The five most hazardous products for babies and toddlers

Over the past few years millions of cribs, play yards and bassinets have been recalled because they pose a hazard to children. So we weren't surprised to see these three products—along with bath seats and car seats/carriers—on the list of nursery products most hazardous to children under five.
 
The list was just released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in its annual report  “Nursery Product-Related Injuries and Deaths Among Children under Age Five.”  The report is based on hospital-treated injuries associated with nursery products during 2008, and fatalities for those products from 2004 to 2006.  The difference between the years covered for injuries and fatalities is due to the extra time it takes to receive and analyze death certificates following a fatality.
 
If there was any good news in the report it was that the statistics remain essentially unchanged from last year.  Unfortunately, there were 247 deaths—an average of 82 per year—between the years of 2004 and 2006 and more than 63,000 estimated hospital-treated injuries associated with nursery products in 2008.

The products that accounted for the most deaths in 2004-2006 were:

1. Cribs/Mattresses 31
2. Baby Baths/Bath Seats/Bathinettes 12
3. Playpens/Play Yards 11
4. Bassinets/Cradles 11
5. Infant Carriers / Car Seat Carriers* 8 (* excludes car accidents)

Our Take: There are far too many deaths and injuries associated with theses products. Although some products can pose inherent risks, better design and tougher safety standards can help mitigate these disturbing statistics. As required by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, we look forward to the CPSC’s writing of strong regulations for these products in the future, and hope to see strict enforcement of the regulations to make sure all products in the marketplace are in compliance. —Don Mays

ASTM news: Safe co-sleeping with infants

At the recent ASTM International meeting, the subcommittee on bedside sleepers was working out some final details on a safety standard. Bedside sleepers are bassinet-like devices that connect to an adult bed, allowing the baby to be within arms reach of parents, but sleeping in a safer environment.

As a practice, sharing a bed with an infant can be very dangerous.  Last week, the British Medical Journal published a report on SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) in which more than half of the 80 SIDS infants studied were co-sleeping with an adult. The researchers also found a strong correlation between the deaths and drug and alcohol use on the part of the caregiver.
 
We’ve reported on the hazards of co-sleeping with infants in the past and were criticized by many parents who feel the benefits of bed sharing outweigh the risks.  Previous research conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Consumer Product Safety Commission showed that infants younger than eight months old who were placed to sleep in adult beds were as much as 40 times more likely to suffocate than if they were placed to sleep in cribs. That is a disturbing statistic.
 
Bedside sleepers have the potential to make the practice of co-sleeping with infants safer, provided the products themselves don’t pose a risk. Still, if a gap forms between the adult bed and the bedside sleeper, a baby can become entrapped and suffocate or strangle. There have been a significant number of injuries and fatalities with co-sleepers sold as recently as last year.
 
We’ve advised against the purchase of bedside sleepers and other co-sleeping devices pending the development of an adequate safety standard. ASTM, which sets voluntary safety standards for industry to follow, has made some progress and we hope that we can soon remove our warnings about these products. In addition, the CPSC recently announced plans to promulgate mandatory regulations for bedside sleepers beginning in 2011.

Our take: Until acceptable regulations or standards are developed, our position remains steadfast:  The safest place for a baby to sleep is in a full-size crib, without drop sides or soft bedding, which pose their own hazards.—Don Mays

News from ASTM: Working to make furniture safer

Yesterday I sat through a six-hour meeting of ASTM-International’s subcommittee on furniture safety. ASTM sets consensus-based, voluntary standards followed by industry. Its committees are comprised of manufacturers, trade organizations, test labs, and a few of us whiny consumer advocates. Sitting through these meetings is about as exciting as watching grass grow … and they move at about the same pace. But as with a well-tended lawn, the results eventually pay off.

Yesterday’s meeting covered two issues in which Consumers Union has played a leadership role: Furniture tip over and glass furniture safety. ASTM recently strengthened its furniture tip-over standard, which CU previously proved was too weak to protect children who become victims of falling furniture far too often. The current standard is better in that it now requires that most furniture used for clothing storage, such as dressers, be shipped with a tip restraint for anchoring to the wall.  The item must also bear a warning label that says children should not be allowed to climb on the furniture and that cautions against placing a heavy object, such as a TV, atop furniture not intended for that use.

But because of the likelihood that consumers won’t install the tip restraint or heed the warnings, we think furniture should be inherently stable—that is, remain stable if a child climbs up fully-opened drawers. Some manufacturers argue that they want to test for that scenario by opening the drawers only two-thirds of the way.  But that’s not how drawers are used, particularly if you’re searching for that missing pair of argyle socks.
 
With much wrangling at yesterday’s meeting, we were able to reach a complex compromise that sets a more rigorous testing standard, which should help ensure that furniture is more stable in the future. The changes must be approved by the committee.
 
As we’ve reported before, lacerations from glass in furniture are responsible for about 20,000 visits to the emergency room each year, mostly serious injuries to children. The Today Show covered this topic yesterday and featured footage of our testing. 
 
Federal regulations require the use of safety glass in shower doors, storm doors, and patios doors, but there’s not even a voluntary standard for safety glass in furniture.  We’re working to change that and, together with a few committee members, introduced a proposed safety standard that will require either tempered or laminated glass to be used in tables. ASTM committee members will vote on the proposed standard, but it may take months or years, to reach consensus. We hope to see some progress on this standard before the grass starts growing again next spring.—Don Mays

CPSC ventures into the blogosphere

The Consumer Product Safety Commission stepped up its outreach efforts today by joining the blogosphere and the Twitter universe, opening a channel on YouTube and creating a photo stream on Flickr.

"These are terrific tools that I plan to use frequently to keep you up to date on what’s happening on issues that affect you directly," wrote Chairman Inez Tenenbaum in her first blog post. "These sites are for the moms, dads, grandparents and others who want to protect themselves, their homes and those they care about."

One of the agency's first efforts is a video highlighting the dangers of furniture tipover, an issue we've written about in the past.

In the video, The Tipping Point, a mother in Connecticut talks about the heartbreak of losing her daughter when the toddler was crushed by a television that had fallen off its stand. “You may think your home is safe, but everyday things like a television can hurt your child. I was right there and it happened,” said Sylvia Santiago, of West Haven, Connecticut who lost her two-year old daughter last year.

“The most devastating injuries that we see resulting from furniture tipping on children are injuries to the brain and when a child is trapped under a heavy piece of furniture and suffocates,” said Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who was featured in the video. (Smith is one of our Safety Crusaders.)

To help prevent tip-over hazards, the CPSC offered the following advice:

• Furniture should be stable on its own.
• For added security, anchor chests or dressers, TV stands, bookcases and entertainment units to the floor or attach them to a wall.
• Place TVs on a sturdy, low-rise base. Avoid flimsy shelves.
• Push the TV as far back as possible.
• Place electrical cords out of a child’s reach, and teach kids not to play with them.
• Keep remote controls and other attractive items off the TV stand so kids won’t be tempted to grab for them and risk knocking the TV over.
• Make sure free-standing ranges and stoves are installed with anti-tip brackets.

We're pleased to see the CPSC offering these tools to consumers, including a handy "Recall Widget" that other bloggers and Web sites can use to track recalls.