Saturday, May 23, 2009

News Clipping Archives

 

Maryland / Regional

Parent who lost child urges swimming pool safety  (Annapolis Capital)

 

National / International

New era of U.S. tobacco regulation at hand (Baltimore Sun)

 

Opinion

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Maryland / Regional

 

Parent who lost child urges swimming pool safety

New federal law could keep dozens of pools from opening

 

By Heather Roth

Annapolis Capital

Saturday, May 23, 2009

 

As summer unofficially begins this weekend and many area pools open for the season, Debbie Neagle-Freed is thinking of Connor.

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Her 5-year-old son drowned three years ago at the Crofton Country Club.

 

Neagle-Freed and the organization she founded the summer after his death, the Connor Cares Foundation, held a pool-safety event Monday night in the auditorium at Crofton Meadows Elementary School.

 

"Tonight's purpose is to bring this problem to the forefront and prevent another tragedy, so that we can all have a safe and happy summer," she said. "It was really important that this event was held before pools open up."

 

But a new federal law designed to protect children in pools is expected to keep as many as 45 of the 229 outdoor county pools from opening this weekend, officials said. Inspectors were still checking pools last night.

 

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act requires public pools and spas to install drain covers or other upgrades that prevent people from being trapped or injured, and county health inspectors said not all pools are ready.

 

"There are a number of them that have not yet come into compliance," said Kerry Topovski, director of environmental health for the county Health Department. "We anticipate there will be some that will not meet these Memorial Day weekend deadlines."

 

Notices will be posted at any pool that cannot open due to the new law, Topovski said.

 

To remind people to be vigilant around pools, the foundation shared a video of photos of children who have drowned interspersed with drowning statistics and facts.

 

The foundation's research found that:

 

Drowning is the second leading cause of injury-related death among children younger than 15.

 

Most victims were being supervised by one or both parents when they drowned.

 

Nearly three-quarters of victims had been missing five minutes or less.

 

"We're trying to bring about awareness about drowning statistics (and) how preventable drowning is," Neagle-Freed said.

 

Various speakers offered advice or shared their experiences on Monday night. Tracey Hurst, an Infant Swimming Resource instructor, stressed the importance of teaching young children how to survive in the water.

 

"In my opinion, Infant Swimming Resource is a layer of defense against the epidemic of childhood drowning," she said. "The techniques give parents a few critical minutes to find and rescue (their child)."

 

Hurst works with infants as young as 6 months, teaching them to roll onto their backs and float in the water until someone finds them. She is currently teaching Neagle-Freed's 15-month-old daughter.

 

"ISR takes the panic and fear out of the situation," Hurst said. "Nothing is a replacement for adult supervision."

 

Dr. Debra Hardy-Cartwright gave an infant CPR demonstration at Monday's event, and Cheryl-Anne DeHart of Cardiac Science and Rachel Moyer, founder of Parent Heart Watch, gave a defibrillator demonstration.

 

Defibrillators are particularly important to Mary Becker, whose son, James, nearly drowned in a pool in Pikesville in July 2007.

 

James, then a healthy 15-year-old, went into cardiac arrest in 12 feet of water. Now, he cannot communicate or manage even simple movements like clapping.

 

"Had a defibrillator been at the pool, James would not have suffered," she said. "His body and mind would not be locked inside."

 

Becker is working with Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, D-Baltimore County, to pass a law requiring all public pools in Maryland to have a defibrillator on hand.

 

Del. James King, R-Gambrills, also spoke at the event about the bill he has sponsored for the past two years.

 

Called Connor's Bill, it would require any public pool larger than 2,500 square feet to have two lifeguards on duty at all times.

 

"It's impossible for one person, often 15, 16, 17 years old, to monitor the pool," he said. "This is a safety bill."

 

Besides the obvious dangers of drowning, the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene also warns of swimming-related illnesses. This week was National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week.

 

"Now is the perfect time to call attention to steps you can take to stay healthy while enjoying water-related activities," DHMH Secretary John M. Colmers said in a release.

 

To avoid water-related illnesses, those swimming in public pools should avoid swallowing pool water; change children's diapers away from the pool; and shower before swimming.

 

Health officials also reminded pool owners never to mix different chlorine products with each other, acid or other substances, and suggested using gloves and safety glasses when handling chlorine.

 

Staff writer Pamela Wood contributed to this report.

 

Copyright 2009 Annapolis Capital.

