Dieters Go Bananas For Bananas

A fad diet in Japan has those who want to lose some weight going bananas in the morning. The diet calls for bananas and lukewarm water for breakfast and whatever you want for the rest of the day.

Doctors Commonly Give Placebos

A recent study shows doctors prescribe pills to patients for the benefit of "the placebo effect" almost fifty-percent of the time. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel from the NIH explains to Harry Smith.

Rx Drugs Under Fire

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices reports that deaths linked to prescription medications, such as Chantix and Heparin, have hit an all time high. Sharyl Attkisson investigates.

2 Infant Deaths Prompt Crib Recall

A recall of nearly 1.6 million cribs, triggered by the suffocations of two 8-month-old infants, has prompted a government agency to urge parents to inspect older drop-side cribs for safety problems. (Oct. 21)

Idaho, MySpace agree on predator protections

By KBCI Staff & Associated Press
BOISE - Idaho is pressuring a major social networking site to improve its stance on child predators.

Under mounting pressure from law enforcement and parents, MySpace and 49 states (not including Texas) agreed on Monday to take steps to protect youngsters from online sexual predators and bullies, including searching for ways to better verify users' ages. Idaho parents are well aware of the site's potential risk.

"I tell (my daughter) that if she gets a pop up, if someone tries to instant message her, just to ignore it," said Heather Amador, a local mother of a 12-year-old daughter." "Even though I know it's a great social networking application that she could have, I feel like I would want more control over it."

Under mounting pressure from law enforcement and parents, MySpace agreed Monday to take steps to protect youngsters from online sexual predators and bullies, including searching for ways to better verify users' ages.

The hugely popular online hangout will create a task force of industry professionals to watch over its operations, and other social-networking sites will be invited to participate.

The Idaho Attorney General's Office says there are thousands of registered sex offenders on Myspace. But a new nationwide agreement with the site could help change that. Under the plan, Myspace will develop better software to verify the age and identity of its users. It will also allow parents to submit their kids' email addresses so they can't join. The site also claims it will make it harder for adults to contact children.

"Most people when they think of MySpace, they think it's a site that's visited mostly by youth, actually, over half of all the MySpace users are over 35 years old," said Brett DeLange, deputy attorney general.

Tina Pollardy, another local mother, says her children are older but their early Myspacing days were filled with words of caution.

"We told them not to give out personal information, don't even give out the city where you live, because somebody could find you easily," Pollardy said.

The attorney general believes Monday's new MySpace agreement is a step in the right direction.

"It happens everywhere, we're not immune from these sorts of predators coming to our state, seeking out our youth and hurting them," DeLange said.

A 15-year-old girl from Texas was allegedly lured to a meeting, drugged and assaulted in 2006 by an adult MySpace user. In another case, a man got 14 years in prison for using MySpace to set up a sexual encounter with an 11-year-old Connecticut girl. A 16-year-old New York girl ran away to Puerto Rico with a man she met on MySpace.

And a 13-year-old girl in Missouri hanged herself in 2006 after receiving mean messages on MySpace from a person she thought was another teen, but it later turned out that the messages were all a hoax.

Texas' attorney general said the state did not join the agreement because it cannot support the effort unless it takes action to verify people's ages.

MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has more than 200 million registered users worldwide, and Facebook claims more than 61 million active users.

