray hair when used every few days and can increase the level of lead in users’ bodies. Read more →