To prevent scalding and burn injuries, follow these steps:

• Adjust your hot water heater so that the maximum temperature is 125 degrees or less. This is still hot enough to scald, but the risk of serious third degree burn is lower.
• Always supervise children in the kitchen and bathroom.
• Keep pot and pan handles facing the back of the stove, and keep children at a distance when frying or cooking in oil that splatters.
• Do not drink a hot liquid when holding a small child, as the risk of a spill is too great.
• Test all food and drink before presenting it to a child. Place hot dishes on the dinner table far from the child’s reach.
• For bathing, remember a child’s skin is more delicate than adults, and burns more easily. Bath water temperature for young children should not exceed 100 degrees.
• Do not let children microwave water in a glass cup or container. Water heated in a container can literally explode and cause serious burns. This sounds like an urban legend, but it is a proved phenomenon known as “super-heated” water and it occurs when water temperature rises above boiling point in a microwave. In a glass container, boiling bubbles to not form to release energy and vapor and the water will seem still and calm. When the super-heated water is agitated, the stored energy will cause the water to explode out of the container. This has caused serious injury to children and adults in the past.

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What are the basic steps to protect your family?

• Draw a floor plan of every level of your home. The goal is to find two ways to escape for each room. This will typically be the door and a window.
• For upstairs rooms, review the ways to get to the first floor as well as escape through the upper windows. For upstairs bedrooms, consider purchasing fire escape ladders, which can roll up into small packages and be placed near the windows in the rooms.
• Choose a meeting place outside a safe distance from the home to account for everyone. This could be a neighbor’s house, a park or the corner of the sidewalk.
• Go over proper fire safety, including getting down low as smoke rises and checking the temperature of door handles before grabbing them to open.
• Review the plan with your family, and practice fire drills. Your local fire department might offer programs or assistance with your fire plan, so check out their website or give them a call.

Keep your family safe from residential fire this summer by having proper working smoke alarms and a plan of action ready to go.

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For proper smoke alarm maintenance, follow these tips:

• Install alarms on every floor of your house, including the basement and every bedroom. Modern smoke detectors can be interconnected so that when one goes off, it will set them all off.
• Check the alarms monthly by using the “test” button, and replace the batteries once a year. The smoke alarm itself should be replaced every ten years.
• If you find that the kitchen smoke alarm gets set off too easily from the stove, you can buy alarms that have a “hush” button that will easily turn the alarm off while you are cooking (but don’t forget to turn it back on.)
• Buy smoke alarms with both an ionization component, which responds to flaming fires, and a photoelectric component, which better respondes to smoldering fires. If you cannot find with both, buy a few of each and put htem in different places throughout the house.
• Smoke alarms for deaf people or those hard of hearing can be purchased with strobe lighting and vibrations.
• If you cannot afford proper smoke alarms, contact your local fire department. They often have programs offering free alarms to low-income households.

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Some countries and international organizations already consider the supplement a drug and have banned its use. Canada has classified it as a drug and prohibited its being marketed as a supplement. The World Anti-Doping Authority, which regulates drug use among Olympic athletes and several professional sports leagues, has listed DMAA as a banned stimulant. Travis Tygart is the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency and is an advocate for greater regulations on supplements, telling the New York Times, “As long as it is not being removed from stores, we’ve got to ensure, as we have with our athletes, that consumers are aware of this issue and are making informed, reasonable decisions.”

Scientific calls for classification of DMAA as a drug has even been found in medical literature from the 1950s. Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, studies tainted dietary supplements and noted that a medical study from that time warned doctors that DMAA (then marketed by Eli Lilly) was more potent in animals than ephedrine, an amphetamine-like stimulant. Dr. Cohen noted to the New York Times that “Unfortunately, what we have now is pharmacological levels of an amphetamine derivative easily available.” He points out that the kinds of responses users experience, including cold sweats and increased blood pressure, are early indicators of serious heart problems.

Have you or someone you know experienced medical problems while you were taking the supplement DMAA? Do you think it should be regulated as a drug? Tell us your story.

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The FDA is also heightening scrutiny of DMAA as a supplement and released a statement to NutraIngredients-USA in an article entitled “Updated: FDA cracks down on DMAA-but this is just the start, not the end, of the debate, predicts CRN.” The summary of the article is: “’It’s official,’ says the FDA. ‘Synthetically-produced DMAA (1,3-Dimethylamylamine) is not a dietary ingredient and is not, therefore, eligible to be used as an active ingredient in dietary supplements.’” The FDA spokesperson clarified that these are open cases and the companies have 15 days to respond.

