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			Wednesday, February 4, 2009 News Clipping Archives *Maryland / Regional* Parallel reviews of hospitals sought (Montgomery County Gazette) Baltimore summit addresses nursing shortage (Daily Record) 12 nonprofits to share United Way crisis funds (Baltimore Sun) Columbia woman implores judge to keep her husband committed (Baltimore Sun) Incarceration isn't enough; place addicts where they can get the help they need (Baltimore Sun) Inova Competitor Loses Battle to Build Hospital (Washington Post) *National / International* House passes kids' health insurance bill (Associated Press) Elder Abuse: All in the Family? (New York Times) Peanut product recalls (WTOP.com) Toy makers get extra year to comply with lead test (Frederick News-Post) *Opinion* *---* *Maryland / Regional* Parallel reviews of hospitals sought Bills would force Holy Cross, Adventist plans to be considered at the same time By Joe Beck Montgomery County Gazette Wednesday, February 4, 2009 Two upcounty legislators are seeking to even what they see as unfair competition between Adventist HealthCare and Holy Cross Hospital over proposals for hospitals in Clarksburg and Germantown. State Sen. Nancy J. King (D‑Dist. 39) and Del. Charles E. Barkley (D‑Dist. 39) are preparing legislation that would create a side‑by‑side review for the proposals. Holy Cross announced its plans for a 93‑bed hospital on the Germantown campus of Montgomery College in August while Adventist first proposed its 100‑bed hospital and related facilities in Clarksburg in 2001. The proposals require approval by the Maryland Health Care Commission, which is now considering the Holy Cross plan. Agency rules require Adventist to wait for the commission to finish reviewing the Holy Cross project before filing an application, which may only be filed in the spring and fall. Adventist officials, who support the King‑Barkley bill, warn that approval of the Holy Cross project will hurt the 24‑hour emergency center they opened in Germantown in 2006 and undermine Shady Grove Hospital in Gaithersburg. "If they put a hospital that close to the emergency center, they'll put it out of business," King said. The hospital commission began formally considering the Holy Cross project Friday. It typically takes four months to make a decision, said Pam Barclay, director of the center for hospital services at the commission. Robert Jepson, vice president of government relations and public policy with Adventist, said there is still time for the legislature to intervene. "Obviously the review has started, but it hasn't gotten very far down the path," Jepson said. "The bill would essentially stop the review and consider all other alternatives in the review." King and Barkley plan to introduce the bills this week. Both said the commission should weigh the proposals together to ensure they receive the fullest discussion and equal consideration. "We're just trying to make sure both hospitals get fair treatment," Barkley said. "If there were even more hospitals involved, they should consider all of them at the same time." In an e‑mail to The Gazette on Tuesday, Yolanda Gaskins, a spokeswoman for Holy Cross, said the hospital has complied with all requirements in the state approval process. "We will continue to comply with the commission's requirements and look forward to successful completion of the process in accord with those requirements," she wrote. The hospital's plans have been touted by MC‑Germantown administrators as a major boost to their efforts to make the campus a center of education, research and economic development in the biosciences. College spokeswoman Elizabeth Homan was non‑committal Monday on the legislative proposal. "Montgomery College has not yet seen the legislation proposed by Sen. King," Homan said. "We have good working relationships with both hospitals and we plan to continue those relationships into the future. With the Holy Cross Hospital project on the Germantown Campus, Montgomery College is excited about the opportunities it presents for our students." Holy Cross and Adventist have been at odds over the future of health care facilities in the upcounty since Holy Cross unveiled its plans last summer, taking even county planners by surprise. Adventist officials argue that they have painstakingly adhered to county land use, traffic and environmental regulations only to have Holy Cross muddy their plans by its unexpected announcement of a competing project. Jepson said his organization has labored to earn public support and obtain county permits. He said Adventist is ready "at some point this year" to apply for a certificate of need from the hospital commission. In the meantime, Adventist is preparing to present detailed evidence to the commission about how its emergency center would be harmed by a competing hospital with an emergency room a mile away. "It's very clear there will be a negative impact on the emergency center and there will be information that speaks to that," Jepson said. Barclay said the commission is taking written comments on the Holy Cross application. Comments should be limited to standards