Deaths by falling TVs rising

By Associated Press

The number of children killed or injured by falling television setsappears to have risen even as more consumers replace their clunky oldTVs with lighter flat screens, studies suggest.

The reason for therise isn't clear but could result from traditional TV sets becomingheavier and, an industry official suggests, households choosing a flatscreen for their main TV and relegating old sets to rickety furniturein other rooms.

A team from the Center for Injury Research andPolicy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio reviewed data from 100emergency rooms and estimated that about 14,700 furniture-relatedinjuries occurred each year between 1990 and 2007—almost half due to TVsets, the most common article involved in the accidents—and resulted inabout 300 deaths.

The research, published in October in thejournal Clinical Pediatrics, showed that the number and rate ofinjuries to youngsters from falling furniture increased significantlyover the period. The rate generally rose from 18.8 per 100,000 peoplein 1990 to 22.9 in 2007, peaking at 25.7 in 2004.

A similarreport from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission last yearestimated 42,700 injuries and 180 deaths associated with appliance,furniture and television instability and tip-overs from 2000 to 2006;87 of the deaths involved televisions. The number rose from seven in2000 to 23 in 2006.

Several children have been killed orinjured in recent weeks alone. A 2-year-old New Jersey boy died Dec. 7when he tipped over a chest of drawers holding a large TV set. A10-month-old Philadelphia boy was critically injured Dec. 10 when atelevision fell onto him. An 11-month-old Phoenix girl died a month agoafter her 2-year-old brother pulled a television off its stand whiletrying to change the channel.

Other recent accidents killed a 6-year-old California girl and seriously injured a 3-year-old in Florida.

"Every day, in this country, about 40 young children are rushed toemergency departments with injuries after a heavy piece of furniturehas fallen on them," said Gary Smith, director of the Ohio injuryresearch center and a member of the team that conducted the study."This is not a small problem; it's a common problem, and it'sincreasing."

Many of the injuries have involved heavy standardcathode-ray tube TVs, which are weighted to the front and can be tippedforward by a child, said Arlene Flecha, spokeswoman for the safetycommission, which is doing another study following up on furnitureinjuries to gain more details, such as the types of televisionsinvolved.

The burgeoning popularity of flat-screen televisionscould eventually lead to fewer injuries because they are not asfront-heavy, the study said.

Newer cathode sets are larger andheavier than old models. And while 53 percent of consumers now ownflat-panel models, roughly half of them probably still own the oldermodels and might be shifting them from a proper TV stand into a bedroomor other room and placing them less securely atop a table or dresser,said Megan Pollock, a representative of the Consumer ElectronicsAssociation.

Of the deaths studied by the Ohio group, 93percent were due to dressers and TVs falling onto children, and almostall victims were 3 or younger and died of head injuries or suffocation.

For Sylvia Santiago, of West Haven, Conn., news accounts of therecent deaths reminded her of the crash that awakened her in July at afriend's home. A heavy TV set had fallen from a low stand, and it tookSantiago a while to see her 2 1/2-year-old daughter lying beneath it.

"When I looked down, all I saw was her legs underneath the TV," saidSantiago, 23. Her daughter, Janiyah Powe-Santiago, died a week later.

Parents should anchor heavy televisions to the wall, said Smith, theresearcher, adding that anchoring devices should be sold along withTVs.

"Just like we wouldn't sell a motor vehicle without aseat belt in it, there is no safe way to put a large piece of furniturein a home where children live and play and have that be a safeenvironment," he said. Parents should also never put a remote control,toy or other enticing object on a TV, dresser or shelf that a childmight try to reach, he said.

Pollock said the industry hasbeen trying for years to educate consumers about the problem throughpublic service campaigns and instructions included with TVs.

While the dangers could fade as the lighter flat panels dominate moreof the market, Flecha pointed out that even some of them are"humongous" and should also be placed with care.

Santiago, nowstudying to be a paralegal, said she never thought about the dangerposed by a heavy television set on a low stand. She said she struggledthrough Janiyah's birthday last month and that the approaching holidaysfeel like "round two."

"People think 'It will never happen tome; I'll have my child forever; something like this will never happento my child,'" she said. "Well, it did happen to me, so I don't wantanyone to think twice about securing their furniture."