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Crib recall

An important note for all readers with children still in cribs:

There’s been a recall of a crib sold in popular stores such as Walmart, Sears and Babiesrus. The brand name is Stork Craft drop-side crib and Stork Craft drop-side crib with Fisher Price logo. I feel sick to my stomach thinking about this because four infants in the United States have died from suffocation, while other incidents involved falls from the crib.

On this press release, the recall has been termed “voluntary,” which just enrages me. If it was voluntary, I would think that the company would have recalled the product after a first incident was reported not after government authorities got involved. 

But more importantly, all the specific details you need to know are available on this Health Canada page. Here you will find pictures and details of how to ensure your crib is safe.

Comments

  1. Really makes you wonder if anything is safe. Recalls on water bottles, cribs and strollers just in the past few months. Presumably these were tested by the appropriate regulatory bodies in this country… and passed… How is it that such MAJOR defects can be found that cause such serious harm when multiple governing bodies give them the ok?

    • Hi Shawn,

      Re the cribs & strollers: I don’t think there is actually any governing body that tests all products that come to market — I don’t think we have enough manpower to do that. I think how it works is that a governing body develops guidelines for what is considered “safe” in a certain product, so for a crib as example, it would have certain materials, height, paint restrictions, etc. As I understand it, the governing body is responsible for compiling any injury reports (from hospitals or directly from consumers) and then red-flagging any product that starts to appear in multiple instances. I’m going to look into this now to satisfy my own curiosity.

      Re cribs specifically: My husband wanted to make our children’s furniture, including the crib. We looked up the safety guidelines for crib fabrication as well as hospital injury stats and what we found at that time (i.e. 7 years ago) was that almost all the injuries were related to the drop-bars on cribs. They are convenient but they frequently cause injuries such as falls, fingers getting pinched etc. I wonder if drop-bars will end up getting banned altogether? In the situation of the Storkcraft cribs, it looks like part to the problem is that people are not putting them together properly — some images are showing the bar being installed upside down by the consumer, or not tightly enough.

      Re water bottles: The Sigg situation is a voluntary replacement offered by the company — not a government recall. There really isn’t a safety issue with their original liners because the BPA does not leech from the liners, it is simply present in the liners and consumers did not think there was BPA present in the product at all.

      Overall, I think all of these incidents underscore the need to be an educated consumer. I’m positive that there are thousands of toys out on the market covered in lead-soaked paint … how is every single toy coming in from China going to be tested? Although, being an educated consumer is easier said than done. It’s all so complicated.

  2. Jacqueline says:

    Scary thought – I am sure we have a crib from Stork Craft. Guess we are in the market for a new crib or the “fix-it kit” which makes me nervous.

    Better off getting a new crib I suppose.

  3. I thought the Canadian Standards Association was responsible for testing the safety of products in Canada?

  4. Hi Shawn – hmm …. I don’t know, I just went to the Canadian Standards Association website and it doesn’t look like they are. It looks like Health Canada is responsible for the testing of consumer products. On their website: “Testing is performed on products such as cribs, household chemicals, paints, mattresses, clothing and tents.” And here’s the link if you want to sus it out: http://hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/prod-test-essai/index-eng.php. Jules

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