and issues contained in the state's health plan. She said a copy of the plan can be obtained by calling her at 410‑764‑5982. Comments are due by March 2 and can be mailed to the Maryland Health Care Commission, 4160 Patterson Ave., Baltimore, MD 21215. Copyright 2009 The Gazette. Baltimore summit addresses nursing shortage Associated Press Daily Record Wednesday, February 4, 2009 While the souring economy is prompting layoffs nationwide, health professionals at a summit in Baltimore are looking for ways to deal with a growing shortage of nurses. Maryland is one of 18 states sending a team to the conference. Organizers say a lack of nursing faculty is forcing schools to turn away tens of thousands of qualified candidates each year. The two‑day conference ends Thursday. Copyright 2009 Daily Record. 12 nonprofits to share United Way crisis funds Baltimore Sun Wednesday, February 4, 2009 Twelve nonprofit groups will share in $244,408 from a United Way emergency fund launched Jan. 22 to help local charities cope with soaring demand because of the recession. Grants of $10,000 to $25,000 will provide food, rental assistance, shelter and other basic needs, the United Way of Central Maryland announced yesterday. An estimated 1,064 people will be served by recipients that include the Arundel House of Hope, the Domestic Violence Center of Howard County, Health Care for the Homeless, the Harford Community Action Agency and a St. Vincent de Paul program for homeless women and children in Baltimore called Sarah's Hope. A 12‑member committee selected the initial recipients. The United Way hopes to raise at least $1 million. Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun. Columbia woman implores judge to keep her husband committed Octogenarian attacked his wife with a hammer last year By Don Markus Baltimore Sun Wednesday, February 4, 2009 Cedric Payne's visits to the state mental hospital where his father, Calvin, was involuntarily committed after beating his wife with a hammer last May follow a similar pattern: the elder Payne experiencing fleeting moments of focus followed by long periods of confusion. As a result, Cedric, the only child of the Columbia couple, said that his 84‑year‑old father is where he should be, but that his 81‑year‑old mother, Alma, still fears for her life. "She thinks that if he can get out, he'll come back and complete the job," Cedric Payne said in a telephone interview last week. Alma Payne was attacked May 5 by her husband of 64 years in their Columbia home. Calvin Payne was charged with attempted murder and assault. After being sent to the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, a maximum‑security psychiatric hospital in Jessup, Calvin Payne was moved in October to Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville. Assistant State's Attorney Danielle Duclaux said that doctors at both facilities, as well as a medical expert hired by the state, concurred on their findings regarding Calvin Payne's mental state. "He was found incompetent [to stand trial] and not restorable," Duclaux said last week. Payne will remain in a state facility indefinitely, and the charges against him will remain open for up to five years in the event that he is deemed fit to stand trial. Duclaux and Payne's attorney, Louis Willemin, believe that is unlikely, as does his son. "He understands why he's there," said Cedric Payne, an Air Force pilot who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. "But he really doesn't understand what he's done." Cedric Payne, who is living at the family's house, said that he has visited his father at Springfield three times since December. "He thinks nothing really happened," Cedric Payne, 45, said. "He knows she might have hurt her head, but when I mention her fingers, he'll say, 'What happened to her fingers?' He doesn't remember that she put her hands on her head trying to protect herself." Alma Payne is visiting relatives in Brooklyn, N.Y. That's where she went in 2005 after her husband "threatened to buy a gun and shoot me in my head," according to a letter she wrote recently to Circuit Judge Louis A. Becker III. At the time, Alma Payne sought and received a one‑year restraining order against her husband in Maryland and New York. She remained in Brooklyn for several months, but eventually returned to Columbia after her husband received counseling. Cedric Payne said that his mother even attended some of those sessions to quell her fears. Despite assurances from family members that Calvin Payne presents no danger while committed to a state facility, Alma Payne remains traumatized and fearful of what might happen should her husband be allowed to leave Springfield, her son said. In the letter to the judge, Alma Payne asked that her husband be placed in a facility "that is adequately staffed and located as far away as possible from where I reside." Cedric Payne said that his mother is "doing much better" but still is undergoing physical therapy after suffering a fractured jaw, a broken eye socket and several broken fingers. The sight in her right eye has not returned, the younger Payne said. Cedric Payne said that his mother has