People to People: Working Together for Your Safety

Today we're talking about the growing levels of indoor air pollution due to the increasingly ubiquitous use of chemical air freshener sprays and oil diffusers. Signature scents are now even being pumped into sports stadiums and airplane cabins. Our regular listeners who are interested in computer technology may be concerned to learn that these substances gum up the works of computers and other electronic devices. It's difficult to know which products to avoid for our own health, because they can contain dozens of unidentified, untested fragrance chemicals that don't have to be revealed to anyone, not even to doctors or the government. It is certain, however, that synthetic fragrance chemicals are designed to adhere to the surfaces they touch, and are therefore unwise to use around a wide variety of electronic equipment, including laptop computers. We will discuss how our listeners can speak out against the widespread use of substances that hurt their electronics and their health.

On today’s show we will be talking about the LED Light Bulb. In recent years, there's been a movement away from incandescent toward LED bulbs. LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are a type of bulb that has been around for years, but hasn't necessarily been used for lighting until recently. However, they are something of an improvement on the original bulb design. Light emitting diodes (LED) are made from crystals that may contain materials such as phosphorous in order to produce a distinct color. Overlapping colors, particularly the primary colors of red, blue and green, produce white light. Join Stan and his guest Ethen Biery for a lively discussion regarding LED Bulb standards and how they may affect you and your family.

Today’s show addresses the efforts of a broad coalition of health, firefighter, consumer and science groups that have filed a petition asking the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban four categories of consumer products — children’s products, furniture, mattresses and the casings around electronics — if they contain any flame retardant in the chemical class known as organohalogens. Petitioners include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Hispanic Medical Association, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the Learning Disabilities Association of America, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Worksafe, Dr. Philip J. Landrigan and the Green Science Policy Institute. Join Stan and his guest Ms. Katy Farber as they discuss the perils that parents face today keeping their children safe from Toxic Chemicals.

Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy has put the health and public safety of Albany County residents first in what has become a battle over the transportation of crude oil through the county. In January 2014, the CE sent a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo that the application made at the Port of Albany by Global to expand operations was not in the best interests of residents. That lead to the Governor directing five state agencies to investigate and public comment periods were extended until late last fall.

Aircraft and Ocean Vessels designed for 20 year use are now over 40 years old and still in service. Understanding the risk associated with this reality is a full time job for professionals in the Military, Commercial and private sectors. These professionals are faced with everything from obvious aging of the structure to obsolete electronic and hardware components. Making the management task more difficult are those that would try to profit from the sale of counterfeit components. Failure of a critical component in an airplane or submarine has a much greater risk than the failure of your refrigerator or clothes washer. On today’s show Stan and his guest, Richard Gauntlett, Director Ageing Aircraft and Sustainability Australia will discuss what it takes to keep the Australian Fleet of Airplanes and Sea Vessels maintained and free of counterfeit materials.

Innovation linked with good quality drives new market value for consumer goods and services. That new market value, however, only lasts if the products are as advertised and are safe for the consumer. Every day awareness of, and sensitivity to, hazardous and counterfeit products in or near consumers’ homes and neighborhoods increases. Companies that make or distribute consumer goods can and should do more to educate consumers about their products and how to determine if the products are what they claim to be and are safe for their intended use. Today’s guest, Francisco Chuan, will discuss the role that innovation can play in getting clear, memorable, and useful information to consumers about products and their safety.

This week, join our host, Stan Salot and his retuning guest, Ms. Wanda J. Cooper, who will discuss what can happen when toxic materials found in everyday consumer products invade our bodies, including ways to cope when medical professionals fail to properly diagnose due to overlapping symptoms. Have you ever climbed the high-tech corporate ladder successfully and suddenly found yourself on the outside, looking in? Waking up too tired and lacking the drive to keep going? Feeling like no one understood what was going on while getting no help from medical professionals? Perhaps you had a medical condition that was misdiagnosed?

