Health roundup: CDC warns of laundry pod dangers

Kim Painter, Special for USA TODAY

A warning label on a package of Tide laundry detergent packets, or pods. Children who bite or swallow such pods are more likely to get sick than kids exposed to other kinds of laundry detergent, a new report says. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Your Friday morning health roundup:

Detergent danger: Parents and other caregivers should keep concentrated pods of laundry detergent out of the reach and sight of children, says a new warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC joined poison centers to analyze 1,000 reported cases in which children were exposed to any kind of laundry detergent and found those who got their hands (and often their mouths) on the concentrated packets were more likely to vomit, choke, cough and become lethargic than those exposed to other kinds of detergent. The cases were first reported in the spring but experts still don't know why the detergent packets make kids so sick. (NPR)

Uncrustable recall: Smucker's Uncrustable peanut butter and jelly sandwiches sold to schools are the latest products to join a long list of foods recalled over salmonella linked to the facilities of peanut-processor Sunland, Inc. Sandwiches sold in stores are not affected and those sold to schools have all passed their expiration dates, according to the J.M. Smucker Co. (Associated Press via NBC News)

Accident report: About 12,000 U.S. children die in accidents each year and boys face nearly double the risk of girls, the CDC reports. The largest toll, in terms of years of life lost, is in infants, followed by teens; the biggest threats are traffic accidents, followed by suffocation and drowning. (HealthDay)

Today's talker: It's hard to buy shoes when your size is 24, 10E and hard to do much walking when you have no well-fitting shoes. That was the plight of America's tallest man, Igor Vovkovinskiy of Rochester, Minn. But now Vovkovinskiy, who is 7 feet, 8 1/2 inches tall, is sporting three new pairs of sneakers from Reebok -- made especially for him after he took to Facebook and Twitter to raise money for custom-made shoes. Reebok made the shoes for free and promises more in the future. Vovkovinskiy tells the Rochester Post-Bulletin that he's looking forward to walking to the hardware and grocery stores -- and taking off some of his 430 pounds.

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