been helped through the ordeal by her brothers, both of whom are ministers, as well as by her faith. "It helps with just knowing there's someone out there, it helps in the aid of understanding," he said. Cedric Payne said his father's family has a history of mental problems. Calvin's father was ordered to leave his wife and children after returning from World War I because of what might have been undiagnosed post‑traumatic stress disorder, Cedric Payne said. Calvin Payne, a former court reporter who once worked in Baltimore, verbally abused his wife and son for years, his son said. "We knew he would get mad, he would go on and on, dwelling on the smallest thing for hours," the younger Payne recalled. According to Cedric Payne, the threats turned physical only once before the attack last year. It happened when Cedric was in high school. "I would say that my father was a bully," Cedric Payne said. "I stood up to him, and he never came after me again." In her letter to Becker, which was presented in court during a recent motions hearing, Alma Payne said she believed the May attack was premeditated. She said they were in the bedroom of their home watching the evening news, talking about an approaching church event. Her husband left the room briefly and returned with a hammer. "Calvin was not enraged nor was he excited," she wrote. "He repeatedly questioned me after each hit on my head, 'Are you dead yet?'" In closing her two‑page handwritten letter, Alma Payne wrote: "I do desire to spend my remaining days in peace without fear from more abuse." Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun. Incarceration isn't enough; place addicts where they can get the help they need Baltimore Crime Beat By Peter Hermann Baltimore Sun Wednesday, February 4, 2009 Christopher Nieto believes in Baltimore. His car has been broken into four times. They took his iPod, his Discman and the empty plastic suction cup that held his navigational device. They even stripped the rubber off his wiper blades. His former house in Pigtown was burglarized three times. They took two television sets, his suits, watches and two laptop computers. "I have absolutely nothing left of value anymore," he says. "I'm down to a pretty skeletal home life." Christopher Nieto also believes in his job. He is a public defender. Both a victim of crime and an advocate for suspected criminals. "I'm very aware of the irony of my situation," he says. Nieto called me after seeing the name of one of his clients in the newspaper, Michael D. Sydnor Jr., who is in jail awaiting trial on charges of breaking into cars in a garage on North Charles Street. I wrote about Sydnor to put a face on the car break‑in problem after visiting Cub Scouts found their two vehicles broken into while on a trip to the National Aquarium. Sydnor has been arrested more than 100 times and convicted more than 30 times for drugs, trespassing and theft. I later learned that he is also a suspect in a series of break‑ins at the Calvert Street garages next to TheBaltimore Sun and Mercy Medical Center. Nieto, who has since left the state to work for the federal public defender's office, represented Sydnor in November 2007 after he was arrested on a charge of breaking the window of a car parked on Redwood Street and stealing an iPod, a video game system and an ashtray. Sydnor wanted a jury trial, and his theft case was pushed to the overcrowded docket in Baltimore Circuit Court. It's where cases and people go to get lost. And in many ways, that's what happened to Sydnor. Nieto feels horrible about it. Before the letters start pouring in: Neither I nor Nieto is saying that Sydnor doesn't deserve to go to jail if he is found guilty, perhaps now for a long time. But he is an admitted drug addict who pleaded guilty with the promise that he would get into a coveted in‑patient treatment slot. "I can still remember him standing next to me," Nieto says. "He was different, really different. He was begging for help. He couldn't stop talking to me about how he really, really wanted help." Nieto finagled the system and maneuvered to avoid a hard‑line judge ‑ and then let the case slip through his fingers. Sydnor was prepared to plead guilty in December 2007 to theft (a three‑year maximum penalty) and malicious destruction of property (a 60‑day maximum penalty). But Nieto said the arraignment judge wasn't the treatment‑type, and so he advised his client to plead not guilty and ask for a jury trial. All the while, Nieto assured the prosecutor that his client would indeed plead guilty, but this time before the trial judge, one more sympathetic to helping drug addicts. Sydnor would accept a sentence of 18 months, and Nieto would return to court in a few weeks, ask the judge to reconsider the sentence and suspend some of the time and order his client into drug treatment. The judge sentenced Sydnor to the 18 months, as planned. Nieto filed a motion for the sentence to be rethought, as planned. Then nothing happened. "The motion wasn't denied, it wasn't granted," Nieto told me. "Maybe it got lost, maybe it got stuck in the wrong in box." Nieto takes the blame. "It's possible it fell through the