Last week, over 2 million worth of products were seized from an East Coast counterfeiting ring in the U.S. ChapStick, Johnson's Baby Oil, Vicks VapoRub, Vicks Inhaler, Vaseline; the producers of the real products include major international brands such as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Other products, including over-the-counter cold medicines and painkillers, also were recovered, officials said. We encourage consumers to be cautious about buying branded goods that look suspicious, or from outlets that are unfamiliar, Chris Vuturo, a spokesman for Procter & Gamble, said in a statement. His advice sounds familiar, as our concerns as consumers continue to grow. What is industry doing to protect us from toxic chemicals and counterfeiting today? And are we doing our part, by shopping at established and trusted stores, which are likely to be connected to legitimate supply chains? This week, join our host, Stan Salot, and Frank Ciano to discuss industry updates and consumer news.

Living with risk is a reality that we are faced with each and every day. From the time we are conceived until the day we die we are faced with the danger of coming in contact with Toxic Substances and Chemicals in their natural form or from something that was manmade. Over time we learn about dangerous substances that we have created and eventually we take steps to mitigate their effects. Some identify this as our road to prosperity while others consider this a slippery slope to hell. On today’s show we will explore Toxic and Counterfeit News articles found on the internet. I invite you to be part of the show today by sharing your thoughts or asking questions. 866-472-5787 call in number

Most of us adhere to the best practices of recycling: reuse, reduce and recycle, in order to minimize waste going into the landfill. How about certain chemicals we simply cannot put in a specially marked recycling bin, such as building materials? How do we eliminate the threat of landfilling hazardous, toxic and regulated waste? In this episode, you will hear about the specific challenge of asbestos: one of our biggest health and liability issue in the U.S. Although asbestos problems are not widely publicized anymore, someone dies of an asbestos related disease every 5 minutes. Furthermore, 125 million people are exposed to asbestos in the work place daily; more people are killed by asbestos than road accidents, and sadly, an estimated 5 to 10 million people will die from asbestos related diseases within the next 16 years. Our special guests, Mr. Tony Nocito and Mr. Frank J. Ciano, senior partner at Goldberg Segalla’s New York office, will talk about the ramifications of asbestos recycling and making purchasing decisions that exclude the potential of placing ourselves, our companies and our customer base at risk.

Faulty counterfeited products can lead directly to injury and death. The vast range of items which are illegally copied and sold in stores and online can have serious health and safety consequences and have been raised in various parts of the world. Yet, despite the growing concerns expressed by many governmental and global advocacy groups, counterfeiting continues. It is a hugely profitable business, with criminals relying on the continued high demand for cheap goods coupled with low production costs. A new global campaign by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is launched today to raise awareness among consumers of the over $250 billion a year illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods. The campaign – ‘Counterfeit: Don’t buy into organized crime’ – informs consumers that buying counterfeit goods could be funding organized criminal groups, puts our health and safety at risk and contributes to serious ethical and environmental concerns. Our special guests, Mr. Alun Jones, Chief of Communications and Advocacy of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Mr. Frank J. Ciano, senior partner at Goldberg Segalla’s New York office, will talk about the potential ramifications of counterfeiting, including how you can make purchasing decisions that exclude the potential of placing yourself, your company and most important your customer base to the risk of an accident.

Consumers may think they are adequately protected from dangerous products by benevolent corporations that will go out of their way to prevent injuring or killing their customers. Or they may think they are adequately protected by government regulations designed to keep unsafe products off the market. If only those things were enough to guarantee safety. Fortunately, consumers have another line of defense: the civil justice system. The courts also force manufacturers to remove dangerous goods from the marketplace and make changes that create safe products, even when government regulations and corporate goodwill have been unable or unwilling to do so. The list of products that have been improved to the benefit of consumer safety includes automobiles, prescription drugs, children’s pajamas, home appliances, toys, sports equipment, farm machinery, construction tools, personal hygiene products, medical devices, furniture, aircraft, boats and much more.

