Following Several Burn Incidents, Pourable Fuel Gels Recalled

Granted, anyone (like me) who gets e-mails when the Consumer Products Safety Commission's issues a safety recall will - after a while - tend to ignore the recalls that are issued because they start to blend into the background. (Seriously, how many crib and blind recalls can you read about before your eyes start to glaze over?)

But every once in a while, there are reports of incidents secondary to the use of a product that are so frightening that they rouse you from your dulled senses and demand that you take notice. And the recent safety recall issued by Napa Home and Garden of its pourable fuel gels fits that bill to a "T."

Before issuing this recall, there were dozens of reported incidents of severe burns; the victims of these burns described how the product acted like napalm, in that the fire couldn't be extinguished in conventional ways such as by rolling on the floor. Two of these near-fatal burn incidents happened in New York; one of them occurred in Suffolk County, leaving a teenage boy comatose.

Fortunately, the CPSC is apparently not limiting its investigation to this particular manufacturer, and is targeting other companies manufcaturing similar, competing products.