cracks. I should've followed up a little more. Maybe if I kept on the judge, kept the file on my desk and hounded him and hounded him, maybe I could've gotten him into some treatment program. ... We failed him." The result was that Sydnor served a little more than a year in prison and was released. Back on the streets with, his former lawyer adds, "absolutely no drug treatment." A few months after that, Sydnor was arrested again, in the garage on North Charles Street, and, if security officials at Mercy and The Sun follow through, he could face a pile of charges that could send him to prison for longer than the 18 months to which he seems accustomed. Nobody is saying that Sydnor, or the hundreds or thousands of others like him, deserve break after break. But why he is still on the streets is not as simple as bleeding‑heart judges or mistakes in the system or cops failing or prosecutors not caring. Maybe now the cops and prosecutors can put together a case against him that involves more than just one or two break‑ins. Nieto doesn't want Sydnor on the street either: "Don't just give him a slap on the wrist and send him on his merry way. I'm not asking for the moon here. Put him someplace where he can get help." We have too many addicts and too few treatment beds. In a perfect world, lawyers wouldn't have to trick the system to get the help their clients need. If he is found guilty, Sydnor should go to prison. He also should get help, so when he gets out ‑ and it's when, not if ‑ he might not break into cars anymore. Sydnor told Nieto, "Don't just send me out on my own. I can't do this by myself." They sent him out on his own. Are we surprised that he failed? Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun. Inova Competitor Loses Battle to Build Hospital By Christopher Twarowski Washington Post Wednesday, February 4, 2009 The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to reject a proposal by HCA Virginia to build a hospital in Loudoun, capping more than five years of fierce debate over how best to meet the rising demand for medical care. After an intense campaign by Inova Health System to prevent a competitor from taking root in Loudoun, the board voted 5 to 4 against the proposal to build a 164‑bed acute‑care facility, the Broadlands Regional Medical Center. The decision was the latest development in a long‑running battle between nonprofit Inova, the largest hospital system in Northern Virginia, and the for‑profit hospital network HCA, which first won authorization for the hospital from the state health commissioner in 2004. A similar proposal was rejected by the previous Board of Supervisors in 2005. "It's a sad day for the county," said Mark Foust, an HCA spokesman. "There's something fundamentally wrong that the occurrence of special interests and politics trumped the best interest of Loudoun County residents." Supervisors who voted against HCA's proposal cited concerns about traffic, noise and light pollution the facility might bring. They also noted that the site would not accommodate a helipad. And they said the location, five miles from Inova, did not align with the county's comprehensive plan. "I think the application fails to mitigate its impact on an established neighborhood," said Supervisor Lori Waters (R‑Broad Run), who voted against HCA's proposal. "For six years this issue of a second hospital at Broadlands has divided this community. And this community needs closure." Inova fought the HCA proposal vigorously. It mounted six legal challenges to the state health commissioner's award, twice seeking the intervention of the state Supreme Court, to no avail. It conducted an ad campaign via newspapers and direct mail and gave at least $20,000 to an HCA opposition group. At one point, Inova threatened to withdraw plans to expand its Lansdowne campus, including an offer of $17.5 million for road improvements in Waters's district. Supervisors debated the issue for about two hours before the vote. A supporter of the second hospital, Supervisor Stevens Miller (D‑Dulles) told a standing‑room‑only audience that there were powerful interests at work on the dais. "It sure feels crowded up here today," Miller said. "Not everyone up here has been straight with you about the reasons for their votes." He declined to elaborate on his comments in an interview after the decision. In a procedural move, Miller joined the majority on a second vote, which would allow him to ask the board to reconsider the decision at a future meeting. Randall L. Kelley, chief executive of Inova Loudoun, told supervisors that HCA's proposal would force cutbacks at the hospital and jeopardize millions of dollars in charitable care and community health programs. "The citizens of Loudoun County were the clear winners today in the rejection of a hospital in Broadlands by a majority of the Board of Supervisors," Kelley said in a written statement. "We applaud the majority of the Board of Supervisors who were able to cut through the spin and misdirection and make the right decision on healthcare policy." Chairman Scott K. York (I‑At Large), who supported HCA's proposal, said the vote means the county will not