OKLAHOMA CITY -
A News 9 investigation finds children are being killed
and critically injured because their parents believe they are mistaking a
dangerous product for apple juice.
Children across the country are grabbing
bottles of tiki torch fuel because it looks so much like apple juice. Now, an Oklahoma
two-year-old is dead and numerous children across the country have been injured
because for them, this warning comes too late.
There are a lot of smiles at Bettsy Bumpas' home. Her
children, Jaret and Eadyn fill the house with joy. Bettsy's youngest son
is missing from this table.
Bettsy said Jhonethyn was full of life. He was
very energetic and playful. He was excited about his two year birthday party at
an Oklahoma campsite. On June 9th, 2009 Jhonethyn took a big bite of cake
surrounded by family and tiki torches. His mother used them because the
flame carries bug repellant. Instead she said the bottle of torch fuel would
lure her son to his death.
Betsy purchased HOC manufactured Island Party fuel, unaware that one year
earlier New Jersey Poison control sent out a dire warning to residents that
four children had been injured and an elderly woman had died after mistaking
torch fuel for apple juice. Jhonethyn climbed on top of this picnic table
grabbed the bottle and drank it too. Bettsy can still hear his father scream.
Can still feel her world crashing down around her in the ER.
"Every time a nurse would open the door, we would beg
them to tell us what was going on," Bettsy said. "He was scared and I can
imagine in intense pain and they pushed us out of the room."
That was the last time Bettsy saw her son alive.
Bettsy has settled a lawsuit against HOC claiming product packaging put her son
at grave risk. Claims against torch fuel makers have also been filed following
the death of a child in Iowa and injuries in Ponca City, Tulsa and
Florida.
Attorney John Branum said, "You put that in a clear
plastic container in the shape of a juice bottle and you scent it and color it
to look like juice. It's a really, really dangerous situation."
We obtained Consumer Product Safety Commission
documents with page after page of child injuries but so far, torch fuel makers
have refused to bottle their products in non-see through packaging. HOC testified
the move would cost them little or nothing. News 9 found similar looking
torch fuel products. The fuel was at floor level, easily in the reach of children.
Bettsy
said, "I'll miss knowing they are going to miss out on that
experience of having the baby brother at home."
Desperate for change, Bettsy Bumpas filed a petition
asking the government to demand non-see through torch fuel container. In the
meantime, she wants families to know the product is now cloaked in a package
that can set off a devastating chain of events.
"Obviously there isn't anything I can do about
Jhonethyn," Bettsy said. "He's gone. But just the idea that we could prevent
families from sitting outside another emergency room waiting for their child to
die."
Since our interview with Bettsy Bumpas, her request
before the Consumer Product Safety Commission for a package change was denied.
The agency said they were only aware of one incident where the fuel was in its
original container and therefore, "...cannot determine see through packaging...
is more attractive to children."
As for that metro store that had the product here at
floor level the manager moved his fuel to higher shelves immediately
after our call. And the national chain tells me they will now monitor torch
fuel injuries as they consider whether to carry the product in the future.
HOC
did not return our calls
Children across the country are grabbing bottles of tiki torch fuel because it looks so much like apple juice.