Mattel recalls 800,000 toys worldwide

Mattel Inc. announced its third major recall of Chinese-made toys in little more than a month, including 675,000 Barbie doll accessories, because of excessive amounts of lead-tainted paint.
The recall is the latest blow to the world's largest toy maker as the critical holiday shopping season approaches. The action, whose details were negotiated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, involves a total of more than 800,000 units, Mattel said in a statement.
The latest recall covers 90,000 units of Mattel's GeoTrax locomotive line and 8,900 Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys, both from the company's Fisher-Price brand. The Big Big World products were sold nationwide from July through August of this year, while the GeoTrax toys were sold from September 2006 through August of this year.
The recalled Barbie accessories were sold between October 2006 and August of this year. No Barbie dolls were included in the action.
Mattel's last recall, announced on Aug. 14, covered about 19 million toys worldwide. They included Chinese-made toys that either had excessive amounts of lead paint or had small magnets that could easily be swallowed by children.
On Aug. 1, Mattel's Fisher-Price division said it was recalling 1.5 million preschool toys featuring characters such as Dora the Explorer, Big Bird and Elmo because of lead paint. That action included 967,000 toys sold in the United States between May and August.
Lead can cause brain damage when ingested by young children. Under current regulations, children's products found to have more than .06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall.
Robert Eckert, chairman and chief executive of El Segundo, Calif.-based Mattel, warned at a press conference last month that there may be more recalls of tainted toys as the company steps up its investigations into its Chinese factories and retests products.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, Eckert said: "As a result of our ongoing investigation, we discovered additional affected products. Consequently, several subcontractors are no longer manufacturing Mattel toys. We apologize again to everyone affected and promise that we will continue to focus on ensuring the safety and quality of our toys."
Still, Tuesday's announcement could further tarnish the reputation of Mattel, which has cultivated an image of tightly controlling production in China. The CPSC is also considering a possible investigation of whether Mattel notified authorities as quickly as it should have in connection with the Aug. 14 recall.
With more than 80 percent of toys sold worldwide made in China, toy sellers are also nervous that shoppers will shy away from their products in this year's holiday season.
In June, toy maker RC2 Corp. voluntarily recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. The company said the surface paint on certain toys and parts made in China between January 2005 and April 2006 contains lead, affecting 26 components and 23 retailers.
In July, Hasbro Inc. recalled faulty Chinese-made Easy Bake ovens, marking the second time the iconic toy had been recalled this year.
Mattel vowed as recently as last month it would tighten its controls at factories in China. About 65 percent of the company's toys are made in China, and about 50 percent of Mattel's production there is produced in company-owned plants.
The recalled toys in the Barbie accessory line included a Barbie Dream Puppy House, which had lead paint on the dog; a Barbie Dream Kitty Condo playset, which had lead paint on the cat; and a Barbie table and chairs kitchen playset, which had lead paint on the dog and dinner plates.
Mattel said in a statement that the Barbie products affected by the recall were produced by Holder Plastic Company, a Mattel contract vendor, which subcontracted the painting of miniature toy pets and small furniture pieces to Dong Lian Fa and Yip Sing. Both companies used uncertified paint and are no longer producing toys for Mattel, the company said.
Mattel added that its probe revealed that the subcontractors painted the affected toys between March 2007 and August 2007. However, Mattel said it's being cautious in recalling the entire production of the seven toys painted by the subcontractors, and toys made beginning in October 2006 are included within the recall.
Among the three Fisher-Price toys recalled are two GeoTrax toys and a toy from the Big Big World line.
The two GeoTrax toys were made by Apex Manufacturing Company Ltd., one of Mattel's contract vendors, which outsourced paint work to a subcontractor, Boyi Plastic Products Factory. Apex supplied Boyi with certified paint; however, the toys were made with uncertified paint. Boyi is no longer in business, Mattel said.
The GeoTrax toys were manufactured between July 31, 2006, and September 4, 2006; however, the painted parts were stored and incorporated into toy production throughout the year. Mattel said it is recalling toys shipped between August 3, 2006, and July 31 of this year.
Fisher-Price's Big Big World toy was manufactured by Shun On Factory, one of Mattel's contract vendors, which outsourced the molding and painting of one plastic piece. A subcontractor, Jingying Tampo Printing Processing Factory, used uncertified paint on the recalled piece.
For information about Tuesday's recalls, consumers should call Mattel at 888-496-8330 or visit the company's Web site at http://www.service.mattel.com.

Toys 'R' Us Recalls 27,000 Crayon and Paint Sets Due to Lead

Thursday , August 30, 2007
NEW YORK — Toys "R" Us has recalled 27,000 crayon and paint sets made in China because the packaging of the wooden box contains lead, as does some of the watercolor paint within, company and government officials said Thursday.
No injuries have been reported from the use of the Imaginarium Wooden Coloring Cases, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The case includes crayons, pastels, colored pencils, fiber pens, paintbrush, pencil, water colors, palette, white paint, ruler and pencil sharpener in a light tan wooden carrying case. The case measures about 14 inches high by 19 inches wide.
Toys "R" Us sold the case nationwide from October 2006 through this month for about $20.
Consumers are asked to take the products away from children and return them to the nearest "Toys "R" Us store for store credit, the CPSC said.
The recall follows Mattel Inc.'s (MAT) July recall of 19 million Chinese-made toys, including dolls, cars and action figures. Some of the items were contaminated with lead paint. Others had small magnets that children might swallow.