Following the reports of infant and toddler deaths due to faulty cribs, major crib manufacturers have agreed to perform tougher safety tests on cribs, the Chicago Tribune reports.
This agreement represents a victory for consumer advocates who have pushed for years for stronger tests in the wake of the 32 reported deaths due to faulty drop-side cribs.
The crib-makers agreed on a voluntary safety standard with more stringent tests that simulate the stresses an infant would likely put on a crib. Usually even a one broken slat, a missing screw or loose mattress support can turn a crib into a death trap, so the new tests have been designed to flag and eliminate potentially risky cribs with slats, hardware, wood or mattress supports that are too weak.
The hazards in the recalled cribs, like Simplicity and Graco, were due to faulty crib design that allowed babies to get entrapped in gaps created by crib parts. Since babies have small and flexible bodies, they can get slide in between crib parts, while their heads get caught and can’t get through, causing the babies to hang to death, to strangle or suffocate.
The Tribune reports that consumer advocates have pushed for tougher tests for cribs, and points out that crib manufacturers and importers far outnumber the consumer advocates and government regulators on the committee that crafts the safety tests. This gives crib manufacturers the advantage of being able to thwart efforts to pass more stringent safety rules.
In the past, the Tribune reports, crib-makers have argued that they tried to devise tests to find out cribs with problems, but as recent data of crib-related infant deaths shows, the tests they devised have not been effective, since until recently, faulty cribs were still being sold on the market.
Federal regulators like the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have recalled more than 7 million cribs.
Hopefully, the new safety tests will improve crib quality and help eliminate the hazards the previous models posed on our most vulnerable members of society.
