Bursting Fitness Balls and Fat Flyersby Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 23 Apr 2009 10:28 PM Fitness ball fanatics beware... those large, inflatable balls that you use for crunches and other exercises are popping at an alarming rate. EB Brands is recalling about 3 million of its fitness balls after getting dozens of reports of balls bursting because of overinflation. What's more, the popping balls have resulted in numerous injuries, including fractures and bruises. According to reports, nearly 50 balls have burst while individuals were using them to complete exercises. The recall includes 55, 65, and 75-centimeter diameter size fitness balls in various colors with the Bally Total Fitness, Everlast, or Valeo logos printed on them. The fitness balls were sold nationwide from May 2000 to February 2009 for between $15 and $30. If you own a fitness ball matching the aforementioned description, don't head to the store to try to return it. Instead, you need to contact EB Brands to get a copy of the updated instructions on how to safely inflate the ball. Fitness ball owners are not the only ones getting bad news; unfit airline passengers will soon have to pay more to fly the friendly skies. United Airlines recently announced that it is requiring obese passengers who can't fit in a single seat to pay for a second seat when there is no other way to accommodate their size. Airline execs say they plan to charge obese, coach-class passengers for a second coach seat or for upgrading to a larger seat in business or first class, if necessary. The policy applies to United and United Express flights. United's new policy will only effect very heavy passenger, who cannot lower the armrests or close the seatbelt even with a seatbelt extender. In these cases, company execs say flight attendants will first see whether there are two empty seats together in the same cabin on that flight. If not, the gate agent is required to offer a second seat on a less-crowded, later flight at the same price paid for the original seat and waive the fee for changing flights. Related Articles: Airline Travel: "Seatmates of Size" Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevantfitness tags weight loss | parenting | ideas | holidays | family | relationships | Food | Kids | children | pregnancy User Comments KMeeks (5) 24 Apr 2009 10:52 AMI think that one thing people should make sure to understand -- and it's not being reported -- is that EB Brands actually approached the CPSC to find a way to better inform users of overinflation. The term "product recall" is misleading, as no EB Brand balls will be removed from shelves. Below is the official statement from the company regarding the CPSC announcement: "Today the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and EB Brands have issued a joint press release announcing a voluntary product recall regarding fitness balls produced by EB Brands. The purpose of this statement is to share some additional details not provided in the press release. Since 2000, EB Brands has received 47 complaints of burst balls out of its 3 million fitness balls sold in the United States. After conducting research on the product, we concluded that bursting balls are likely caused by the consumer overinflating the ball before use. Even with a complaint rate of only 0.0016%, we voluntarily approached the CPSC in late 2008 to seek their advice and guidance. The CPSC agreed with our findings and together we worked out a plan to warn consumers about the risk of overinflation and to help consumers inflate fitness balls to the proper size. No product will be removed from retail shelves or pulled from the marketplace, as the CPSC did not recommend or require EB Brands or our retail partners to do so. To ensure the safety of EB Brands customers, the following actions have been taken: *Create and place a new sticker inside the product box and on the pump cautioning consumers about the risk of overinflation *Revise inflation instructions included in the product package *Make available a measuring tape for consumers to measure the size of inflated fitness balls - available by calling EB Brands or logging onto www.ebbrands.com *Offer replacement balls or refunds to consumers whose balls have burst *Distribute a letter and informational poster to each retailer that has carried EB Brand fitness balls EB Brands takes the safety of our consumers seriously. We anticipate that these changes will further ensure the safe and effective use of inflatable fitness balls."  Michele Cheplic |
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