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"  Smith and Noble announced yesterday that they are recalling about 1.3 million blinds, including Roman shades and roller shades. The blinds were sold online and through catalog sales nationwide from 1998 through April 2010. It&amp;#039;s important for consumers to know window shades and blinds pose potential hazards for children if cords \u00AD- whether pull cords in the front or ones in the rear, or even inner pull cords - can become looped around a child&amp;#039;s neck. Strangulations in Roman shades are the result of a child placing his or her neck between the fabric and the rear cord. In roll-up blinds, strangulations occur when a child&amp;#039;s neck becomes entangled on the freestanding loop.  Parents and anyone who has a home where children live or visit must examine all window coverings to make sure there are absolutely no accessible cords on the front, side, center, or rear of the product. Any shades or blinds with accessible cords should be replaced by cordless window coverings.  Here are other important safety tips to protect your child from the hazards posed by window coverings.  Do not place cribs, beds, and furniture in children&amp;#039;s bedrooms or playrooms close to windows. When shopping, look for cordless honeycomb shades; their inner cords are completely inaccessible, as fabric covers both the front and back sides of the cords. Another good choice: Roller shades that are lifted and lowered by pushing and pulling the bottom of the shade. The Window Covering Safety Council, a coalition of major U.S. manufacturers, importers and retailers of window coverings, teamed up with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to offer a voluntary corrective action plan covering roman-style shades and roll-up blinds to prevent the potential hazard of strangulation to young children. They are offering free retrofit kits for roman style fabric looped and flat panel shades and roll up blinds online.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a22925/smith-and-noble-recalls-roman-and-roller-shades/>