HEALTH ALERT

Plastic bag dangers cited

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported that 112 children died from 1980 to 1987 as a result of suffocating with plastic bags.

The CPSC reports that 80 percent of the victims were children younger than one year old. Recent investigations of these cases show that trash, garbage and dry cleaning bags are most often involved.

Specifically, the commission has cited suffocation cases in which:

• Children pulled plastic dry cleaning bags over their face while lying on an adult bed.

• Plastic garbage bags (filled with clothes) have fallen over onto children.