- Skin irritants and potential carcinogenic substances detected in hair dye product
- Safety of frosty mug draws concern
- Heavy metal contamination in infant milk powder
- Breastmilk is the best infant food available
- How to use pressure cookers ?
- More bank charges on money withdrawal than deposits
- Supermarket price survey for June 1996
- Medical column on athletes foot
- Passenger-side air bag may be dangerous to infants
- Baby travel seat recalled in UK
- How do we pick samples for tests ?
- Price survey on residential flats in Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long
Skin irritants and potential carcinogenic substances were detected in samples of 23 hair dye products on sale in the market.
This was revealed today by the Consumer Council in a test report published in the latest (237th) issue of its monthly magazine 'CHOICE'.
It is the first time the Council has reported potential cancer-causing substances in hair dyes. In the two previous tests, in1992 and 1987, the Council found only skin irritants.
The potential carcinogenic substances were found in the colouring agents of two semi-permanent hair dyes. The agents in question were: methyl violet and rhodamine B.
Both these substances, according to the European Community Cosmetic Directives, were not allowed to be used in cosmetics. They were also not permitted by the US Food and Drugs Administration.
In Hong Kong, methyl violet was once used as a food colour additive but had been deleted for use since 1993. Toxicological data showed that it developed demonstrable carcinogenicity in mice.
Rhodamine B was an experimental carcinogen in rats via subcutaneous route and it was observed to cause local sarcomas (tumour).
As the presence of potential cancer-causing substances in hair dyes may constitute an offence under the Consumer Goods Safety Ordinance, the Council has notified, at the first instance, the Customs and Excise Department's Trading Standards Investigation Bureau for enforcement action.
The Bureau has since made seizures of the products in question and served a Prohibition Notice on an importer and a manufacturer to cease further supplying these products.
The test found skin irritants in most (13 out of 15) of the permanent and 2 of the 8 semi-permanent hair dye samples. The irritants were identified to be para-phenylenediamine (p-PDA) and meta-phenylenediamine (m-PDA).
Users may develop allergic reactions such as inflammation, itchiness or even exfoliate dermatitis. Consumers should therefore follow the advice to conduct a patch test on their skin before use.
According to the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance and Regulations, hair dye preparations containing phenylenediamines need to be labelled with their names and proportions as well as a warning statement in both English and Chinese.
Most (15 out of 23) failed to fully comply with this requirement and the Council has already notified the Health Department of this finding.
Motorists of cars fitted with passenger-side airbags beware!
Driving parents are warned today never to place infants in rear-facing child safety seats in the front seat if the vehicle has a passenger-side airbag.
The warning followed reports in the US of fatalities involving at least 19 children after passenger-side airbags were deployed. Among them, 5 infants were killed in rear-facing child seats placed in the front seat fitted with a passenger-side airbag.
Without the passenger-side airbag, the rear-facing infant carrier is the safest type of restraint for babies. The baby is carried partially reclined, thus spreading crash forces in a frontal impact over the whole of the back. There is no pressure on the abdomen, and the head and neck are also supported.
Many driving parents prefer to place the infant in such safety restraint in the front vehicle seat so that they could easily monitor and take care of the baby. But with the advent of the passenger-side airbag, a new hazard has emerged simply because airbags do not work with rear-facing infant seats.
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association has designed a warning label that has already been fitted voluntarily by some manufacturers. However, the design was found to be confusing and misleading. A working group of the International Organization for Standardization and consumer associations in Europe have recommended another warning label that uses a combined pictogram and text to clearly explain the hazard.
In Hong Kong, the Transport Department noted that the use of rear-facing child seats and passenger-side front airbags is not widespread here. However, if the European Commission has agreed on a warning label, the department would suggest a bilingual warning label for car agents to fit it voluntarily to airbag equipped cars.
Advice for driving parents: the safest place for children of all ages is the back seat. Never place rear-facing infant restraint in vehicle seat with airbag.
It pays to shop around before you put your money in a savings or fixed deposit account with a bank, particularly if large sums of money is involved.
