The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Brookdale International Systems Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has announced a voluntary recall of the company’s emergency escape smoke hoods.

The emergency escape smoke hoods could fail to work properly, exposing the user to harmful carbon monoxide that could seriously compromise their ability to escape the fire threat.

The 290,000 recalled smoke hoods are one-time use respiratory devices that assist users with breathing while escaping a fire. They include a transparent plastic hood that covers the user's head and a canister that filters out toxic gases. "EVAC+™" or "EVAC-U8™" is printed on the canister. The smoke hoods were sold via Web sites, safety products retailers, catalogs and travel stores from September 2000 through March 2006 for about $75 for the EVAC-U8 and about $150 for the EVAC+.

Consumers should not use the smoke hoods and should contact Brookdale for information regarding a prorated refund. For more information, call the firm's recall hotline at 866-823-4416 between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. EDT Monday through Friday or visit the company’s Web site at www.evacsafety.com.