24/7 Newsfeed

Put Reason 24/7 on Your Site

RSS

Follow Reason 24/7 on Twitter and via RSS

Latest Safety Panic: Televisions Falling on Children

Falling TV sets have killed more than 200 children since 2000, but parents remain largely unaware of the danger, say reports out today.

An update from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows 29 people, mostly children, were killed by falling TVs in the USA in 2011 alone, making it one of the worst years on record for such tragedies. And 18,000 people a year, mostly children, are treated for injuries from falling TVs, the commission says.

It's happening despite the widespread switch to lighter flat-screen TVs. In fact, safety experts say the switch may be making the problem worse as consumers take old, heavy sets out of their family rooms and put them atop unstable bedroom dressers and playroom shelves.

Source: USA Today. Read full article. (link)

Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.

advertisement