Safety of barbecue brushes in spotlight

• Health Canada is conducting an investigation into the safety of wirebristle brushes used to clean barbecues, with plans to conclude the probe by the end of the summer.

The agency said the risk assessment on the brushes comes after nine reports of injuries from wire bristles since 2011.

The assessment started in April and should wrap up in August, said Tyler Goodier, unit head of mechanical and physical hazards in Health Canada’s consumer product risk management bureau.

“What we’re looking at here is: ‘are some brushes worse than other brushes? Is this just a matter of brushes wearing out over time? How can we tell the difference?’” Goodier said.

The agency’s website warns there is a risk of bristles getting lodged in food and swallowed, especially with older brushes.

Medical professionals have warned injuries from swallowing wire bristles are uncommon, but sometimes serious enough to require surgery.

Recalls of the brushes or stopped sales are a possibility depending on the assessment’s findings, Goodier said. But even if investigators find wire-bristle brushes are harmful, Goodier noted they might not be pulled from shelves.

“Just because something causes harm to Canadians doesn’t mean that it always amounts in a recall or a prohibition,” Goodier said, adding investigators try to use the least intrusive means to solve a safety problem.

An outright ban would be quite rare, Goodier said, because it would have to be written into law.

Reports of injuries from wire-bristle brushes have already prompted some to ditch their old wire brushes.

Nadine Chappellaz, 39, from Winnipeg, said that after seeing news stories about injuries from wire brushes, she threw hers out at the beginning of the summer.

“A lot of them were local, and this summer it seems to be a lot of kids,” she said. “It didn’t take very many stories and I started noticing — everybody on Facebook was switching over.”

Alternatives include nylon brushes, scrubber pads, steaming brushes, cleaning bricks, sprays and wipes, and wooden paddles.