Fireworks More Fun When Everyone’S Safe
Even though fireworks have been outlawed in Spokane County for several years, there are still the occasional unrestrained bottle rockets or fountains of fire. With so many area lakes and recreational areas in surrounding counties still permitting the sale and use of fireworks, it doesn’t hurt to review some safety rules.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission offers the following tips for firework safety:
Never allow children to play with or ignite fireworks.
Read and follow all warnings and instructions.
Be sure people (and pets) are out of range before lighting fireworks.
Only light fireworks on a smooth, flat surface away from houses, dry leaves and flammable materials.
Never try to relight fireworks that did not function correctly the first time.
Keep a bucket of water on hand in case of a malfunction or fire.
Name that baby: My brother and his wife are expecting twins at any minute. They’ve got everything ready, except they can’t decide on a second name — for either boys or girls.
Some couples having trouble finding the perfect name for their new baby are turning to the Internet and enlisting the help of fellow surfers in All About Baby’s “Name Our Newborn” Sweepstakes.
By lending an opinion on the right name for the featured couple’s baby, site visitors can win $1,000 plus a free gift.
Log on to www.allbaby.com for complete rules.
Color us happy: Children in the United States spend 6.3 million hours coloring annually, according to Binney & Smith, creators of Crayola Color Crayons.
After recent news that some crayons contain small amounts of asbestos, which is known to cause cancer, three manufacturers (Crayola, Prang and Rose Art) have agreed to stop using it in the production of future crayons.
But don’t throw away all of your kids’ crayons just yet.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission ran tests that confirmed the presence of tiny amounts of asbestos and larger amounts of asbestos-like fibers in some crayons.
But the commission concluded that “the amount of asbestos is so small it is scientifically insignificant.”
The commission says crayons currently in use are safe, and that there is no scientific basis for a recall.
CPSC tests show that the fibers are not released into the air even during a simulation of a child “vigorously coloring” for half an hour.
And kids are unlikely to be exposed to the fibers by eating crayons because they pass through the body embedded in wax.
The commission asked crayon makers to change their crayon formulations because, as CPSC representative Ann Brown pointed out, “Where children are concerned, you have to be extra cautious.”