Leading industry representatives and distribution professionals work hard to assure us about the safety of their manufactured products. While at the same time medical professionals and research institutes are warning us that many potentially life-threatening diseases could be caused by ingredients found in these same products. Who can we trust? And most importantly, if we decide to trust leading experts, can they give us a realistic promise of safety that can be tested and backed by scientific data and analysis? Safety standards were developed to protect us from bringing harmful chemical and counterfeits into our homes, gardens and garages. My guest, Mr. Bruce Mahone will reveal what he is doing to help change the way “things are currently done”. Join me to learn more and get involved with supporting the everyday use of Anti-Counterfeit and Hazardous Substance Safe standards. Take action now to get your favorite retail stores involved. Become part of the solution.

The quantity of counterfeit products will continue to grow as long as there are willing buyers. A recent 60 Minutes show reported that the total commerce worldwide in counterfeit products has grown from $200 billion to $600 billion only within the last few years. Whether we buy them knowingly, or by mistake, counterfeit consumer products generally do not have the potential to be life-threatening like electronics used in aerospace, medical and military production. In the electronics industry, a component can be made to look identical to the real thing and could appear to “work” at first glance, but will not comply with detailed specifications and can fail during use. Can you imagine the disastrous consequences of a component failing on a commercial airplane or in a medical device used to perform heart surgery? How can industry buyers protect us from scary scenarios waiting to unfold? Tune in to learn how one U.S. company is fighting to eradicate counterfeit components.

The production and sale of counterfeit goods is a global, multi-billion dollar problem and one that has serious economic and health ramifications for Governments, businesses and consumers. Counterfeiting is everywhere - it can affect what we eat, what we watch, what medicines we take and what we wear - and all too often the link between fake goods and transnational organized crime is overlooked in the search for knock-offs at bargain-basement prices. My guest James R. Johnson and I will discuss the work that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is doing to bring this epidemic to the public’s attention!

March 2015 and the counterfeit products epidemic continues to rage on. Counterfeits are growing more rapidly than any other business entity with no signs of a down turn. If it were not for the fact that it is illegal it would be a great place to invest for your retirement. Homeland Security Investigations continue to identify millions of dollars’ worth of counterfeit sports gear. Virtually every news outlet runs an ongoing piece on counterfeits and how they are negatively affecting business and people worldwide. Ebay, Amazon, Alibaba, and many other online retail sales outlets are spending millions of dollars trying to protect their brands from the ongoing damage done by individuals that knowingly or unknowingly sell counterfeits through their personal internet stores. Join our host, Stan Salot Jr. as discusses the issues of counterfeits goods and how they negatively affect humanity at many different levels.

The quantity of counterfeit products will continue to grow as long as there are willing buyers. Whether we buy them knowingly, or by mistake, counterfeit consumer products can fail during use, with the potential of causing irreversible harm. Today’s show introduces and starts following the journey of an entrepreneur building a distribution company that provides a new distribution model to fight the counterfeit epidemic. We are also launching our weekly legal segment, courtesy of Goldberg Segalla’s New York office, called “Protect your company NOW” with a focus on hazardous free and counterfeit product avoidance. We are excited to kick off this year by showcasing business owners, innovators and champions of the law, all presenting a united front to bring us real solutions, while supporting the U.S. economy.

WSJ 3-2-15, Investors Running, 60 Minutes 3-1-15: Anderson Cooper said that the laminate-flooring material sold by Lumber Liquidators and made in China doesn’t meet California’s emissions standards on levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. 60 Minutes’ investigators went to several of the Chinese factories where Lumber Liquidators buys their flooring and reported the following: Employees at the mills openly admitted that they use core boards with higher levels of formaldehyde to make Lumber Liquidators laminates, saving the company 10-15 percent on the price. At all three mills they also admitted falsely labeling the company’s laminate flooring as CARB 2, meaning it meets California formaldehyde emissions standards, and the new U.S. federal law. At this factory, the general manager told investigators Lumber Liquidators is one of their biggest customers. Join Stan & Guest Dennis Bradley, Forensic Business Pathologist as they discuss this latest case of Toxic Materials in America.