Georgia Infants At Risk - Drop Side Crib Dangers
Infants throughout Georgia and the rest of the country face a clear danger from drop side cribs. Drop side baby cribs have been responsible for the deaths of at least 32 infants and toddlers since 2000, and are suspected in 14 additional fatalities during this time period. These popular cribs have a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily than cribs with fixed sides.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates cribs, has warned about the problem. Its chairman has now pledged to ban the manufacture and sale of cribs by the end of the year. This will have to be done by a new regulation which would make fixed-side cribs mandatory. However, due to federal law, the new regulation may not become effective until late in 2011.
While the child care industry has started phasing out these cribs and some retailers such as Babies R Us and Wal-Mart have taken them off sale floors, they are still being sold for sale on the Internet. The Associated Press found drop-sides for purchase on websites for Sears, Kmart and Amazon. Craigslist also had scores of used drop-side cribs for sale.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York announced last week that she plans to introduce legislation this week to outlaw the manufacture, sale and resale of all drop side cribs and ban them from daycare centers and hotels.
More than 7 million of these cribs have been recalled in the past five years, often because screws, safety pegs or plastic tracking for the rail can come loose or break. The industry insists that babies are safe in drop-sides that haven't been recalled.
But when the hardware malfunctions, the drop-side rail can detach partially from the crib. That creates a dangerous "V"-like gap between the mattress and side rail where a baby can get caught and suffocate or strangle.
