US regulators warn Peloton users to stop using treadmill after child death
Safety regulators warned people with kids and pets Saturday to immediately stop using a treadmill made by Peloton after one child died and nearly 40 others were injured.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said it received reports of children and a pet being pulled, pinned and entrapped under the rear roller of the Tread+ treadmill, leading to fractures, scrapes and the death of one child.
The commission posted a video on its YouTube page of a child being pulled under the treadmill. (Warning: this video may be disturbing to some.)
New York-based Peloton Interactive Inc said in a news release that the warning was “inaccurate and misleading”. It said there’s no reason to stop using the treadmill as long as children and pets are kept away from it at all times, it is turned off when not in use, and a safety key is removed.
But the safety commission said that in at least one episode, a child was pulled under the treadmill while a parent was running on it, suggesting it can be dangerous to children even while a parent is present.
If adults want to keep using the treadmill, the commission said, they should use it only in a locked room so children and pets can’t come near it. When not in use, the treadmill should be unplugged and the safety key taken out and hidden away. The commission also said to keep exercise balls and other objects away from it, because those have been pulled under the treadmill, too.
Peloton is best known for its stationary bikes, but it introduced the treadmill about three years ago and now calls it the Tread+. It costs more than $4,000.
Sales of Peloton equipment have soared during the pandemic as virus weary people avoid gyms and workout at home instead. The company brought in $1bn in revenue in the last three months of 2020, more than double its revenue from the same period a year before.
The commission did not say how many of the Peloton treadmills have been sold. _____
cine, and has previously expressed interest in producing mRNA vaccines, but indicated it would require significant financial investment to switch.
A contract published last week shows the industry department paid consultants McKinsey & Company $2m to prepare a business case for onshore mRNA vaccine manufacturing. The work began in December and was scheduled to be completed by the end of March.
Hunt declined to name any other companies expressing interest in developing mRNA manufacturing capability aside from CSL, saying it would take the better part of a year before manufacturing could begin in Australia.
The national cabinet was due to meet on Monday to discuss the vaccine rollout, as well as how to open up the economy in the future and perhaps moving to home quarantine.
“What we need to do is look sensibly at how we are going to bring people into Australia so that we can reopen our economy,” Andrews said.
“What we shouldn’t be doing is leaping into solutions now without having all the evidence in front of us.”
Authorities will continuously review all vaccines in use following the death of a 48-year-old woman that is considered to be linked to the AstraZeneca jab.
A safety group convened by the Therapeutic Goods Administration has concluded the NSW woman’s case of blood clots with low platelet count was likely to do with her vaccination on 8 April.
Government advice surrounding the use of the AstraZeneca jab was changed later on the day Genene Norris was inoculated, and Australians under 50 were urged not to take it any more.
She was admitted to hospital four days later and died last week.
TGA secretary John Skerritt said her case was “atypical” and further review of her underlying conditions and other blood tests and samples would be taken.
The case is likely to be the subject of an inquest.
It is the third in Australia involving blood clots with low platelet count post-vaccination, with the first two cases still in hospital.
About 885,000 AstraZeneca doses have been administered in Australia so far.
The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, confirmed some Australians had been reluctant to receive a vaccine since the medical advice on the AstraZeneca version was updated.
However, he stressed the vaccines were safer than the alternative, quoting an Oxford University study which found the risk of blood clots in the brain was eight times more likely after a Covid-19 infection than an AstraZeneca vaccination.