Hair today, gone tomorrow" may well be your fate if you are using any of the "imported" brands of hair dryers that the Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC) tested at its laboratory in Ahmedabad. None of the eight "phoren" brands tested met safety norms set by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Unsafe electrical products like hair dryers could mean nasty shocks, fire or worse.

The test, details of which were published in Insight, a consumer magazine, revealed that none of the brands (Crown, National, Mounolax, Barbara 1100, Barbara 1350, Saifox, Grace and Super Diana) passed the endurance test (meant to check the life of the dryer). None of them had the complete labelling information (or the manufacturer's address) as required by law. Some of the brands caught fire during testing, and two of the brands (Crown and Barbara 1100) could not cope with voltage fluctuations and stopped working. The electrical connections in Grace, Barbara 1350, Barbara 1100 and Saifox brands were unprotected, increasing the chances of short circuits. Some brands marked "dual voltage" (220/110) failed to work at 110 volts.

Substandard hair dryers are particularly dangerous because they are used on wet hair, and moisture in faulty electrical appliances can be deadly, literally. CERC has taken up the matter with the regulatory authority to check the entry of such products into the Indian market.

CERC has drawn the attention of the minister for consumer affairs to the proliferation of sub-standard imported electrical goods (compressed fluorescent lamps, mini-immersion heaters in coffee makers, food mixers) in the market, following liberalisation of the import laws. Given the weakness that many Indians have for anything "phoren", from furniture and footwear to soaps and chiffons, it is not surprising that appliance manufacturers are trying to cash in on this craze by dumping unsafe goods at low prices that seem attractive. The next time someone tries to sell you "imported"stuff, pause before you pay.

-Sakuntala Narasimhan

Blind Spot

World Sight Day observed last week was an eye opener for many. A survey on optical health of schoolchildren conducted by Vision Improvement Experts' Working Council (view) revealed that 49 per cent of children in India were unaware they had vision defects. view found very little has changed in optical health consciousness since its last survey in 2001. Two lakh children in 40 cities including Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Hyderabad and cities in Punjab and Gujarat were studied.

Lucknow has the highest number of children (also read parents) blind to the need for vision correction-66 per cent did not know they needed spectacles. Considering that 25 per cent of the world's visually challenged are Indians, it is high time parents, teachers and the children themselves looked vision correction squarely in the eye.

-Shefalee Vasudev