By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

What baby boomer consumers don’t know about unsafe products could injure and even kill them.

An estimated 1.9 boomers were injured by consumer products in 2007, according to the U.S. Consumer Safety Commission’s database NEISS Estimates Query Builder.

It’s important for boomers to keep up on information about recalled products to prevent injury to themselves and those in their households.

When I began writing for consumers in 1977, I was on the mailing list of the commission. I received a news release about a shop light that had killed people and was being recalled.

I showed the information to a family member. Sure enough! It was the recalled light. We returned it to the store where it was purchased for a refund.

Keeping up with recalls is a big task, but easier now with Internet postings.

Go weekly to the federal government’s recall site at www.Recalls.gov and review the new recalls.

The site offers information on recalled consumer products, motor vehicles, boats, food, cosmetics, and environmental products. You can search by type of product, company, or a specific product.

You can also sign up to receive e-mail recalls from five government agencies including the commission, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and Coast Guard.

A new recall from the commission this week is two educational kits, Solar System Kits and DNA. About 930,000 kits, manufactured by FloraCraft Corp., of Ludington, Mich., have a surface coating on the educational kit’s wires can contain excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard, according to the commission.

It’s also important for boomer consumers to check their cupboards for recalled peanut products.

See my article “What Boomer Consumers Need to Do about Peanut Recalls” for details on how to go about this.

The case count for those sickened by contaminated peanut products is 691 in 46 states with latest confirmed, most recent reported illness beginning on February 24, 2009.

The numbers of new cases have declined substantially since the peak in December, but illnesses are still being reported among people who ate the recalled brands of peanut butter crackers after the recall, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The outbreak is expected to continue at a low level for the next several months since consumers, unaware that they have recalled products in their home, continue to consume these products, many of which have a long shelf life.

Consumers should avoid eating recalled products.

Please take the time to make this important check of your food supply. A 30-year-old man and his 3-year-old daughter were sickened in Blaine, Wash., in January. You don’t want a tragedy to happen in your family that could have been avoided.

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