This move is being backed by NSF International, an independent, non-profit organization that provides standards development, product certification, auditing, education and risk management for public health and the environment. NSF’s general manager of dietary supplement programs, Edward Wyszumiala, told the New York Times that DMAA is a stimulant similar to amphetamine.

Have you taken DMAA and experienced negative side affects? We would like to hear your story.

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Army spokesman Peter J. Graves reported that the supplement DMAA showed up in both deceased soldiers’ toxicology reports. He noted that other soldiers have experienced liver and kidney failure, seizures, loss of consciousness and rapid heartbeat. The New York Times reported that the military is investigating whether there are links between the use of DMAA, these two deaths and other soldiers’ reported side effects.

The dietary supplement DMAA, or dimethylamylamine, is marketed by the Dallas company UPSlabs and is sold under product names Jack3d (pronounced “jacked”) and OxyElite Pro. There are also 9 other manufacturers that have been issued warning letters by the FDA about the legality of the product. The investigation is ongoing, and the companies have time to respond to the FDA’s concerns before more action is taken.

The products are widely available in retail stores and online, and, until recently, were available at stores on military bases. In light of the FDA’s concerns, the toxicology reports of the deceased soldiers and other soldiers reporting medical issues that might be linked to DMAA, the Department of Defense ordered the products removed from its military bases. This removal of DMAA products affects the over 100 GNC retail supply stores that sell supplements and vitamins on military bases.

Our blog will further discuss the deaths of these two soldiers and DMAA all this week. Have you taken a DMAA supplement and had adverse side effects? What do you think about the Department of Defense’s ban on DMAA on its military bases? We would like to hear your story.

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South Carolina’s child passenger restraint law requires that:

• Children from birth to one year old, or who weigh less than 20 pounds, must be secured in a rear-facing child safety seat.
• Children one through five years old weighing 20 to 40 pounds must be restrained in a forward-facing child seat.
• Children one through five years old weighing 40 to 80 pounds must be secured in a belt-positioning booster seat.
• Children under the age of six are not required to be in booster seats if they weigh more than 80 pounds or if they can sit with their backs against the car’s seat and bend their legs over the seat edge without slouching.
• Children under 6 may not sit in the front passenger seat. However, this restriction does not apply if the vehicle has no rear passenger seats or if all other rear passenger seats are occupied by children less than six years old.

Violators are subject to a $150 fine. This law does not apply to taxis; church, school and day care buses; or commercial vehicles. Many South Carolina police and fire departments offer free child safety seat fittings, so contact them today to find out how you can ensure the safety of your child.

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The young man was the victim of harassment by other schoolchildren for a long time before the catastrophic injury that cost him his mobility. The young student wrote multiple emails to the school’s guidance counselor and assistant principle, pleading for help to protect him against his tormentors. Close to the end of the school year, the bully punched his victim in his abdomen hard enough to have him fall on the ground. A few days later, a blood clot caused by the punch lodged in his spine, leaving him paralyzed. The young man settled with the bully a few years prior to the settlement with the school district.

This young man was extremely smart to reach out for help from the school, even though it ultimately failed to protect him. By leaving a paper trail documenting his pleas for help, he was able to build a solid case showing negligence on behalf of the school district. Schools must take actions when violence is taking place within their walls, and most schools will do everything they can to protect their students. Parents, students, teachers and school district administrators can all work together to see that this sort of tragedy does not happen again.

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• Playgrounds should have shredded rubber, mulch, wood chips or sand to protect children from falls. Grass and soil are not good surfaces for playground safety.
• This surface material should be at least 12 inches deep and extend 6 feet past the equipment.
• Contact your local parks and recreation department if the equipment is in need of repair. These departments rely on community input.
• Make sure your child is dressed properly for the playground. This means no drawstrings from hoodies, jackets or purse strings, as they can become tangled in the equipment and injure the child.
• Actively supervise children on the playground. This is the most important preventative action a parent can take to prevent injuries.

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OSHA began its investigation of this construction accident almost immediately, as the administration looks into every incidence of serious injury or fatality occurring on job sites. OSHA has the power to fine or make orders to companies not in compliance with federal safety laws and standards. CBS news attempted to learn whether the two workers had appropriate training and licenses to operate the machinery involved in the accident, but Southeastern Freight Lines did not return their calls. (Not surprising since the accident is still under investigation.)

Spring is the time of year when roadway and building construction kicks into high gear, and companies must do everything possible to ensure their workers are trained and safe. All workers should be informed of their rights under OSHA and read the materials that are provided to them on the job. If any worker ever feels a work area is unsafe, it is the worker’s right to call attention to the problem and refuse to work at the site if the employer fails to remedy a situation where a reasonable person would agree is unsafe.

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