Thread: Largest crib recall in U.S. history announced

Largest crib recall in U.S. history announced
Suffocation danger tied to 2.1 million drop-side cribs made by Stork Craft


NBC, msnbc.com and news services
Nov . 23, 2009


Government safety regulators say more than 2.1 million drop-side cribs by Stork Craft Manufacturing are being recalled, the biggest crib recall in U.S. history.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the recall involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and almost 1 million in Canada, where Stork Craft is based.

Nearly 150,000 of the cribs on recall carry the Fisher-Price logo.

The agency is aware of four deaths of young children who suffocated in the cribs, which have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily.

The Stork Craft cribs have had problems with their hardware, which can break, or with assembly mistakes by the crib owner.

The danger is that a child's head can get caught between the mattress and the side railing, if it separates from the crib.

This is not the first time cribs have been recalled due to such fears. Nearly 5 million cribs by several manufacturers have been recalled over the past two years, including half a million from Stork Craft earlier this year, and the CPSC has considered banning drop-down sides altogether.

"Drop-side cribs, because of the amount of hardware that's involved, because it weakens the structure of the crib itself have been involved in numerous deaths and injuries, crib failures where the side may come loose or come off," said Nancy Cowles, of the advocacy group Kids in Danger.

Stork Craft is one of the most widely purchased brand names in baby cribs, with products sold at some of the biggest retailers in the country, including Target, WalMart, Sears and Kmart.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34116399?GT1=43001

Health Canada admits it didn't act on crib safety until U.S. sent info


By Sarah Schmidt
Canwest News Service
November 25, 2009


OTTAWA — Health Canada received the first of 28 consumer complaints about the newly recalled Stork Craft cribs 14 years ago, but failed to identify a safety hazard until the department pooled these details in recent months with information from American authorities, Canwest News Service has learned.

Among the complaints were incidents of a baby falling out or becoming trapped in the side rail and others related to broken plastic hardware.

"It was not until the Canadian and U.S. incident data were pooled, and an aggregate review of all reported incidents, including the four American deaths, was conducted, that Health Canada and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission determined that a product-related hazard existed and that a recall was warranted," Health Canada said in a statement Wednesday.

That review began on Aug. 20, 2009, when the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission "apprised" Health Canada of the "American situation." This included four infant deaths in Stork Craft drop-side cribs between January 2007 and May 2009.

That's when the two government agencies began "working co-operatively to determine if a safety hazard existed" with the Stork Craft crib.

"As a result of the initial investigative efforts" that began on Aug. 20, Health Canada upgraded the file to a formal recall investigation on Oct. 8 to negotiate a voluntary recall with the British Columbia company and to approve the proposed repair kit to affix the drop-side, Health Canada confirmed Wednesday.

This process resulted in the recall this week of over 2.1 million cribs in North America, including nearly one million sold in Canada since 1993. In the United States, there were 67 incidents reported, including four suffocation deaths between January 2007 and May 2009.

In Health Canada's recall alert, the department revealed it was aware of 43 incidents, including three non-fatal entrapments.

On Wednesday, Health Canada said it knew of most of these incidents independently of the U.S. commission dating back to 1995, but learned of 15 on Aug. 20 from American authorities.

One of the complaints lodged with Health Canada about problems with hardware came from Toronto mother Jennifer Martins.

She called Health Canada's consumer product branch in late July 2008 about her concerns after she walked into her son's room to breastfed her three-month old boy. The drop-side rail had detached and fallen down.

"My biggest concern was him falling out of the crib, but he could have suffocated. Anything could have happened depending on what happened with the side rail," she recalled telling a Health Canada product safety officer.

In response to her complaint, the Health Canada officer quickly followed up with an e-mail dated July 28, 2008.

"I have logged your complaint into our database and referred to the appropriate safety inspector for followup. Furthermore, if I learn of any specific information that is related to your complaint/incident I will contact you," according to the correspondence obtained by Canwest News Service.

"That's the last thing I ever heard. I certainly never heard from them again," said Martins, who received a free replacement crib from Stork Craft after also complaining directly to the company, which sent a representative to her home to set it up for her.

During Wednesday's question period in the House of Commons, NDP health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis pressed Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to release details.

"The facts are these: 43 incidents in Canada, including three entrapments going back several years. This government didn't even look into it until August the 20th when the United States come to them with information," Wasylycia-Leis said.

"What if the Americans hadn't called?"

Aglukkaq responded by telling the Commons the current consumer product safety legislation is outdated and needs to be overhauled to give Health Canada greater powers.

Ottawa's proposed consumer product safety legislation, endorsed unanimously by the Commons in June, would require companies to immediately share any serious incident reports with Health Canada. It also would grant Health Canada the power to order mandatory recalls; currently, a company has to agree to issue a voluntary recall.

The legislation is currently stalled in the Senate, where the Liberal critic says the bill is overreaching and too tough on businesses. The legislation can only pass with the support of Liberal senators, who form a majority in the upper chamber.

Declining to provide any specifics about complaints fielded by Health Canada, Aglukkaq later told reporters that department officials follow up on every consumer complaint.

"For every time that we do receive any complaint on any product, we then investigate and work with the industry and try and discover whether in fact, this is in fact happening across the country. Like I said, the current legislation is 40 years old. It's very inadequate for surveillance."

http://www.canada.com/business/Health+C ... story.html