Manufacturers Announce Recall of Drop-side Cribs

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), with the cooperation of seven firms, is announcing voluntary recalls of more than two million cribs to address drop-side hazards and other hazards that affect the safety of young children. The recalling firms are providing consumers with free repair kits to immobilize the drop sides or other remedies. The CPSC urges consumers not attempt to fix these cribs with homemade remedies.

On Friday, announced that both the New York State Senate and Assembly passed legislation he sponsored to enact a statewide ban on dangerous drop-side cribs. The legislation has gone before Governor David Paterson for consideration. Two local families who lost children to drop-side cribs, Michele and Henning Witte of Merrick and Robert and Susan Cirigliano of North Bellmore, testified about their experiences and strongly advocated for the proposed law at a public hearing Senator Fuschillo sponsored in February. See related story.

A federal ban of drop-side cribs is in the offing, but many states have not waited. The sale of drop-side cribs is already prohibited in at least eight states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.

"While it's great that the federal government is exploring action on a national level, New York State's law would take effect before the CPSC changes. It's important that we get these potentially dangerous products off store shelves as soon as possible, and that's why this legislation should be signed into law," Fuschillo said.

The drop-side -- and some fixed-side crib -- recalls are of units manufactured between 2000 and 2009 by the companies listed below. The CPSC said consumers should contact these firms directly for the appropriate remedy:

• Child Craft, (this firm is out of business)
• Delta Enterprise Corp., of New York, NY
• Evenflo, of Miamisburg, Ohio
• Jardine Enterprises, of Taipei, Taiwan
• LaJobi, of Cranbury, NJ
• Million Dollar Baby, of Montebello, CA
• Simmons Juvenile Products Inc. (SJP), of New London, WI

Information is available at these manufacturers's websites, which are listed at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10270.html

The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) has also launched a new crib safety initiative. The listed manufacturers are providing free drop-side crib immobilization kits to prevent the drop side from detaching, plus replacement hardware and assembly instructions for cribs manufactured by participating firms. These materials are available free to any consumer by request.

he firms are providing immobilization devices or other remedies as part of JPMA's crib safety initiative. Consumers can visit JPMA's website, www.cribsafety.org, for a list of participating manufacturers and for downloadable materials about ensuring that children have a safe sleep.

The immobilization devices, which will be available in the next few weeks, should be attached to keep the drop side from detaching from the cribs. Immobilization devices are not a solution for cribs with broken or damaged drop-side hardware. If  drop-side hardware is broken, contact the manufacturer for an alternative remedy.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at 301-595-7054. To join a CPSC e-mail subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain recall and general safety information by logging on to CPSC's website at www.cpsc.gov.