get another hospital for years, if ever. "I predict that we will not have one at all," he said. Copyright 2009 The Washington Post Company. *National / International* House passes kids' health insurance bill By Kevin Freking Associated Press Wednesday, February 4, 2009 The House overwhelmingly approved a bill extending health coverage to 4 million uninsured children, giving President Barack Obama a much‑needed win on health care and taking a first step toward his promise of universal coverage. The Democratic‑controlled House passed the bill 290‑135 on Wednesday, with 40 Republicans backing it. Obama plans to sign it into law later in the day. The bill calls for spending an additional $32.8 billion on the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Lawmakers generated that revenue through a much higher federal tobacco tax. "Unemployment keeps rising and people are going from worried to scared," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D‑Conn., said during House debate on the legislation. "At such a time, it is our most basic economic and moral responsibility to provide health care to the most vulnerable among us." Republicans criticized the cost of the legislation. They also said it will mean an estimated 2.4 million children who otherwise would have access to private insurance will join the State Children's Health Insurance Program instead. "The Democrats continue to push their government‑run health care agenda C universal coverage as they call it," said Rep. Pete Sessions, R‑Texas. An estimated 7 million children are now enrolled in SCHIP. To cover the increase in spending, the bill would boost the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes by 62 cents, to $1.01 a pack. The bill's passages has long been a top priority of Democratic lawmakers. In late 2007, former President George W. Bush twice vetoed similar bills. The Senate passed the same bill last week. Obama made it a top priority in his first 100 days and one step in his push for universal coverage by the end of his first term. House passage came one day after Obama's choice for health secretary, Tom Daschle, withdrew his nomination, citing the distraction of his delinquent tax payments. SCHIP was created more than a decade ago to help children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private coverage. Federal money for the program was set to expire March 31, barring action by Congress. Republicans said that they supported SCHIP and providing additional money for the program. However, they argued that Democrats were taking the program beyond its original intent and encouraging states to cover middle‑class families who otherwise could get private insurance. "This debate is about, do we want a children's health insurance program that covers every child in America with state and federal dollars regardless of their ability to pay?" said Rep. Joe Barton, R‑Texas. "Do we want to freeze out the private sector for health insurance?" Opponents of the bill also complained that the tobacco tax increase hits the poor the hardest, because they are more likely to smoke than wealthier people. Many also took exception to expanding the program and Medicaid to children of newly arrived legal immigrants. But supporters said that ensuring children had access to adequate health care was a matter of priorities. Rep. Frank Pallone, D‑N.J., said an estimated 4 million people have lost employer‑sponsored insurance in the past year. "Do they keep their families' health insurance or do they put food on the table at night? During this economic recession, these kinds of decisions are unfortunately becoming more common," Pallone said. Copyright 2009 Associated Press. Elder Abuse: All in the Family? By Jane Gross New York Times Wednesday, February 4, 2009 After surveying 220 adults in the United Kingdom who were tending to relatives with dementia, British researchers recently concluded that elder abuse should be viewed as a Aspectrum of behaviors rather than an all‑or‑nothing phenomenon.@ Among other things, their findings expose an old myth C that abuse of elders happens at the hands of paid caregivers, rarely family members. Led by Dr. Claudia Cooper, a psychiatrist at University College London, the researchers asked caregivers how often in the past three months they had acted in various psychologically and physically abusive ways toward the care recipient. The scientists relied on a common definition of elder abuse used in both the U.K. and in the United States: harming an older person psychologically, financially, physically or by neglect. More than half of the family caregivers reported having engaged in some abusive behavior C including screaming, insulting or cursing C directed at the person in their care, the researchers found. More than a quarter of the respondents had Aat least sometimes@ screamed or yelled at their cognitively impaired relatives, and just shy of 20 percent said they had used a harsh tone, or had insulted or sworn at their charges. Less common, but not unheard of, were instances in which caregivers threatened impaired relatives with nursing home placement or abandonment, or hit or shook them. Some 1.4 percent admitted that they had engaged in significant physical abuse. The backdrop to this study raises some interesting questions, and I=d like to hear your thoughts on them. The British government has been reviewing current policy for safeguarding vulnerable adults, and both the existing policy and the review have been focused entirely on preventing abuse by paid caregivers. Dr. Gill Livingston, a professor psychiatry at University College London and a co‑author of the study, said that any strategy for protecting this helpless group Amust be directed toward families who provide the majority of care for older people, rather than exclusively at paid caregivers.