According to a Consumer Council survey, banks varied , in a leap year (1996 being one), in the basis on which they calculate interest payments.
This means that consumers may earn interests more or less depending on where you bank your money.
The survey revealed that in a leap year, some banks adopt 366 days as the basis for interest calculation.
The formula applied for calculating interest is: interest = deposit amount x annual interest rate / calculation basis (365 or366 days) x number of days of deposit. So, the bigger the basis (366 days) the less interest you will earn for your savings or deposit. Conversely, the smaller the basis (365days) the more interest you will pay for your loan.
However, in the inter-bank market, banks invariably follow the international money market practice in adopting the 365 days(for Hong Kong currency) and 360 (for US currency) as the basis for calculation.
Choosing a bank that adopts 365 (for local currency) and 360 (for US currency) as the basis for interest calculation will therefore be to the advantage of the depositors.
Although the interest rate for savings is stipulated by the Hong Kong Association of Banks, this does not mean that all banks will pay the same amount of interest. Much will depend also on the compound factor that will make a difference to the effective annual interest rate.
Depositors receiving daily compound for their deposits will actually earn an effective annual interest rate of 3.821% instead of the stipulated 3.75%.
The survey also looked at bank charges, if any, related to the withdrawal of fixed deposits. It was found that some banks would insist on charging a fee for withdrawing fixed deposit with a cashier order even though the payee is the depositor himself.
This practice brought into question the right of a depositor to receive the amount of his deposit in full and the obligation of a bank to pay to the depositor his money in full in a secure and efficient way.
Alternatively, it was found that some banks may recommend customers to open a current account so as to withdraw the deposit by cheque. This arrangement is again against the interest of both banks and customers.
On the one hand, it incurs administrative expenses (an average annual costs of $1,500 per account at 1992 estimate) for banks in managing the growing volume of accounts by same clients - a concern of the banking sector when the issue of interest rate deregulation was raised.
On the other, consumers may have to pay additional charges if the account carries a minimum deposit requirement which they may fail to observe.
A frosty mug is an innovation designed to keep your drink nice and cool. But a Consumer Council test has raised concern about the safety of this product which is a double layer plastic mug with sealing coolant between the layers.
The test, conducted with reference to the British Standard, showed that 5 samples cracked and leaked after 3 consecutive drops in the impact resistance test putting the durability of these products in serious doubt.
And what exactly is the substance of the coolant which may accidentally get into the drink through leakage? Does it pose any health hazard?
The test found the coolant to be free of coliform and total bacterial count. Nevertheless the British Standard requires that all additives to the coolants should be permitted food additives only and identified by name, code number or common alternative name. All samples were found to be without proper labelling as such.
An agent of 4 of the test samples has disclosed that the coolant of their products contains 0.3% ethanol and food additives. Another agent has suggested that their coolant is not suitable for consumption. The Consumer Council is now carrying further test to investigate the composition of the coolant. For the moment, the Council does not preclude the possibility the coolant may consist of chemicals not suitable for human consumption.
Consumers should prevent ingestion of the coolant and are therefore advised to regularly check their frosty mug. And should there be any crack found in the mug, it should be discarded immediately.
Breastmilk is the best infant food available.
But mothers who are unable to breastfeed their children and have to rely on infant formulas, may have a sigh of relief -at least as far as the level of heavy metal contamination in infant formulas is concerned.
Heavy metals such as lead and aluminium in infant formula have always been a concern for breastfeeding organisations and mothers.
In a Consumer Council test, none of the 20 infant formula samples was found to exceed the lead and aluminium standards set by the World Health Organisation and existing regulations in Hong Kong.
The test samples included cow milk infant formulas, soy protein based infant formulas and follow-up formulas.
However, of the 6 soy protein samples, 4 were found to have a higher level of lead and aluminium than cow milk samples. This maybe due to the fact that cow can partially excrete heavy metal absorbed whereas soy bean has an added source of contamination during the crushing, refining and washing processes.
And just a reminder. The 1996 World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated between 1 and 7 August. This year's theme is Breastfeeding: A Community Responsibility.