By TSC Staff

It's a tragedy that boggles the mind.  This week, Boxer Mike Tyson's four-year-old daughter Exodus was found hanging from a cord connected to a treadmill.  She had been playing near the exercise equipment while her mother was cleaning in a separate room.  Her seven-year-old-brother found her body entangled in the cord.

Exodus's death is another reminder that there really are no true baby-proof cords connected to the things we use every day.  Indeed, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says there were about 200 strangulations involving window coverings between 1991 and 2004.  Almost all of these deaths involved children in cribs or playpens placed next to windows.  The industry has since redesigned window coverings to protect against deadly looping, but older coverings still pose a danger.

Tyson's death is also a reminder that machinery we take for granted can pose a real danger to children. An estimated 25,000 children are hurt on exercise equipment every year and some 2,600 kids are treated for treadmill-related injures, according to ABC News.  Most of the injuries involve friction burns.

So, what can you do to protect your kids?

Here is Diane C. Lade's excellent article in the Sun-Sentinel of Florida:

The tragic death of boxer Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter may seem like a freak occurrence.

Yet almost 5,500 kids younger than 5 were treated in emergency rooms in 2006 and 2007 for treadmill-related injuries, according to statistics from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Most had cuts, bruises and scrapes, primarily on the hands or fingers; one child's injury required an amputation. Thirty-two percent of the children had their hands caught in or on the treadmill, in some cases suffering serious friction burns.

"We heard of kids getting burns reaching under the machinery while it was running, going after a ball or a toy," said Gayle Williams, deputy health editor forConsumer Reports, which tested treadmills and other home exercise equipment for its February issue.

Consumer Reports researchers noticed burns were more likely to occur with treadmills than with stationary bikes and elliptical trainers, Williams said. The CPSC data show treadmills and bikes, along with stair climbers, are the home exercise devices that pose the greatest hazard to youngsters.

"I think people forget, when they get comfortable with the equipment, that it's heavy machinery, and it can be dangerous," Williams said. "Kids don't belong on the equipment when it is in use or otherwise."

Dr. Peter Antevy, a pediatric emergency room physician at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, said hanging cords also put young children at risk.

Police in Phoenix said there was a cord hanging from the console of the treadmill in Tyson's house and that his daughter had slipped or put her head in the loop, which then tightened, according to The Associated Press.

Antevy said he saw many cord injuries, including some that were fatal, at Los Angeles and Pittsburgh childrens hospitals.

"There are no babyproof cords out there," Antevy said. "A child can just wrap it around his or her neck, and by the time a parent gets there, it's too late."

Parents should take these steps to prevent home exercise equipment or other cord-related accidents:

• Do not allow children on or near exercise equipment when it's in use.
• When not using a machine, unplug it or keep it in a locked room.
• Do not put furniture near windows, where children could climb up to get to vertical blind cords.
• Mount cords at least 5 feet above the floor if possible, so youngsters can't reach them.
• Do not tie loops in a cord; instead, use a device to tie it to the sill.