Nutritix

Tag: Sports

  • Warning over risky electric blankets sold online

    Warning over risky electric blankets sold online

    Illegal electric blankets are being sold online which could cause electric shocks, a consumer group warns.

    Which? found some of the products being sold are made “so poorly” they could pose “a serious risk”.

    Separately charity Electrical Safety First says it found “highly dangerous” electrical products for sale by third party sellers online.

    It wants new regulations to bolster consumer protection.

    The cost of living crisis has seen a huge rise in the popularity of electric blankets as people try to minimise use of their central heating.

    Nine out of the 11 electric blankets, throws and shawls Which? bought from third-party sellers on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish should not be sold legally in the UK.

    The consumer champion group identified problems with how the products are made, the packaging, markings and instructions.

    Which? found some products with electric wires that could easily be pulled out and others lacked the proper safety standard marks. 

    In addition to safety concerns, some of the blankets were incredibly inefficient and did not work properly. 

    All those flagged by Which? as having issues have now been removed by the online marketplaces.

    Which? is calling for sites to bear more legally responsibility for allowing unsafe and illegal products to be sold on their platform.

    The current approach puts most of the responsibility on the third-party sellers.

    Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which? said buying these products cheaply on online marketplaces can put people’s safety at risk. 

    “The government must urgently act to give online marketplaces greater legal responsibility for unsafe and illegal products sold on their sites so that consumers are no longer put at unnecessary risk of harm,” she said. 

    Last week a Private Member’s Bill was tabled by Labour MP for Gateshead, Ian Mearns, to implement more regulation in this area.

    The Bill, supported by the charity Electrical Safety First, aimed to “close a gap in the law” which has allowed online marketplaces to operate “without any responsibility” for ensuring that the products sold via their sites are actually safe. 

    Electrical Safety First found “highly dangerous” electrical products for sale by third party sellers across major online marketplaces, including Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Wish.com.

    Boss Lesley Rudd said: “Households are perpetually being left at risk from products, such as dangerous electric blankets, as people seek to keep heating costs down. 

    “Without changes to the law, people will continue to be left exposed and vulnerable.”

    AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish.com all said they take safety very seriously and removed the listings that Which? flagged to them.

    None of the third-party sellers of the products provided a comment to Which?

  • Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Noah Lyles target world records in 2023

    Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Noah Lyles target world records in 2023

    World records come as no surprise to some of athletics’ biggest names – and one of Usain Bolt’s long-standing marks is under threat as a World Championships year gets underway.

    American star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone believes “anything is possible” following her record-breaking 400m hurdles triumph to win world gold in Eugene last year.

    The 23-year-old will be joined by compatriot Noah Lyles, world 200m champion, in Boston for the second World Athletics Indoor Tour event of the season on Saturday, where both athletes will compete for over 60m.

    “It wasn’t a huge surprise,” said McLaughlin-Levrone on her record run.

    “That was our goal all along. But it was a sigh of relief being able to accomplish it,” added the Olympic champion, speaking to BBC World Service.

    Unbeaten over 200m in 2022, Lyles defended his 200m title in emphatic fashion as he broke Michael Johnson’s 26-year-old national record to become the third-fastest man over the distance in history.

    And he believes beating Jamaican sprinting legend Bolt’s world record “will not be that hard”.

    McLaughlin-Levrone, named World Athlete of the Year for 2022 alongside pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, produced her latest astonishing run as she took almost three-quarters of a second off her own 400m hurdles record to take world gold last year.

    Improving her best time to 50.68 seconds in Eugene, she has now run five of the six fastest times in history.

    That time over the hurdles would have placed her seventh in the final of the 400m flat.

    The three-time world gold medallist’s stunning performances have led many to wonder when she might switch her attention to that event, in which Marita Koch’s record of 47.6 seconds has stood for 37 years.

    “There’s room in both to accomplish great things and continue pushing my times,” said McLaughlin-Levrone, who will come up against world 200m champion Shericka Jackson on Saturday.

    “I haven’t ran the 400 competitively in a few years. Once we decide what is best for 2023, that’s what we’ll do.

  • The big picture: the messy and magical reality of motherhood

    The big picture: the messy and magical reality of motherhood

    Hungarian photographer Andi Gáldi Vinkó’s playful portrait of her child, part of series on becoming a parent, combines humour and intimacy.

    o say the subject of Andi Gáldi Vinkó’s book is a diary of motherhood doesn’t get anywhere near to the fleshy, playful vulnerability of her pictures. Titled Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I’m Back, the Hungarian photographer’s journal is a kind of traveller’s tale from the magical and estranging foreign land of childbirth. “When I realised I was pregnant,” she writes, by way of introduction, “I had no idea what awaited me. How messy and how raw, how unpredictable and how out of control motherhood really was compared to the images I had in my mind from films, photos, paintings done by men.”

    Her images take you deep into that out-of-control place, her body no longer all her own, colonised by other dramatic forces. Her camera watches it all swell, as she pictures befores and afters: “Then I was an emerging artist, travelling around and going to art fairs and exhibitions and openings. Now I am a mother of two working on borrowed time hoping the years I’ve lost to mothering can be written into my CV without guilt and shame.”

  • Government promises robust crypto regulation

    Government promises robust crypto regulation

    The government has published proposals for crypto-asset regulation it hopes will “manage” the risks of the “turbulent industry”. 

    The sector has had a calamitous year, with assets collapsing in value by an estimated 75% from their peak of about $3 trillion in November 2021.

    Ministers estimate up to 10% of UK adults now own some form of crypto.

    They plan to use existing regulations for the industry, rather than creating a bespoke regime.

    The Treasury says that will allow crypto to benefit from the “confidence, credibility and regulatory clarity” of the existing system for financial services, as set out in the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA).

    It wants to create a level playing field between traditional and emerging financial services, where the principle is “same risk, same regulatory outcome”.

    But it also acknowledges some crypto businesses may simply choose to continue operating in offshore jurisdictions that “do not impose equivalent market-abuse rules”.

    The Treasury says its proposals – which it’s now consulting on – will:

    • lay down rules on crypto-asset promotions which are fair, clear and not misleading
    • enhance data-reporting requirements, including with regulators
    • implement new regulations to prevent so-called pump and dump, where an individual artificially inflates the value of a crypto asset before selling it

    Ministers say the measures will “mitigate the most significant risks” of crypto technologies, while “harnessing their advantages”. 

    Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith said the government remained “steadfast in our commitment to grow the economy and enable technological change and innovation – and this includes crypto-asset technology”.

    “But we must also protect consumers who are embracing this new technology – ensuring robust, transparent and fair standards,” he added.

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