@csparks: I used to work in a baked good manufacturing facility. They made cookies and donuts that had peanuts. The machinery was washed and sanitized daily, however during the production day, there was no cleaning between chainging products, just a quick wipedown to remove traces of products (sprinkles, chocolate & powdered sugar). They generally would run the peanut products at the very end of the day, but as the products were made on the same machine, each of the products had the peanut warning just in case someone forgot to sanitize the belt the night before or a stray peanut fell out of the peanut tumble machine and on to the conveyer belt.

What I want to know is, are more people becoming allergic to peanuts these days? Why didn't I ever hear about this when I was young? Is it just media attention that has brought it to my ears or has this always been a problem? Have peoples reactions always been so potentially dangerous to them? If so, then why weren't peanut products banned in schools before?

There's always been that one kid in class who was allergic to them that I knew of, but it never seemed, "Don't let Bobby touch them or his lungs will collapse and he will die!"

It's not the pull string that are a problem. It's the way they are made. look at the images and you will see the system that attaches the shades to the draw strings in the back is the problem.

But it never struck me to put the cords on the back in some sort of casing. All the instructions to make them have exposed cords that go through loops.

@lchen: YES. See my above comment.

Recalls are not all obviously 'good' for everyone. Responsibility should still be taken by users as well as companies to make reasonably safe products and not over engineer a simple window shade...

Even a simple "Dear Sir/Madam, Your daily medication is under recall, go here or do this to make sure you don't always have a needle under your skin. Thanks, -Your Doctor." would be good.

I own a Sony Vaio laptop and when I clicked on the link for more information, I got a 404 error. It could be a simple mistake on behalf of The Consumerist, but I'm going with the more rational explanation that my computer has become a sentient being and is planning on killing me.

But as another day goes by, more people lose their common sense.

Holy crap.. I thought the rogue Zombie ATV was the scariest thing on the list, but then I saw the "Needles may detatch" and changed my friggin mind!