A mother's plea

We received the following plea from a mother in response to one of our Leisure eNewsletter stories that addresses cleanliness.

"My child just recently contracted bacterium from one of the places that only cleans their play balls once every 6 months. It has been over 6 months now and they still have not cleaned in the toddler section. My daughter is 1 1/2 and puts everything in her mouth. Scary to know this place could have killed her. If you know of anyone that regulates these places, I would be very interested.

I contacted my local health department, which contacted the place and told them to clean the ball pit. It has been 3 weeks and it is still not cleaned, but they do not have any regulations on this type stuff. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hope to save another child's life."

It is really sad that some operators have no respect for the health and safety of their customers and are giving the industry such a bad reputation.