Posted on 10/16/2014 5:40:59 AM PDT by maggief
Christmas lights and other seasonal decorations are the target of new federal regulations as the holidays approach.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) proposed new requirements on Tuesday to prevent decorative lights from causing electrical fires and other dangers in homes around the country.
The new rules would apply to everything from Christmas tree lights to the light sculptures and animated figures of Santa Claus and his reindeer that illuminate front yards across the country. Decorative lighting that does not meet new standards will be considered hazardous, the agency said.
"Consumers can be seriously injured or killed by electrical shocks or fires if seasonal and decorative lighting products are not made using minimum wire size, sufficient strain reliefs, or over-current protection," the agency wrote.
Since 1980, more than 250 people have been killed when decorative lights malfunction, according to the CPSC.
However, the agency noted that the number of deaths caused by Christmas lights has declined to about one person each year from a high of 13 people each year in the early 1990s.
The public has 75 days to comment on the proposed rules.
One person a year dies from Christmas lights but how many die from bathtub falls and toasters? Ban toasters!
Toasters should not be allowed in the bathroom.
Deck the halls with lots of toasters, far ra ra ra ra ra ra ra.
***we once used candles on the Christmas trees.***
yep. They did.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babbs_Switch_fire
If the Christmas lights have to go,it only makes sense that the Halloween lighting & other such must go too.
Mythbusters tv show tried and tried. They had so many lights on a dried out tree that you needed sunglasses to view it. They had to cheat to get it to light.
#10 Newspaper account of Gene Kelly’s fire.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19831222&id=pgZZAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iFkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6941,1614981
Kill every tradition.... How soviet of them.
I guess Underwriter’s Laboratory is just a bunch of ignorant ineffectives. Good thing we have the Electricity department of the CDC to protect us to a much safer level.
Sounds like the odds of a fire from Christmas lights is about the same as being struck by lightning, while holding a winning lottery ticket.
Well these are “proposed” so won’t be in effect until Christmas season 2015.
So stock up now, because this kind of federal “help” always means greatly increased costs.
I thought Congress was going to make August 4th "End of Ramadan and Baraq Hussein Obama Birthday"
Federal regulators say “Bah, Humbug!” to Christmas lights
Belated Nanny State PING!
Calm down, everybody! That's more than enough time to tell them to FOAD.
Merry Christmas!!! ;-)
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