Diisononyl phthalate (DINP) is widely added as a plasticizer in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used in children’s products. Forty-two plastic products intended for mouthing, or with a high potential for mouthing, by children of age group 0.5-3 years were analyzed for total and leachable phthalate contents. DINP was found in 64% of products tested and its concentration ranged from 3.9 to 44%. Migration of DINP from PVC products into saliva simulant was studied using simulated chewing activity and an Instron Universal Testing Machine. Under the conditions used in this study, the DINP migration rates from teethers and squeeze toys were found to vary from 0.04 to 1.29 µg/10 cm 2 /h. The migration rates show a 40-fold variation within the plastic products tested. However, 83% of the products showed a migration rate of <0.32 µg/10 cm2/h. The mean value was found to be 0.3 µg/10 cm2/h with a distribution median of 0.23 µg/10 cm2/h.

The average citizen is now demanding more and more quality of and information on the various products that every day life requires. This concerns an extremely broad range of consumer products. Within the European Union, the European Commission (Directorate General Health and Consumer Protection (SANCO) plays a leading role in assuring and controlling the high quality of consumer products. It is known that there are a number of potential risks associated with the use of those products, as shown by the high number of unintentional injuries occurring every year. Therefore, national and international authorities and other instances need access to information for the promotion of safety and for the prevention of accidents. Tools have been made available to the Member States by the European Commission for the completion of a safe internal market of consumer products. Among those, databases have the advantage of being able to store a huge amount of information that can be classified according to real needs, hence serving the citizens. Such availability is immediate if they are deployed on the Internet. Moreover, this has the major advantage of allowing feedback from the users, thus contributing to its improvement. Consequently, a relational database on the safety of consumer products has been set up within the framework of an agreement between Directorate General SANCO and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission: the Consumer Product Safety Database (CPS). The objective of this database is to complement the setting up of a common system of exchanging information on consumer products within the framework of the application of Directive 92/59/EEC. The CPS database gives people concerned with consumer safety information that has never been gathered together before. Hence, this tool can contribute to the creation of a safer market for consumers in accordance with the Union’s legislation, as well as facilitating the decisions of Directorate General SANCO regarding consumer products.

Fracture prevention strategies will be most cost-effective if targeted at groups of frail elderly people who are at particularly high risk of falls and fractures. Elderly people living in residential and nursing homes are one potential target population, but fracture incidence in this setting remains poorly defined in many countries. We have used the All Wales Injury Surveillance System (AWISS) in a population-based study of people aged over 65 living in the city of Cardiff. We linked a postal code-based register of all care homes in the city with injury data from Cardiff’s only Accident and Emergency department. Cardiff has 47,520 residents aged over 65, and 1,874 (3.9%) live in residential or nursing homes. Fracture incidence was 25/1,000/year overall, and 5/1,000/year for hip fracture. During 1997, the care home residents suffered 162 fractures, 82 of which were of the hip; an incidence of 86/1,000/year overall, 44/1,000/year for hip fracture. Even after adjustment for the age and sex profile of the care home population, fracture incidence remained 2.3 times higher and hip fracture incidence 3.6 times higher than in the general elderly population. Such figures support the potential cost-effectiveness of strategies that prevent fractures in care homes, and are of special interest to those planning intervention studies in this setting.

In this article, the maximum pushing and pulling forces of 750 persons between 20 and 30 and over 50 years of age are presented. Measurements were done using a framed strain gauge transducer and recorder. Both forces were measured in a free standing position that was related to opening a heavy door. The latter makes it possible to use the information in a standard on emergency exits. Such a force standard is not available in The Netherlands. We propose an addition to NEN 6082:19971 concerning human abilities to open unfastened, hinged doors that are on an escape route.

Introduction In England, there is no reliable indicator for measuring the occurrence of non-fatal injury. As a consequence, we do not know whether the rates of non-fatal injury are increasing or decreasing. Purpose This paper addresses two questions: what criteria should an indicator of non-fatal injury satisfy, and can we identify an indicator that satisfies these criteria? Method Criteria for a good indicator of non-fatal injury are postulated, and an indicator based on serious long-bone fractures is proposed. Inferences from the literature and the various non-fatal injury data to which we have access are used to justify the criteria, and to test the proposed indicator of serious injury against the criteria. Findings There is significant evidence to justify the use of the following criteria to assess indicators of non-fatal injury: the indicator should reflect the occurrence of injury satisfying some case definition of anatomical damage; the injury cases ascertained should be important in terms of incapacity, impairment, disability, quality of life, cost, and/or threat-to-life; cases should be completely ascertained from routinely or easily collected data; and the probability of a case being ascertained should be independent of social, health services supply and access factors. Our analysis indicates that an indicator based on serious long-bone fracture admitted to hospital is likely to satisfy each of these criteria for a good indicator. Conclusion An indicator of non-fatal injury occurrence based on serious long-bone fractures exhibits favourable characteristics when judged against our criteria for a good indicator.

Objective The objective of the current study was to investigate the environmental factors associated with fall injuries among elderly people. Population and methods We used data from the Norwegian Injury Sample Register, a prospective ongoing registration system of injuries that occur in the defined population of four cities in Norway. For this study we selected information about all fall-related injuries that had occurred among people aged 65 years and older from 1990 to 1997, a total of 10,696 cases. Results Loss of balance was the most common cause of injury (35%), followed by slipping (21%), and stumbling (16%). The following environmental factors were involved in occurrence of injuries: indoor stairs (7%), doorstep (1%), ladders (1%), floor carpets (2%), bathroom floor (2%), loose cables (<1%), bathtub/shower (<1%), floor indoors 16%, icy outdoor surface 13%, other specified factors 40%, unknown (19%). There have been significant variations in environmental factors associated with occurrence of injury by age and nature of injury. Conclusions Commonly targeted home hazards account for a small fraction of injuries. Improvements in home safety are unlikely to result in significant gains in preventing fall injuries among elderly people. Icy outdoor surfaces represent a significant health hazard and a possible target for fall prevention measures.