KidAdLaw News

• Global Response to Chinese Tainted Milk Products

  October 2, 2008 - Concerns over Chinese exports again dominated the headlines following reports that four infants in China had died from formula made with milk contaminated with melamine. Some 53,000 children were sickened by contaminated milk products.

• France Says ‘Non' To Marketing of Kiddie TV

  October 2, 2008 - France's broadcast authority has forbidden French channels from promoting television shows aimed at children under 3 years old. In addition, cable operators that air foreign channels with programming for babies are required to broadcast warnings stating: "Watching television can slow the development of children under 3, even when it involves channels aimed specifically at them."

• 1.5 Million Bassinets and Cribs Recalled

  October 2, 2008 - Two infants were strangled to death in Simplicity brand close-sleeper-style bassinets, after their bodies slipped under a metal bar that runs along the portion of the bassinet that can be opened, but their heads remained stuck under the bar, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported.

• Battle Over Baby Bottle Plastic Rages On

  October 2, 2008 - When it comes to the risk posed by bisphenol-A (BPA), the chemical used to make hardened plastic containers such as baby bottles, liners for canned goods, and other plastic items, government officials can't seem to agree.

• CARU Makes More Movie Ad Referrals to MPAA

  October 2, 2008 - The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) has referred ads for yet another PG-13 movie to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for being advertised during children's programming. The move is the latest in what appears to be an increasingly tense stand-off between CARU, the advertising industry's self-regulatory arm, and the motion picture industry.

• Senate Committee Hears Disparate Messages on Food Marketing

  October 2, 2008 - Just before the market melt-down captured the attention of Congress, a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee held the latest in what has become a series of hearings on the state of food marketing to children and its links to the obesity epidemic.

• Toys ‘R' Us Sets Tougher Safety Standards Than Feds

  October 2, 2008 - Toys ‘R' Us has announced a series of tightened safety standards for toys and cribs. The announcement follows a series of massive recalls in recent years. (See related summary, "1.5 Million Bassinets and Cribs Recalled.")

KidAdLaw Features

• KidAdLaw - Reed Smith Interview with Wayne J. Keeley, Director, Children's Advertising Review Unit

  September 4, 2008 - Interview with Wayne Keeley regarding the CARU conference on Sept. 24 in New York City.

Previous Features

• AGs Act Against Online Child Porn

  August 6, 2008 - Law enforcement officials and Internet Service Providers have reached agreements to ensure that they no longer will host child pornography websites-and will act to block access to such sites that may be operating elsewhere on the web.

• U.S. Report Casts Doubt on Safety of Baby Bottle Plastic

  April 24, 2008 - An arm of the U.S. Department of Health has issued a draft report linking a chemical found in hard plastics, such as those used for baby and beverage bottles, with the development of cancer and early onset of female puberty in laboratory animals.

• FCC Officials Provide Advertisers With Self-Regulatory Road Map

  March 25, 2008 - Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate offered some "inside baseball" advice to advertisers recently-step up self-regulation or else. Addressing the Association of National Advertisers in February, Commissioner Tate warned that failure to change could mean regulatory-or even legislative intervention.

Events

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