Your baby's crib. It should be, it must be, the safest product in your family's home. For millions of parents, precious dollars are invested in a new crib as the centerpiece of the nursery. Parents expect their crib to be free of hazards and for their baby to sleep safely -- so do we at the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
In an effort to rid the marketplace, homes and day care centers of dangerous cribs, CPSC has announced today the recall of numerous cribs that pose a risk of death or serious injury to young children. I realize many parents are saying, " Not again! When will this stop?" I feel the same way. My answer to parents is that we at CPSC are working to correct this situation.
I believe that the safety and well being of your baby must come first. Our plan is to recall all of the remaining cribs that have hazardous drop sides or mattress supports, finalize a new and improved mandatory crib safety standard this year and drive manufacturers and retailers to bring a new generation of cribs to the market.
So what do we need you to do? You need to check your crib. If you have one of more than 2 million cribs made by Childcraft, Delta, Evenflo, Jardine, LaJobi, Million Dollar Baby, and Simmons that we just recalled, contact the company immediately to get a free repair or voucher.
Why act now? Because sadly, we are aware of 32 children who have died since January 2000 because of drop-side and hardware defects in cribs. There have been hundreds of incidents caused by or related to drop-side detachments in cribs. This is far too many deaths and near deaths.
The first major public sign of problems for drop-side cribs came with the Simplicity recall in 2007. The recall made national news for days and was the start of a drumbeat of additional drop-side crib recalls - Storkcraft, Delta, Dorel Asia, Generation 2 and many others. We must bring this era to a close.
Crib manufacturers associated with the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association are now providing free drop-side crib immobilization repair kits to prevent drop sides from detaching and free replacement hardware and assembly instructions.
CPSC urges parents and caregivers to contact these companies, get immobilizers for their drop-side cribs and install them. Log onto www.cpsc.gov/cribs or Cribsafety.org for more details.
Many manufacturers have now stopped making drop-side cribs, opting instead for cribs with a drop-gate or cribs that sit lower to the ground. These are good options, since older cribs, especially those more than 10 years old, can pose serious safety risks.
My view is that this many recalls with the same or similar type of problem cannot continue and a piecemeal approach in addressing such problems is not the answer. It must be addressed with a preventative, systematic solution. That's the approach CPSC is taking now to bring an end to this story.
CPSC stands for safety and is working tirelessly to ensure safe sleep for all babies.