Cc Red Alert 3
Eunice Beady
FEMA, in coordination with the FCC, will conduct a nationwide test of both Wireless Emergency Alerts and the Emergency Alert System at approximately 2:20 p.m. on Wednesday, October 4, 2023. The WEA test alert will be sent to mobile phones nationwide. Additional details are available here.
No. In the nationwide WEA test, FEMA will send a test National Alert. Under the WARN Act, participating wireless carriers may offer their subscribers the capability to block all WEAs except National Alerts. Although it is possible to opt out from other types of WEAs, such as those warning of imminent threats and missing children, the FCC strongly urges the public to stay opted in to receive all these life-saving messages.
Wireless companies volunteer to participate in WEA, which is the result of a unique public/private partnership between the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the FCC, and the United States wireless industry in order to enhance public safety.
Authorized public safety officials send WEA alerts through FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) to participating wireless carriers, which then push the alerts to compatible mobile devices in the affected area.
The alerts are broadcast to the geographic area affected by an emergency. This means that if an alert is sent to a zone in New York, WEA-capable mobile devices in that zone can receive the alert, even if they are roaming or visiting from another state. In other words, a customer visiting from Chicago would be able to receive alerts in New York so long as the person has a WEA-enabled mobile device in the alert zone.
Consumers do not need to sign up for this service. WEA allows government officials to send emergency alerts to all subscribers with WEA-capable devices if their wireless carrier participates in the program.
A WEA alert appears on the screen of the recipient's handset as a text-like message. The alert is accompanied by a unique attention signal and vibration, which is particularly helpful to people with hearing or vision-related disabilities.
Yes. Consumers with prepaid phones can receive WEAs as long as their provider has decided to participate in WEA and the customer has a WEA-enabled device. These consumers receive the alerts just as customers with postpaid, monthly service do.
Consumers should check with their wireless carrier regarding the availability of WEA-capable handsets. In addition, CTIA, a wireless trade association, publishes lists of WEA-capable phones offered by the largest wireless providers.
Participation in WEA by wireless carriers is widespread but voluntary. Some carriers may offer WEA over all or parts of their service areas or over all or only some of their wireless devices. Other carriers may not offer WEA at all. Even if you have a WEA-enabled device, you would not receive WEAs in a service area where the provider is not offering WEA or if your device is roaming on a provider network that does not support the WEA service. Consumers should check with their wireless carriers to determine the extent to which they are offering WEA.
Partially. Participating wireless carriers may offer subscribers with WEA-capable handsets the ability to block alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life and/or AMBER Alerts. Consumers cannot block National Alerts.
To receive a WEA message, your handset must be WEA-capable, switched on, not on "airplane mode," and in the vicinity of and receiving service from a cell tower of a wireless carrier that participates in WEA.
WEA geographic precision is continuously improving. When the WEA program launched, participating wireless providers were generally required to send the alerts to a geographic area no larger than the county or counties affected by the emergency. Next, beginning in 2017, participating wireless providers were required to transmit alerts to a geographic area that best approximated the area affected by the emergency, even if it was smaller than a county. Now, as of December 2019, participating wireless providers must geographically target alerts to technologically compatible phones even more: they must deliver the alerts to the area specified by the alert originator with no more than a 1/10 of a mile overshoot.
This "enhanced geotargeting" relies on new smartphone technology and will be increasingly available as consumers upgrade their devices. CTIA, a U.S. wireless association, estimates that about 83 percent of consumers' smartphones support this enhancement in 2023, an increase from about 60 percent in 2022, 34 percent in 2021, and 18 percent in 2020. WEA-compatible phones that do not support enhanced geotargeting will still receive alerts based on the 2017 geographic area requirements.
No, the FCC does not send alerts. WEA alert originators include other federal agencies (such as the National Weather Service) and state and local government authorities. Alerts from authenticated public safety officials are sent through FEMA's IPAWS system to participating wireless carriers.
Wireless service customers should check with their wireless service provider to find out if their cell phone or mobile device is WEA-capable. Not all wireless service providers offer WEA, and some participating wireless service providers may offer WEA on some, but not all, of their mobile devices, and in some, but not all, of their service areas.
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Through product testing, the FDA has determined that the ground cinnamon products listed in the table below contain elevated levels of lead and that prolonged exposure to these products may be unsafe.
The FDA is advising consumers to throw away and not to buy these ground cinnamon products. The FDA has recommended that the firms voluntarily recall these products, with the exception of the MTCI cinnamon. The FDA has been unable to reach MTCI to share our findings and request that the company initiate a recall. The FDA will update this notice with the communications from firms that voluntarily agree to recall as we receive them.
Following the October 2023 recall of cinnamon apple puree and applesauce products due to elevated lead levels linked to the cinnamon in those products and the concern for lead toxicity in children, the FDA initiated a targeted survey of ground cinnamon products from discount retail stores and analyzed the samples for lead and chromium.
Based on results from the survey, the FDA is recommending recalls of ground cinnamon from six distributors whose products had elevated lead levels ranging from 2.03 to 3.4 parts per million (ppm) (see table above for a full list of lead levels in these products). These levels are significantly lower than the levels of lead associated with the ongoing investigation into ground cinnamon from Ecuador supplied by Negasmart to Austrofoods, the manufacturer of the apple puree and applesauce products, which were between 2,270 ppm to 5,110 ppm in the cinnamon.
The FDA will continue to work with manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to remove unsafe products from the market, and to further investigate the sources of the lead contamination as appropriate.
The FDA is also continuing its Toxic Elements monitoring program, which includes testing of a variety of foods including colored spices offered for sale in the U.S. Our sampling at import has prevented some cinnamon with elevated lead levels from entering U.S. commerce; however, like all of our surveillance activities, these monitoring programs only evaluate a subset of the commodity being imported. FDA will follow-up on these findings as well as continue our activities at import to prevent unsafe cinnamon from reaching consumers in the U.S., including by adding firms and products to import alert where appropriate. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the manufacturers and the importers to ensure the safety of the products that enter into the U.S. market.
The FDA also sent a letter to all cinnamon manufacturers, processors, distributors, and facility operators in the U.S. reminding them of the requirement to implement controls to prevent contamination from potential chemical hazards in food, including in ground cinnamon products. The FDA will continue to work with firms to ensure they are meeting their responsibilities under provisions of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food rule.
The potential for adverse health effects from consuming food contaminated with lead vary depending on the level of lead in the food; age of the consumer; length, amount, and frequency of exposure to lead in the food; and other exposures to different sources of lead. For example, the very young are particularly vulnerable to the potential harmful effects from lead exposure because of their smaller body sizes and rapid metabolism and growth. High levels of exposure to lead in utero, infancy, and early childhood can lead to neurological effects such as learning disabilities, behavior difficulties, and lowered IQ.
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