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A Common Plastic Comes Under Scrutiny
Polycarbonate plastic is durable, impact-resistant, and clear. It is widely used in food and beverage containers, but research has raised concerns over its health effects.
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A Primer for Preschooler Safety
Your little ones can learn a lot about safety if you take some time to teach them. Here's an ABC that you and your children can recite together.
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A Recipe for Food Safety
Although most foodborne illness stems from raw animal foods -- such as eggs, meats and dairy products -- fruits and vegetables may carry germs, too.
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About Balance and Safety
A balance disorder is a disturbance of the inner ear that can make you feel unsteady or like you’re moving or spinning.
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ADHD Drugs Safe, Experts Say
Parents of kids with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face a tough choice: whether to medicate their children or not.
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After Your Surgery
If you're scheduled for major surgery, take some time beforehand to organize and plan for both your hospital stay and your care after discharge.
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Air Bags and Kids
A car with an air bag is considered safer than a car without one. But for children under 12 years old, air bags can be dangerous.
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All About Child Passenger Safety
Installing your child's car seat properly and using it every time your son or daughter rides in the car is one of the best ways to help keep him or her safe in case of an accident.
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Are Children Safe at School?
Violence at school doesn't refer just to students with weapons, but to any behavior that hurts another person physically or psychologically.
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Avoid Injury Around Barbecue Grills
Because barbecue grills are operated in a casual, relaxed atmosphere, they tend to be taken for granted. And that can lead to serious injury.
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Avoid Injury When You Exercise
Staying active—getting regular exercise—is one of the best ways to minimize the effects of aging. Exercise helps prevent chronic illness and loss of function in older adults.
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Avoiding Non-Impact Eye Injuries
You may think wearing goggles is enough to protect your eyes, but many injuries can happen to your eyes that goggles won't prevent.
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Basketball: Make Safety a Point
Experts say players can avoid injury by strengthening muscles through a supervised weight-training program before the season. That helps prevent injuries to knees and ankles, the most common court injuries.
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Be Careful With Kitchen Knives
With a few cutting-edge tips from experts who use knives for a living -- top chefs -- you can avoid the biggest danger of kitchen work.
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Be in the Know When on the Go in Winter
If you live in an area where winter brings snow, slush and ice, the best advice about driving in these conditions is not to. But if you must venture out, be prepared.
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Be Smart About OTC Medicines
When you overuse OTC medications, you risk doing more harm than good. That’s why it’s so important to use them with care.
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Beware of Over-the-Counter Contact Lenses
Contacts that aren't properly prescribed and cared for can lead to allergic reactions, bacterial infections, corneal ulcers, and corneal scrapes. Some problems can end in blindness.
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Bike-Helmet Safety Smarts
Whether on an adult or a child, a helmet that has been approved by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and fits correctly will cushion the head in a fall and protect it from impact with other objects.
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Breathing New Life Into CPR
Under new American Heart Association guidelines, training programs on cardiopulmonary resuscitation, better known as CPR, have become shorter and simpler.
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Buying Guidelines for Safe and Fun Toys
Toy-related injuries send tens of thousands of children to the emergency room each year. Most injuries occur when parents give their children toys meant for older children.
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Cheerleading Safety
A safe cheerleading program will include direct adult supervision, proper conditioning, skills training and warm-up exercises.
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Child Safety for All Ages
Some safety hazards apply to all children. But many problems are especially dangerous for children at a particular age or stage of development. Keep these precautions in mind as your children grow.
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Chilling Meat: It's All About Safety
From the farm to the store, meat and poultry products must be chilled -- and kept chilled, packaged and handled properly so it will be safe for consumers to buy. Several government agencies have the responsibility to assure the food's safety. In the home,
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Chilling Tales From the Freezer
Foods shouldn't stay frozen indefinitely. In fact, some foods -- like bacon -- shouldn't be kept in the freezer for much more than a month.
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Contact Lens Safety Tips
If you wear contact lenses, it's important to follow your eye care provider's instructions on wearing and disinfecting them.
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Cough Medicine Abuse by Teens
A common ingredient in many cough and cold remedies has become a popular substance to abuse by teenagers searching for a cheap, easy high.
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Cycling Safely
Many biking accidents could be prevented if riders protected themselves with the right equipment and maintained their bikes with safety in mind.
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Do-It-Yourself Safety
Thousands of people visit hospital emergency rooms each year for injuries linked to yard and garden equipment, home workshops, or cleaning and painting supplies.
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Eating Raw Clams: Is It Risky?
The FDA notes that shellfish, especially mollusks, are more likely to cause foodborne illness than fish because shellfish pump water through their bodies.
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Essential Guidelines for Fireworks Safety
It's best to let the professionals handle the fireworks displays. If you plan to celebrate the holiday with your own fireworks, these precautions can help prevent injuries.
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Eye Protection Keeps Kids in the Game
The sports that cause the most injuries are basketball, baseball, pool sports and racket sports. But any sport that involves a projectile is considered hazardous to the eyes.
