Drawing the line on drawstrings: Clothing recalled by CPSC

This week’s rash of recalls includes a group of items that, like lead, we thought had been removed from store shelves long ago:

• 72,000 children’s hooded sweaters because of drawstrings that can pose a strangulation hazard.
• 5,200 girls’ sweaters; drawstrings in the hoods pose a strangulation hazard.
• 13,000 girls’ clothing sets; drawstrings in the pants pose an entrapment or entanglement hazard.
• 6,100 children’s pants;  the ribbon belt is an entrapment or entanglement hazard.
• 17,000 fleece lined jackets; the waist drawstring can become snagged or caught.   

What’s going on? It’s been more than 10 years since the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued guidelines directing manufacturers to follow a voluntary industry standard limiting drawstrings in children’s garments. The voluntary standards were issued because children were getting strangled or entangled on the neck and waist drawstrings when the drawstrings caught on such items as playground equipment, bus doors or cribs.

From January 1985 through January 1999, the CPSC received reports of 22 deaths and 48 nonfatal incidents involving entanglement of children’s clothing drawstrings. Although the standard is voluntary, the CPSC has recently been enforcing the no-drawstring agreement as if it were a mandatory federal rule. "This is something the agency watches for and recalls when we find it," says CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese. "Because the risk of strangulation is very real."

But as this week’s recall of 113,300 garments indicates, children’s clothing with drawstrings continues to be made and sold. That’s also what Consumers Union's own Janell Mayo Duncan discovered more than once during her summer vacations.

We’re glad to see regulators cracking down on these clothes but clearly parents need to be on guard too.  If you have any children’s clothing at home with drawstrings, remove the drawstrings immediately. Use velcro, snaps or buttons as alternative fasteners.

Parents can also help monitor the stores—some of the recalled clothing was sold at Sears, K-Mart and Old Navy—reporting any children's drawstring items for sale to the CPSC, with such details as brand name, manufacturer, size and where made. Also notify the store manager and company—and let this blog know as well (safetyblog@cro.consumer.org) Retailers must do a better job making sure they are not stocking their shelves with this type of clothing.