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Analysis:
Child Products Pose Dangers
By Al Swanson
United Press International
March 25,
2005
Consumers are growing
more concerned about the safety of products -- from cribs, strollers and baby
carriers to toys like yo-yo water balls -- that are marketed for use by young
children.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has been protecting consumers since
1973 and has jurisdiction over more than 15,000 kinds of products. Last year,
federal product safety regulators issued 87 recalls of children's products --
more than 156 million individual items, Kids In Danger, a non-profit child
advocacy group, said in its annual report.
Toys accounted for 42 percent of 2004 recalls, sports and athletic equipment 20
percent, clothing 16 percent, nursery products 14 percent and furniture 9
percent.
The biggest recall of the year was for 150 million toy necklaces made in India.
They sold for about 50 cents each in vending machines and posed a lead-poisoning
hazard to young children.
The second largest recall was of 1 million children's toy rings also made in
India and sold in vending machines for 25 cents to 75 cents each that also had
excessive levels of lead.
Old Navy recalled 666,000 sets of children's zipped outwear made in Korea,
Vietnam and the Philippines because the plastic zipper can detach posing a
choking hazard to children.
Eight companies recalled more than one product.
Graco Children's Products Inc. of Exton, Pa., the nation's largest maker of
children's products, had the most reported injuries. The company was fined a
record $4 million this week for failing to report defects in 16 products -- more
than 12 million units -- from high chairs to strollers in a timely manner to the
CPSC.
Graco recalled 1.2 million U.S.-made Toddler Beds Tuesday after 77 children were
injured by limbs slipping between slats in guard rails and the footboard.
Thirteen children suffered broken arms or legs, one a broken foot and 55 others
had sprains, bruises and scratches.
The recalled baby beds were sold at discount, juvenile and department stores
from February 1994 through March 2001 for $50 to $70.
Literally millions of products and toys previously recalled are still out there
posing danger to children, said the Kids In Danger study, "Hazards of Child's
Play: Children's Product Recalls in 2004."
Only seven states have laws banning use of recalled products in childcare
facilities.
"How many more reports must be released about dangerous children's products
before Congress responds? How many more recalls must be issued before Congress
strengthens federal regulations so that dangerous children's products never make
it into our homes, childcare centers, and pre-schools in the first place?" Rep.
Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., asked at a
Chicago news conference.
Schakowsky advocates creation of a
national seal of approval on child products. She plans to reintroduce the Infant
and Toddler Durable Product Safety Act, legislation that would demonstrate
children's products had been independently tested and met required national
safety standards.
Congress had hearings on child product safety last year but failed to enact any
changes in mandatory safety standards.
Schakowsky said legislation passed
24 years ago prohibits the Consumer Product Safety Commission from establishing
mandatory standards for most products.
"It is clear that the current regimen does not work. It leaves our children in
danger. Children's products are tested in our own homes, with our children and
grandchildren as test dummies," she said. "The cost of those tests can be a
panicked child, bruised fingers, a near-strangulation, fractured skulls, or a
dead child. My legislation would guarantee that no swing, baby carrier or crib
is sold without first being tested and meeting national safety standards."
The risk of bodily injury was the most common hazard posed by children's
products in 2004 and was responsible for 39 recalls.
Graco recalled 140,000 Travel-Lite Swings after 128 incidents and injuries. A
handle on the swing can move out of position striking a child's head, and the
3-point seat belt failed to sufficiently restrict the child's movement to
prevent them from falling forward.
Kids In Danger Executive Director Nancy Cowles said a year-old Canadian boy was
killed in a Graco Pack N' Play playpen last week when his neck was caught in its
removable changing table and rim.
Graco and CPSC issued a warning label on the playpen in 2003 but the product was
not recalled.
"Unintended injuries are the leading cause of death for children under the age
of 4, and many of these deaths are a result of unsafe products,"
Schakowsky said. "Congress has a
moral obligation to protect the life of every child because a child who is
injured, disabled or dies as a result of an untested, unsafe product is a one
child too many."
Kids In Danger said the story on child product safety had not changed since it
began reporting on children's product recalls in 2002: with repeat offenders,
clear violations of federal regulations on choking hazards, injuries and deaths
from products brought to market without adequate testing. The report recommended
increasing CPSC staff and funding, lifting a cap on fines for violations of
manufacturer's self-reporting requirements to encourage compliance, and
including product registration cards for the purpose of notifying consumers when
a product is found defective or is recalled.
The group, founded in 1998 by a couple whose 16-month-old son was killed by a
portable crib, said when millions of anything is sold it is virtually impossible
to retrieve and warned children should not be guinea pigs.
Ask Lisa Lipin, a Skokie, Ill., mother whose young son almost strangled while
playing with a yo-yo water ball toy.
"Let's think about the 100-plus children who have died in their bathtubs while
sitting in a bath seat. Let's think about the many children who have died in
cribs and playpens that collapsed. Let's think about the nearly 400 children who
have been injured in the past two years by a cheap toy known as the yo-yo water
ball, and let us pray that a child does not die of strangulation while playing
with this toy," she wrote recently in a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times.
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