Legislators call for ban on drop-side crib sale





	From left, county legislators John Kennedy Jr., Steve Stern and Wayne Horsley demonstrate how a drop-side crib can trap and injure an infant. Photo by Joe Darrow (click for larger version)

September 09, 2009 | 03:40 PM
Citing reports of injuries to infants, a bipartisan group of county lawmakers Sept. 3 called for a ban on the sale of drop-side cribs in Suffolk.

Legislation offered by Legislator Wayne Horsley (D-Babylon) would prohibit the retail sale of infant cribs with single mobile sides that move up and down. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, such cribs have caused an estimated 11,000 injuries and 90 deaths to infants — who can become pinned by the moving side — from 2003 to 2005; and over 4.2 million of the cribs were recalled by 14 different manufacturers from 2005 to 2008.

Suffolk would be the first municipality to ban drop-side crib sales. A voluntary ban is under consideration by the American Society for Testing and Materials International, but the industry-standards coalition requires a unanimous vote among its 900-member committee, and three opponents in the group are currently holding up adoption of the ban, according to Horsley.

"The danger of drop-side cribs has been long known and well established, yet certain manufacturers continue to drag their feet on making the necessary reforms to ensure child safety and parental peace of mind," Horsley said. "If the industry won't act for common sense and safety, I am confident the Suffolk Legislature will."

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Equally critical to preventing injuries from drop-side cribs is warning residents who purchased them long before their danger was known, who may be unaware that recalls were issued. "Few products are ever recovered in the event of a recall, leaving millions of recalled items out there undetected in homes and child care facilities," stated Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger, in a release from Horsley's office. "KID urges consumers to check their children's products for recalled items" and comply with the recall.

Standing outside Babies R Us in Commack last Thursday, Horsley and ban advocates legislators John Kennedy Jr. (R-Nesconset) and Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills) exhorted the public to take advantage of the corporation's drop-side trade-in promotion. Through Sept. 20 the Babies R Us chain — whose parent group, Toys R Us, has stopped ordering drop-side cribs — will offer customers who turn in used cribs, car seats or other baby products a 20 percent discount on purchase of a new baby item. "Don't go to the attic ... to get the old crib, because it is a risk," Horsley said.

"I applaud Babies R Us for taking this step to help families with making this turn-in transition," said Kennedy. Economic gain "cannot overtake the fact that we have a risk" with drop-side cribs.

Similar to the groundbreaking ban on baby products containing BPA that he authored earlier this year, Stern said the drop-side crib prohibition would "make Suffolk County an example that is to be emulated throughout the nation ... starting a tidal wave won't be turned back."

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