This report was
scanned from hardcopy.
Senator
John Kerry Letter to CPSC, June 2008
"It is my understanding that the
CPSC expressed serious concerns regarding ionization
detectors as early as 1995."
"Yet, the CPSC still has not acted
to remove the alarms from the market, nor has the
CPSC warned the consumers as to the potential
drawbacks of ionized detectors."
The National Institute for
Standards and Testing (NIST) has found that on
average, a photoelectric detector is 30 minutes
faster in detecting smoldering fires than an ionized
detector. The highest percentage of deaths
caused by smoldering fires occurs while people are
sleeping, when the operation of a smoke detector is
critical..... Four years ago NIST reached the
conclusion that ionization detectors sometimes fail
in smoldering fires, even when visibility is
significantly degraded by smoke."
"Several studies show that the
ionization smoke detector is many times more likely
to be disabled than photoelectric detectors."
"The ionization smoke alarms
susceptibility to nuisance alarms (leading to
disablement) and inadequate response to smoldering
fires could be responsible for hundreds of needless
deaths each year."
See Page
88 of PDF
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