Personal Risk in a Time of Public Uncertainty

The recent entry ban by President Trump targeting selected Moslem majority nations may seem remote from the topic of household hazards, but in promoting a close look at risk it seems to have also brought about discussion of relative dangers in quantifiable terms, including the likelihood of your clothes catching fire or melting on you.

A Vox post by Zack Beauchamp (http://www.vox.com/2016/9/13/12901950/terrorism-immigrants-clothes) directly posed the issue as “You’re more likely to be killed by your own clothes than by an immigrant terrorist,” citing CDC-derived data for the death rate by haberdashery ignition juxtaposed with the lesser likelihood of dying attacked by an immigrant terrorist. Actually, there was a missed opportunity here in not citing also Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) data, or at least its April 6, 2016 recall because of the flammability risk of Ivanka Trump-marketed rayon scarves imported from China by the GBG Accessories Group (https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2016/Ivanka-Trump-Scarves-Recalled-by-GBG-Accessories-Group/). In all fairness to both I.T. and China, 15 days later the CPSC also recalled the “Infinity Fashion Silk Scarf for Women Girls - Trendy Summer Scarves” for the same reason, but this time imported by another corporate entity and coming from India (https://www.cpsc.gov/recalls/2016/souvnear-recalls-womens-scarves/). It seems that the agency thought it had solved this problem more than 20 years ago with a 1995 massive recall that it had announced with fanfare at the time, “CPSC and 17 importers announced today the stop sale and recall of 375,000 dangerously flammable sheer rayon scarves. This is the largest clothing recall CPSC has ever conducted under the Flammable Fabrics Act. The sale of these scarves violates the federal Flammable Fabrics Act and the scarves present a serious risk of burn injuries. In fact, these scarves typically burn faster than newspaper” (https://www.cpsc.gov/recalls/1995/cpsc-and-importers-announce-recall-of-dangerously-flammable-imported-sheer-scarves/).

Of course, it’s not all rayon. Back in 2006, the Department of Defense (http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=15478) announced a ban to keep deployed marines from wearing synthetics when “outside the wire.” As Lance Cpl. Stephen Holt, USMC reported from Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, “Marines conducting operations outside forward operating bases and camps in Iraq can no longer wear synthetic athletic clothing containing polyester and nylon, Marine Corps commanders have ordered….. When exposed to extreme heat and flames, clothing containing some synthetic materials like polyester will melt and can fuse to the skin. This essentially creates a second skin and can lead to horrific, disfiguring burns…” This problem has generated a potentially lucrative market for “no-melt” synthetic fabric blends with special appeal for military procurement or, as one company promotes, “the ultimate combat uniform.”

Back in the civilian sector, the CSPC inherited its oversight of flammable fabrics from the Federal Trade Commission which first got into the game during the Eisenhower administration after passage way back in 1953 of the original Flammable Fabrics Act. It was enacted in large part because of deaths over the preceding decade deaths among youngsters due to brushed rayon so-called "torch" sweaters and long rayon pile cowboy chaps catching fire. But the true lesson in all this may be that risk is not the only thing that is relative. We may be entering an era where we find ourselves nostalgic for Eisenhower-era public health protection.