Nantucket Distributing Co. is voluntarily recalling about 28,000 Galileo thermometers. The thermometers contain a liquid that is flammable and a hazardous substance that could be harmful or fatal if swallowed. There have been five reports of thermometers breaking, resulting in two injuries. A man suffered burns to his hands when the thermometer broke near a stove and ignited his clothing. Another man suffered smoke inhalation when extinguishing a fire caused by candles igniting a broken thermometer.
The thermometers are made of glass. They are cylinder- shaped measuring about 17-inches high. Inside the cylinder are floating small glass spheres filled with various colors of liquid. Attached to each sphere is a metal disk with different temperatures embossed on both sides. The spheres float up and down within the cylinder to identify a temperature based on their position within the cylinder. A small gold sticker that says "Made in China" is on the bottom of the cylinder. The Christmas Tree Shops Inc.
in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Albany, New York sold these thermometers from June 2000 through December 2000 for $12.99.
Consumers should stop using these thermometers immediately and return them to the Christmas Tree Shops Inc. where purchased for a refund. For more information, consumers should call Christmas Tree Shops Inc. at (800) 876-9677 anytime, or visit the firm's web site at
www.christmastreeshops.com.The recall is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
