CFA Seeks Data on Link between Poverty and Product Safety

CPSC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be best able to look into collecting more and better data on a possible link between childhood poverty and vulnerability to product safety risks and foodborne illness, concluded the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

This assessment came in the group’s June 17 study, Child Poverty, Unintentional Injuries and Foodborne Illness: Are Low-Income Children at Greater Risk? The group said its review found correlation between being poor and higher risk of death from motor-vehicle accident, fires, and drowning. It also found links between poverty and non-fatal injuries, including an injury rate twice the national rate in children on Medicaid.

CFA said the disparity could be linked to both environmental and “human” factors. As examples of the former, it listed more time spent in or near streets, playgrounds with less safe equipment and surfacing, and that the poor’s “houses, and their appliances, tend to be older and less well-maintained, posing risks from hazards including fire, asphyxiation, falls, electrical shocks, and unsafe child products ranging from cribs to toys.”

Among the personal factors, CFA listed higher incidence of parental smoking, which not only affects health but also leads to greater availability of matches and lighters for play. Another “human” factor is lower safety knowledge, including keeping ipecac on hand for poisonings, installing and maintaining smoke alarms, installing car seats properly, and being aware of recalls and unsafe products. Finally, poor families are likely to be single parent households. CFA explained that because poor, single parents are the primary earners, they are less able to regularly supervise their children or to afford quality childcare.

The organization wrote that despite the findings of its research on some injury links, “it tells us very little about the role of socioeconomic factors in other types of injury – such as suffocation, poisoning, and falls – and in specific risks of current concern – such as furniture and television tip overs, window blind strangulation, butt cell ingestion, all-terrain vehicle…safety, and sports-related helmet use.”

It concluded, “It would be beneficial to researchers, practitioners, and support efforts if the CPSC and the CDC would take leadership in exploring the feasibility of collecting information on these factors and publishing such correlations.” Download CFA’s report from www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/Child-Poverty-Report.pdf.