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Five Steps to a Safer Kitchen
Your kitchen is a hub for family life -- but it's also rife with risks. While you can't foresee every hazard, you can make the room safer.
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Follow the Road to Safety
Exercising outdoors can be fun and enjoyable, but you should keep personal safety in mind before you head out the door.
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For Seniors, the Cold Facts
While you may be more likely to avoid a cold as a senior, doctors add this warning: You're at risk of becoming sicker if you do get one.
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For Seniors: You Can Beat the Heat
After age 65, your body can't adjust to changes in air temperature -- especially heat -- as quickly as it did when you were younger. That puts you at risk for heat-related illnesses.
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Hand Tool Safety
Although hand tools do not pose the same lethal threat as some power tools, they are still a factor in a high number of accidents each year.
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Hand Washing Prevents Hepatitis A Infection
Aside from immunization, hand washing before eating or preparing food, after using the bathroom or changing a baby's diaper remains one of the best preventions against getting or spreading hepatitis A virus.
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Have a Hazard-Free Halloween
Halloween safety begins at home, with the child's costume. Every part of the costume -- masks, beards, wigs and clothing -- should be made of flame-resistant material.
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Hazardous Substances Demand Your Respect
Depending where you work and the substances you handle, you may be at risk of accidental poisonings, chemical burns or suffocation. Knowing and following the right precautions can help keep you safe.
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Help Your Back Work for You
Your back is important to almost every move you make, but you probably won't realize that until you hurt it.
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How Safe Is the School Bus?
During the school year, 23.5 million elementary and secondary school children ride a bus to and from school each day. Add in extracurricular activities, and school bus system becomes the single largest public transit system in our country.
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How to Avoid At-the-Desk Injuries
If your computer, chair and other parts of your workstation aren't positioned properly, you can end up with sore wrists or a backache or other physical problems.
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How to Babyproof Your House
Once your baby begins to walk, you'll need to keep a close eye on your child to protect your roving tot from hazards in the home.
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How to Be a Happy Camper -- or Hiker
Whether you're a first-time hiker out for an easy walk in the woods or an expert camping in the wilderness, think about safety before you head outdoors.
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How to Safely Choose OTC Medications
Over-the-counter (OTC) cough and pain relievers, laxatives, and headache remedies may treat different conditions, but they all have one thing in common: They’re serious medicines that need to be taken with care.
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Is It Too Hot To Trot?
If you're not careful, you could wind up with a case of heat exhaustion just as easily as the couch potato next door, no matter how fit you might be.
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Is Pink Turkey Meat Safe?
The color pink in cooked turkey meat raises a "red flag" to many diners and cooks. Conditioned to be wary of pink in fresh pork, they question the safety of cooked poultry and other meats that have a rosy blush.
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Keep Clear of Golf's Hazards
While many view golf as a leisure activity, more golfers are becoming fitness-minded. The sport demands superior flexibility, strength and cardiovascular fitness.
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Keep Kids Safe During Yard Work
Power tools make yard work easier, from mowing the lawn to trimming the bushes. These tools, however, also pose a threat to children if precautions aren't taken.
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Keeping Little Shoppers Safe
The number one rule when shopping with your children is to remember you're shopping with your children. Keep an eye on them at all times.
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Keeping Your Kitchen Under Control
The kitchen is the "dirtiest" room in the house, according to a recent study, because people are less likely to use strong cleaners and disinfectants in that room.
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Make Friends with Your Meds
What makes some people sticklers for following through with their medications, and others haphazard at best?
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Medication Strategies During Pregnancy
No one can say for sure that a medication is safe to use while you're pregnant. But, avoiding medicines may not be a good idea, either. It may be wiser to treat an illness than ignore it.
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MRSA Infections on the Rise
Bacteria resistant to antibiotics are causing a growing number of infections, both in hospitals and in schools and other community settings.
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New Rules for OTC Cold Relief
You'll face new hassles as you sneeze and sniffle. You'll have to ask your pharmacist or a store worker for medications that include pseudoephedrine.
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On the Road to Safety
Maybe you follow the speed limit, use your signals at every turn, and turn your lights on when it's raining so that other cars can see you better. But there are more safety rules to consider.
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Parents: Check Toys for Lead
If you have toys that have been recalled, don’t throw them out. Take them back to the store where they came from.
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Play It Cool in the Hot Tub
What's more relaxing that a good soak in a hot tub? Hot water sure makes you feel great, but hot tubs and whirlpools can sometimes be dangerous -- and even deadly.
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Prevent Accidents in Your Home
The first and most important rule for preventing accidents is to use common sense. Many in-home accidents occur because people are in a hurry, take shortcuts or do things that they know are not safe.
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Preventing Broken Bones
Bones are tough and resilient, but if you push them hard enough—if you fall on a hard surface, for instance—they can crack or break.
