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NEWS > 2003
In addition to providing information pertaining to our organization, KID provides brief updates on current children's product safety information and events.
Contents of this Issue:
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(2003 December) A new
safer portable crib could be available sooner then you think. As part of KID's
Teach Early Safety Testing (TEST), KID worked with four engineering seniors at
the University of Michigan to develop a safer portable crib. The top rails of
the students' crib eliminate the downward V-shape design that can collapse
creating a strangulation hazard that has killed at least sixteen children. As
part of the project, the students reviewed Federal and voluntary safety
standards, previous incidents and current crib designs. The students are
currently applying for a provisional patent, which will protect their design as
they refine it. Read
news coverage.
Special thanks to Underwriters Laboratories Inc. for helping to fund Teach Early
Safety Testing (TEST).
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2003 October 3 In early
October, a six-year-old boy from Vernon Hills, Illinois was killed when a
soccer goal collapsed on top of him fracturing his skull.
Read ABC coverage This is just one of many deaths and serious injuries
caused by soccer goals that are not anchored in the ground.
Daniel's Task Force for Safer Soccer Goals reports that there have been
27 deaths and 49 serious injuries due to soccer goals from 1973 to 2003. The
typical tip-over incident happens when a child or young adult climbs on or
hangs from the crossbar of a soccer goal which is not anchored, although in
some incidents the unanchored goal was blown onto the victim by a gust of wind.
Read the Consumer Product Safety Commissions suggestions to keep soccer
goals safe.
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2003 October 10 On October
10, 2003, KID released
A False Sense of Security: Recall Histories of Leading Children's Manufacturers
(1993-2003). This report focuses on the recall histories of major
children's product brand names over the past ten years. Parents often assume
that popular brand names are safe. However, as the report shows, major brands
can have poor safety records. Companies like Cosco, Graco, Evenflo, and
Playskool have high injury and recall rates. In the past ten years, Graco
products have caused 11 deaths and Kolcraft products are responsible for 7
deaths. Without mandatory safety testing, any children's products, regardless
of brand name, can prove dangerous. Ben Edmunds of the
Coalition for Consumer Rights joined Nancy Cowles and Kate Grady to
announce the findings of the report at the press release. The release was
covered by Telemundo, Fox UPN, CLTV, WBEZ, Illinois New Network, and the
Chicago Sun Times.
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2003 September As KID
reported in our January 2003 Email Alert, 13-month-old Elizabeth Davis was
killed in a
portable crib with a changing table attachment on December 19 of last
year. The baby suffocated between the crib and the changing table. This month
CPSC and the crib’s manufacturer, Graco, stopped short of a recall of the
product and announced new safety instructions and warning labels for the
product. Parents and caregivers using this type of product should carefully
review the instruction manual and warnings and remove all attachments prior to
use as a playpen or crib. Elizabeth’s story appears in KID’s fall
newsletter Action out next month.
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2003 July 25 On Friday July
25, 2003, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
of Illinois introduced the Infant and Toddler Durable Product Safety Act (HR
2911) in the House of Representatives. Her statement of introduction can be
found
here. If passed, the Act would help to prevent dangerous children's
products from getting to the market by setting mandatory standards and
requiring independent testing of all durable infant and toddler products before
they are sold. The bill has been referred to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce. You can find the bill summary, text
and co-sponsors on the Library of Congress Thomas
website.
Right now there are 13 co-sponsors; our goal is to see 60 co-sponsors by the
time the bill is heard in committee. Current co-sponsors include:
Congressman Baird (WA)
Congresswoman Carson (IN)
Congresswoman Davis (CA)
Congressman Davis (IL)
Congresswoman DeLauro (CT)
Congressman Emanuel (IL)
Congressman Lynch (MA)
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Congressman Moran (VA)
Congresswoman Norton (DC)
Congressman Owens (NY)
Congressman Payne (NJ)
Congressman Ross (AR)
Congresswoman Schakowsky (IL)
Congressman Schiff (CA)
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The passage of this bill would be a huge step forward in the fight for
children's product safety. Undoubtedly, many injuries would be prevented and
lives saved. Please contact your congressional representative and find out
their position on HR 2911 as well as their willingness to join the list of
co-sponsors. Contact information can be found on the
United States House of Representatives website or in your local phone
book.
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2003 July 18 On Friday, July
18, the family of Jared Adams announced that a $2.6 million settlement has been
reached in the lawsuit against Evenflo Co., the manufacturer of the portable
crib that killed the baby. In 1997, Jared died at age 8 1/2 months when the
hinge on the top rail of his crib collapsed and crushed his chest. To date,
this is the largest settlement in an infant death case and does not include any
secrecy agreement. At the time of Jared's death, the crib had killed two other
infants. As discovered through the lawsuit, Evenflo was aware of the two deaths
as well as many other reports of collapsing siderails but had done nothing to
remove the deadly cribs from the market.
"They knew. They definitely knew," said Pam Adams, Jared's mother and
a Kids In Danger Family Advisory Committee member. As a result of Jared Adams
death, the company recalled the
Happy Camper portable crib as well as the Happy Cabana and Kiddie
Camper models. 1.2 million portable cribs of these models were sold between
1989 and 1997. However, unlike other companies, Evenflo simply supplies hinge
covers that must be attached and removed each time the crib is moved, rather
than replacing the product or providing a refund. There have been 15 known
deaths of children in portable cribs of this design when the rails collapsed
and the infant was trapped in the V-shape of the rails.
Because so many of these cribs were sold in the 1990's, it is imperative that
parents check
to make sure no crib of this type is in use in their home or childcare. As with
all children's products, parents should consult the Consumer
Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for recalls of cribs and playyards.
