For months now, I’ve been telling you about certain products and the potential dangers they can pose to children, whether they are infants, babies or toddlers. That can hold true for a host of products including strollers, toys and cribs. Now you add crib “tents” to the list. Crib tents are basically mesh domes that are attached with plastic clips to the crib.
You may have heard the reports of a 2 year-old boy from New England who was put into a portable crib one night back in December of 2008. His mom and dad placed what is referred to as a mesh covering over the portable crib. When the toddler apparently stood up, in the middle of the night, his head became caught in the netting and was strangled to death. The product in question is called Tots In Mind and at the time was not regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The crib tent death tragedy was the first incident to be investigated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission involving this particular unregulated product, but it took a year and a half later for the CPSC to actually announce a recall, with the company in question issuing a repair remedy for the attachment clips.
The CPSC responded to the death of the New England boy, and noted that many manufacturers actually had stopped using mesh designs in their crib products, but some still do and the material continues to be an ongoing and serious suffocation hazard.
There are two major problems here. First it took 18 months from the time the toddler tragically died and the product was finally recalled. That’s because the CPSC was not satisfied with the company’s first crack at correcting the problem. Really?
They should have issued a warning to at least let parents know that a serious potential for danger exists with these products. I’m sure if parents would have received some kind of alert from the CPSC, other children could have been spared being subject to the problems associated with these products or worse.
The second issue is the fact that this product is unregulated. How is this possible, especially as it relates to a product designed specifically for children? For some reason, crib tents don’t fall under the “watchful eye” of the government, but products, such as full-size cribs and mattresses, etc. do.
You would think the Consumer Product Safety Commission Act of 2008 would remedy this. No so. Apparently Crib tents are out the range of authority as it relates to certain regulated children’s products. So the lesson here for parents is to research every child product before they buy it. Doing a little homework could save your child’s life.
Attorney Jeffrey Killino’s focus is on keeping kids safe and knows child injuries are very serious and can leave a parent feeling helpless. If you believe your child was injured or worse as a result of a faulty or recalled consumer product please contact child injury attorney Jeffrey Killino at 877-875-2927 today.
