Baby Cribs Recalled After 4 Deaths

Source: CBC News

Posted: 11/24/09 9:51AM

Filed Under: Canada

U.S. and Canadian government safety regulators are recalling more than 2.1 million drop-side cribs made by B.C.-based Stork Craft Manufacturing, the biggest crib recall in U.S. history.

The joint recall by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada involves 1.2 million cribs in the United States and more than 968,800 in Canada made between January 1993 and October 2009.

Nearly 150,000 of the cribs on recall carry the Fisher-Price logo and were made between October 1997 and December 2004.

"It's a very serious hazard," said CPSC spokeswoman Nychelle Fleming. "We definitely want consumers to stop using the crib immediately and take advantage of the recall."

The CPSC, Health Canada and Stork Craft are aware of 110 incidents of drop-side detachment: 67 incidents in the U.S. and 43 in Canada. They're also aware of four suffocations: a seven-month-old in Gouverneur, N.Y.; a seven-month-old in New Iberia, La.; a six-month-old in Summersville, W.Va.; and a nine-month-old in Bronx, N.Y.

There are also 15 reports of babies being entrapped but surviving: 12 in the U.S. and three in Canada.

The cribs involved in these incidents had plastic drop-side hardware that had broken or missing parts, including connectors, tracks or flexible tab stops. In some cases the drop-sides had been installed upside-down.

All of these problems can cause the drop-side to detach in one or more corners. When the drop-side detaches, it creates space between the drop-side and the crib mattress, which is where babies can become entrapped.

"There were two distinct hardware systems that were used in this Stork Craft drop-sided crib, and the problem is the plastic hardware can break, creating a gap where the baby's body could get entrapped between the mattress and the side wall of the crib rail," said Fleming.

Consumers should contact Stork Craft, based in Richmond, B.C., to receive a free repair kit that converts the drop-side on these cribs to a fixed side. The U.S. agency urges parents and caregivers to stop using the recalled cribs, and not to attempt to fix the cribs without the kit.

For additional information, contact Stork Craft toll-free at (866) 361-3321 any time to order the free repair kit, or visit storkcraft.com.

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