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2003 July 1 If you believe
some of the claims on packaging of sleep positioners and wedges, you might
think these products help prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) by
keeping the baby positioned on its back or side. But the
First Candle/SIDS Alliance warns parents that it is no different than
other soft bedding materials and pillows and should not be in the crib with
babies. Judy and Mark Sage lost their twin 2 month old son Andrew in January
2002 when he suffocated on the Graco 2-in-1 Sleep Positioner in his crib. The
Sages have alerted the US Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) to the death and they are conducting an
investigation.
Like most children's products, there are no mandatory standards or testing for
these positioning devices and no voluntary standards exist either. The best
advice of pediatricians and others is to place healthy babies to sleep on their
backs and avoid loose or soft bedding in the crib. According to Dr. Bradley
Thach in July 2002 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, "baby stores sell
wedges to help keep an infant on her side, but the American Academy of
Pediatrics doesn't endorse them. The wedges act like pillows and block
oxygen."
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2003 June 25 The
April 4 recall of the Lamaze Flower Stroller Wrap and Lamaze Soft Bead Buddies
shocked the Chicago lead abatement community. These toys are manufactured by
Learning Curve, who has a good reputation for toys that stimulate cognitive
development — one of the things stunted by lead poisoning.
Children's advocates including Jerome Stermer of Voices for Illinois Children,
Amy Zimmerman of Children's Health and Education Project of the Chicago
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Kids In Danger signed a
letter to Curt Stoelting and Peter Henseler of the Learning Curve asking for a
meeting to discuss how to make this an effective recall; how to increase the
public awareness of the dangers of lead and how to avoid such hazardous
mistakes in the future. There has been no response to date from the company.
For information, contact Amy Zimmerman.
For more information on lead, visit www.chicagolead.org.
Read May 16th letter to Messrs.
Stoetling and Henseler of RC2
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2003 May 21 KID Executive
Director Nancy Cowles traveled to Bethesda, Maryland last week to attend a
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) sponsored meeting on
recall effectiveness.
The theme of the meeting was "Motivating Consumers to Respond to
Recalls." CPSC gathered a group of public relations and marketing
professionals to address this question. They came up with many creative ideas
and spoke of the need to develop targeted messages about recalls; most felt a
broadcast message was ineffective in reaching the intended consumers. Given
CPSC's lack of regulatory authority, it is unclear if they will be able to
require manufacturers to implement more effective recall outreach campaigns.
Consumers groups were not on the panel, but were allowed to ask questions or
make comments at the end of the day. KID spoke of the need to test products
before they are sold and to reach out to parents through pre-established
relationships such as health care and childcare. Other consumer groups
attending were the Consumer
Federation of America,
Consumer's Union, SAFE
KIDS, and the Danny
Foundation.
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2003 May 19
KID held its annual Best Friend Award Night, on May 5, 2003 in
Chicago. Approximately 115 guests joined us at Monsoon to honor three public
officials who have advocated for children's product safety on the local,
state and national levels.
The 2003 Best Friend Awards were presented by KID Co-Founders Linda Ginzel and Boaz Keysar and KID Executive Director Nancy
Cowles to Caroline O. Shoenberger, Chicago Commissioner of Consumer
Services, Carol Ronen, Illinois State Senator, and Jan Schakowsky, U.S.
Representative. Both Congresswoman Schakowsky and Commissioner Shoenberger
spoke compellingly about their dedication to children's product safety and
plans to continue to pave the way for safer children's products. Kate
Sachnoff of the Early Childhood Network of Edgewater and Rogers Park
accepted the award on behalf of Senator Ronen who could not attend. The
event gave KID an excellent opportunity to salute the work of our 2003 Best
Friends, celebrate our accomplishments over the past five years, and
remember Danny Keysar and other victims of dangerous children's products. We
are pleased that this year's fundraiser also helped increase KID's profile
in the community by alerting many more individuals about our mission to
protect children. NBC 5
in Chicago showed a report of the event on their 10:00 news that evening.
Thank you to all who supported KID's Best Friend Award Night through
ticket sales, individual donations, advertisements in our event program book
and silent auction purchases. The event was a great success: revenues
exceeded $20,000, a 23% increase from last year's fundraiser. Proceeds from
the Best Friend Award Night directly benefit KID's vital work to protect
children by improving children's product safety.
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2003 February 19 KID
released a new report today detailing the danger to children from recalled
juvenile products. A Minefield of Danger: Children's Product Recalls in 2002
reviews all children's products recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) last year. Over 11 million individual items may cause serious
injury or death to children.
A Minefield of Danger finds that of 210 products recalled by the CPSC in
2002, 90 were items intended for use by or care of children (43%). Moreover,
children's products caused half of all injuries from products recalled by the
CPSC in 2002.
To respond to the report's findings, KID is announcing new education and
awareness campaigns. Don't Learn About Recalls from Your Child is KID's
new workshop package that organizations, licensing agencies and parent groups
can use to educate themselves about the children's product safety system.
Click here to download an order form for the workshop package or
related flyer.
Test It Now! is a grassroots awareness campaign for children's product
safety that is working to move manufacturers and the government closer to
mandatory standards and safety testing for durable children's products.
Visit our publications
page for a copy of the report and a related fact sheet.
Click here to read the report press release.
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2003 January 22 On
December 19, 2002 a 13-month-old Arizona girl was killed in a portable crib
with a changing table attachment. It was a newly purchased item and the family
was not aware of any warning not to use the portable crib with the changing
table in place. The baby suffocated between the crib and the changing table.
Parents and caregivers using this type of product should carefully review the
instruction manual and warnings or remove all attachments prior to use as a
playpen or crib.
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