@ And an interesting footnote: while the new study makes no effort to measure the frequency of financial abuse, it arrives just as Anthony Marshall, son of the late socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor, is scheduled to stand trial in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges that he defrauded his mother of millions of dollars in cash and valuables at a time when she was mentally incompetent. Mrs. Astor died in 2007 at the age of 105. The criminal trial of Mr. Marshall, 84, follows an earlier court proceeding in which a judge determined that claims of elder abuse against him were unsubstantiated. Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company. Peanut product recalls By Associated Press WTOP.com Wednesday, February 4, 2009 (AP) ‑ The following recalls have been announced: Turner Holdings LLC is recalling approximately 2,624 cases of ice cream bars, because they could be contaminated with salmonella. This is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. No illnesses have been reported. The bars were sold at grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, dollar stores, drug stores and discount stores in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Details: by phone at 901‑476‑2643. This recall includes the following product:* Turner peanut butter bars; six‑pack boxes; UPC 70770‑09510; production code 25007, 34007, 15007 or 3807. Meadow Gold Dairy is recalling select ice cream products, because they could be contaminated with salmonella. No illness has been reported. The recalled ice cream was available in Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Eastern Oregon and Northern Arizona. This recall includes the following products: * Meadow Gold Herd of Laughter tin can alley ice cream; 56‑ounce; best‑by date of January 1, 2008, or later; UPC 041191234805 * Meadow Gold Herd of Laughter tin can alley ice cream; pint; best‑by date of January 1, 2008, or later; UPC 041191033668 ___ The Hershey Creamery Co. is recalling select ice cream products because they could be contaminated with salmonella. No illness has been reported. The recalled ice cream was available in Maine, New Hampshire,Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. The UPC label on the carton can be mailed to the company for a refund. This recall includes the following products: * Hershey's goo goo peanut butter ice cream; half gallons; code date 7110; UPC 2468203340. ___ Fieldbrook Foods Corp. is updating its earlier recall of select ice cream products to include four more, because they could be contaminated with salmonella. No illness has been reported. These products were available nationwide, as well as in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Details: by phone at 800‑333‑0805. This expanded recall includes the following products: Meijer fudge round top cone 4 packs with UPC 1928374020 Meijer vanilla round top cone 4 packs with UPC 1928374019 Winn Dixie caramel round top cone 4 packs with UPC 2114027141 Winn Dixie fudge round top cone 4 packs with UPC 2114027149 ___ Falcon Trading is recalling select trail mixes, because they could be contaminated with salmonella. No illness has been reported. The recalled trail mix was sold at Safeway grocery stores around the country. Details: by phone at 831‑786‑7000. This recall includes the following product: O Organics trail mix; 6 ounces; UPC 79893 410110; all lots. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Toy makers get extra year to comply with lead test Associated Press Frederick News-Post* Wednesday, February 4, 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) ‑‑ U.S. makers of toys and other children's products will get an extra year to comply with certain lead and chemical testing rules. Members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously Friday to hold off on a Feb. 10 deadline in which manufacturers were to sell only products that have been tested for lead and other harmful substances. Last summer, lawmakers imposed the toughest lead standards in the world, banning lead beyond minute levels in products for children 12 or younger. Then‑President George W. Bush signed the measure in August. The act came after millions of recalled toys and children's items, many of which were from China. Manufacturers will now have until Feb. 10, 2010, to comply with the testing requirements. Copyright 2009 Frederick News-Post. Opinion --- BACK TO TOP


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