 

National / International

 

New era of U.S. tobacco regulation at hand

FDA to expand authority over additives, marketing

 

Tribune Newspapers

By Noam N. Levey

Baltimore Sun

Saturday, May 23, 2009

 

WASHINGTON - In a historic shift in public health policy almost half a century after the U.S. surgeon general first warned of the lethal dangers of smoking, Congress is poised to give the federal government sweeping new authority to regulate the manufacturing of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

 

The legislation, long resisted by the tobacco industry, could allow consumers to see for the first time what chemicals and other additives tobacco companies put in their products. It would empower the Food and Drug Administration to put new limits on harmful ingredients and prohibit tobacco companies from marketing "light" cigarettes.

 

And it would give the FDA new authority to enlarge warning labels and severely restrict full-color ads for cigarettes and other tobacco products.

 

Yet the victory, which eluded anti-tobacco advocates for decades, comes with challenges as well as promise, as federal officials are given never-before-used tools to control a product that is still linked to some 400,000 deaths every year in the United States.

 

Particularly tricky may be keeping up the momentum of the anti-smoking campaign even as regulators try to make cigarettes safer, an effort that could paradoxically make some smokers less inclined to quit.

 

"We just don't know what is going to happen," said Kenneth E. Warner, dean of the University of Michigan's School of Public Health who has studied tobacco use for decades. "This is uncharted territory." Nonetheless, the legislation - which has passed the House and is expected to clear the Senate in coming weeks - would effectively end an era in which the tobacco industry was largely exempt from the regulatory scrutiny that has been standard for food, drugs and other consumer products.

 

The bill culminates a decades-long campaign by advocates who have chipped away at the industry's power with taxes, multibillion-dollar lawsuits and state and local limits on where smoking is allowed.

 

"This would be the most significant change in the federal government's approach to tobacco in history," said Matthew L. Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a leading national advocate of tougher tobacco regulation. "It would fundamentally change the way tobacco is marketed, advertised and sold in this country." In recent years, dozens of states and cities have passed "clean-air" regulations banning smoking in government buildings, bars, restaurants and other public places. Earlier this year, Congress passed the largest-ever increase in the federal cigarette tax, boosting it by 62 cents to $1.01 a pack to pay for an expansion in children's health insurance.

 

Today, an estimated 20 percent of adults in the U.S. smoke, down from 42 percent in 1965, a year after the surgeon general's office issued its first warning.

 

But the industry has repeatedly dodged more stringent limits, including basic regulation of what is in tobacco products. Tobacco companies went to court in the late 1990s to block a Clinton administration bid for FDA authority over tobacco.

 

"If you look at a box of macaroni and cheese, you can see what kind of dye has been used. All the ingredients are scrutinized to determine whether they are dangerous to consumers' health," said Gregg Haifley, a senior lobbyist for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

 

"Not so tobacco. It has remained virtually the only unregulated consumable product in America." Public health advocates say that has allowed companies to advertise "light" and "mild" cigarettes as safer alternatives when, in fact, the products contain harmful additives and induce many users to intensify their smoking.

 

Under the legislation moving through Congress - sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman of California and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats - the FDA would have the power to prohibit such claims.

 

The agency also would be able to ban most flavorings in tobacco products and place limits on addictive nicotine as well as other ingredients and byproducts generated when tobacco products are smoked.

 

Manufacturers would not be able to introduce new products unless they are reviewed by the agency and would face new regulations requiring their outdoor advertising and advertising in most retail locations be limited to black and white. Businesses catering only to adults, such as bars, would be exempted.

 

And the FDA would have the authority to require new warning labels on up to 50 percent of the front and rear panels of tobacco product packaging.

 

The bills do not permit an all-out ban on nicotine. They also exempt menthol from the flavoring ban.

 

Lawmakers made additional concessions to the industry by requiring the FDA to consider the economic impact of any new restrictions and giving tobacco companies nonvoting representation on a new scientific advisory panel.

 

Those compromises are not insubstantial, said Stanton Glantz, a longtime tobacco control advocate who heads the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Regulation at the University of California, San Francisco. "One thing one learns from dealing with tobacco companies is that the devil is in the details."

 

Glantz is among a handful of public health advocates who fear that tobacco companies will end up gaming the regulatory process to enhance the reputation of their products.

 

Altria - the parent company of industry leader Philip Morris, which might have an easier time maintaining dominance in a more regulated market - endorses the bill.

 

"Our goal, under the federal regulation, would be to design the best products we can for someone who wants to enjoy tobacco without the health risks," said company spokesman William Phelps. Other manufacturers oppose the legislation.

 

Several Republican lawmakers have also expressed concerns that tobacco products will be perceived as safer because they are regulated by the FDA.

 

There is some risk that could decrease smokers' motivation to quit, said Dorothy Hatsukami, associate director of cancer prevention and control at the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Center. "We have to make sure that we are continuing to educate the public to let them know that even if these products have reduced toxicants, they are still harmful."

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun.

 

Opinion

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