LaJobi Cribs, sold under the Graco name, recalled today

This is the first of two crib recalls today. You can find more on the other here.

LaJobi and CPSC announced the recall today of 217,000 Graco-branded drop-side cribs sold since February 2007. As with the other 7 million drop-side cribs recalled in the past several years, the hardware on these can break or become loose, allowing the railing to separate from the crib, causing an entrapment and suffocation hazard. Two children were entrapped, but freed by caregivers and six children fell when the rail detached, leading to one concussion.

These are out of 99 reports to CPSC and LaJobi. But what about to Graco? Most consumers with this crib would assume they had bought a Graco crib. But consumers tell us when they call Graco about a licensed crib, they are told Graco can't help them -- it wasn't their crib. Huh? So where are those calls recorded?

LaJobi will send out a repair kit that converts the crib to a fixed sided crib. As we have said before, we believe that in sleep environment recalls, the manufacturers owe consumers a replacement product or a refund. No one will sleep well knowing they put new hardware on a crib recalled because the old hardware failed! And note that these are not old, handed down cribs. Most are less then three years old, some sold as recently as this month!

We recommend parents avoid drop-side cribs. See our advice on what to do if you have one here.

We recommend manufacturers refund money for parents whose new crib falls apart.

And we recommend Graco consider stop selling their name to the lowest bidder! Both cribs recalled today include some with the Graco name affixed as do many other cribs and bassinets by Simplicity that have been recalled previously.

New York State considers ban on drop-side cribs

On Feb 3rd, New York State Senator Charles J. Fuschillo and his fellow co-sponsors, Senators Saland and Skelos, held a public forum on a proposed ban on drop-side cribs. Parents, pediatricians and child safety experts were all in attendance.

Thanks to the continued activism of Susan and Robert Cirigliano, who lost their child Bobby in a drop-side in 2004, three New York counties have already implemented a ban. If the bill is passed, New York would be the first state to directly prohibit the sale of drop-sides. Others states with the Children's Product Safety Act prohibit the sale of cribs that don't meet current voluntary safety standards, which in effect bans drop-side designs in those states.

"I think that what's happening in New York shows what parents throughout the whole country feel", said Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of Kids In Danger. "They're thinking 'enough is enough'. There have been too many recalls and too many deaths, and they're expecting immediate change."

Drop-sides, with one side that moves up and down for easy access, continue to claim the lives of children. In most cases, faulty hardware, poor design or misassembly lead to a failure of one corner of the crib side -- leading to an entrapment hazard. Their threat is undeniable: just in the last three years seven million have been recalled, responsible for at least a dozen deaths.

It seems, however, that finally serious actions are being taken. Besides the admirable efforts of New York, the ASTM (an industry standards body) and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have signaled that a nationwide ban might be in place by the end of the year.

If you are interested in seeing drop-side cribs banned in your state or the broader protections of the Children's Product Safety Act, contact KID.

For more information on crib safety, please visit the CPSC's Crib Info Center or Kids In Danger.

CPSC initiates renewed efforts to locate Simplicity cribs

Prompted by the recent death of 7-month-old from Kentucky , CPSC has initiated a new effort to locate the recalled Simplicity drop-side cribs that have now claimed the lives of 11 infants.

The cribs were manufactured by Simplicity and SFCA Inc., but some of them include Graco or Winnie-the-Pooh logos. Plastic connectors on the drop-side can break easily and cause entrapment or suffocation. Besides the known fatalities, the CPSC is aware of 25 other incidents of breakage.

The CPSC issued a Simplicity recall in September 2007, but then last July initiated another recall for more cribs; now all Simplicity wooden dropside cribs have been recalled. The cribs were sold across the nation from January 2005 to June 2009.

Simplicity and SFCA Inc. no longer make cribs, but their negligence continues to take babies lives. It's encouraging that CPSC is taking renewed action, but this baby's tragedy highlights the systemic weaknesses of the recall system. Only 10-30% of all recalled products, it is said, are ever retrieved. Companies should be held accountable not just to do a recall, but to administer an effective recall that takes products out of use.

For now, it is imperative that we all spread the word of this dangerous crib to any families who might still be using it. A complete list of crib recalls can be found in KID's flyer on safe sleep.

CPSC has posted a helpful video. For other related information, please visit www.cpsc.gov.

Local efforts to ban drop-side cribs prevail

On October 13th the Suffolk County legislature (NY) unanimously voted to prohibit the sale of drop-side cribs throughout the county. The vote followed a passionate plea from Susan Cirigilano, a mother who lost her 6-month-old baby boy from suffocation in a defective crib in 2004.

Drop-side cribs with a vertically adjusting side continue to kill babies every year, but still haven't been banned on the national level. Wayne Horsley, the lawmaker who sponsored the bill, hopes that surrounding counties and the state legislature itself pass similar bans in the coming months. The County Executive must sign the measure, but must first hold a public hearing, expected later this month.

ASTM (a national standards body), is moving towards the publication of the industry's new voluntary standard which will include a provision requiring fixed sides on cribs. CPSC will be developing a new mandatory crib standard that may include the ban, but that won't be out until 2011.

For more background information, you may visit the Chicago Tribune's recent article.