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Preventing Car Crime
Vehicle thefts, carjackings and thefts of vehicle contents are common crimes. Here are suggestions that can help you prevent them.
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Preventing Falls One Step at a Time
Although it's impossible to prevent all falls, you can help keep yourself safe by improving your balance and employing "fall-proofing" behaviors.
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Primer: Smokeless Tobacco
Many people think using smokeless tobacco is safer than smoking. Just because there's no smoke, doesn't mean it's safe.
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Protect Your Hearing on the Job
If you think you don't need hearing protection at work because you're used to the steady roar of equipment or trucks, damage has already begun.
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Protect Your Kids From Internet Crime
Youngsters spend time online messaging, chatting, searching and surfing. Although most of these Internet experiences are likely positive, parents need to be aware of the dangers to better protect their children.
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Recognizing a Partner's Emotional Abuse
Physical violence is just one form of domestic abuse. If you have a partner who verbally humiliates you, demands all your attention, blames you for everything that goes wrong or threatens to harm you or your children, you’re also being abused.
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Safe Food-Handling Tips
You can avoid foodborne illness by following these ideas for safe food handling and cooking.
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Safe Summer Play
May through August is the most dangerous time of year for children, according to Safe Kids Worldwide. In a recent report, Safe Kids found nearly half of all injury-related childhood deaths occur during the summer.
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Safe Use of Alternative Remedies
Using any herb, vitamin, or natural hormone without knowing what you’re getting into—and without a health care provider’s advice—carries a real risk of damaging your health.
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Safety Checklist: How Does Your Family Rate?
Keeping your family safe and sound can be as easy as following simple safety rules consistently. Here's a checklist from the National Safety Council can help you maintain essential safety precautions.
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Safety Precautions for Kids in Cars
Motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of childhood death in the United States. But when properly installed and used, child safety seats reduce the risk of death by 70 percent for infants and 55 percent for toddlers.
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Secondhand Smoke, Firsthand Problems
Breathing even a little smoke can be harmful, because there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke. The only way to protect yourself and the people you love is to provide a 100 percent smoke-free setting.
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Sound Advice for MP3 Users
Experts say today's small music players pose a big risk of hearing loss. One reason: The "earbuds" used with iPods and other MP3 players fit into the ears, not over them.
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Stay Awake Behind the Wheel
When you're behind the wheel, you may believe that you can stop yourself from falling asleep, but you can’t. You may not even know you’ve dozed off.
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Stay Safe When You’re In the Hospital
Being active and involved in care decisions and taking extra precautions to avoid infection when in a hospital can help keep you and your family safe.
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Stop Dating Abuse Before It Starts
Although teen dating violence is worrisome, it's not inevitable. You and your teen can avoid potentially perilous situations and reduce the risk for problems.
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Take Care When You Take a Walk
Children and older adults are two groups at higher risk for injury as pedestrians. Here are some ideas on how to help keep them safe when they are on the street.
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Take Care With Nasal Sprays
A medicated nasal decongestant spray may offer fast relief when your nose is congested and running. It can reduce swelling and clear mucus from your nasal passages quickly.
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Take Steps to Head Off Identity Theft
Crooks ranging from computer experts to purse snatchers steal personal information such as names and Social Security and credit card numbers, then run up bills in victims' names.
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Take the Bite Out of Spring
Mosquitoes can be more than a nuisance -- they can ruin your outdoor plans and threaten your health. So it’s a good idea to protect yourself and your family as the weather heats up.
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Taking Care with Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a tick-borne bacterial infection that most often targets the skin, joints, brain, and heart, although any part of the body can be affected.
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The Truth About Club Drugs
Ecstasy, GHB, Rohypnol and Ketamine are some of the so-called club drugs used by teens and young adults at nightclubs and raves -- all-night dances.
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Trampoline Troubles
Trampolines are popular. Thousands of children are rocketing skyward, and trampoline injuries are also on the rise.
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Understanding Psychiatric Drug Abuse
Although it’s dangerous to take a prescription medication without a prescription, abusing such medications is the fastest growing type of drug abuse in the United States, outpacing marijuana abuse by a factor of two, according to some studies.
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Use Your Medications Wisely
Although most medications are safe when you take them the right way, some drugs can cause dizziness, loss of consciousness, bleeding, irregular heartbeats, and other side effects in some cases.
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What Are the Health Effects of Air Pollution?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tracks five major air pollutants that cause significant health effects: ground-level ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide and microscopic particles called particulate matter.
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What to Do If You Have to Evacuate Your Home
Consider in advance what kinds of disasters might strike your area. Do you live in an earthquake zone? Is flooding a possibility? Then think about what you’ll do in an emergency.
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Why We Need to Wash Our Hands
Did you wash your hands this morning? Bravo! Washing your hands helps prevent the spread of potentially dangerous germs.
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Your Lips Need Protection
Your skin contains oil that protects it from drying out and from extreme temperatures, but your lips do not.
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