New York, NYProduct safety regulators with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted 5 to 0 Wednesday to ban the production and sale of
drop side cribs in the United States in approximately six months time, or summer 2011.
CPSC spokeswoman Patty Davis Davis said the new regulation also enforces stronger crib mattresses, sturdier hardware and more rigorous safety testing of cribs.
The move was prompted by reports of dozens of infant deaths resulting from the use of drop side cribs. The CPSC said that between November 2007 and April 2010 some 36 infants died as a result of structural problems with the cribs which resulted in entrapment and suffocation. Davis said that retailers and manufacturers have already begun phasing out the traditional drop side cribs, and when the new regulation goes into effect, it will be illegal to make or sell drop side cribs.
In 2010 there were at least two nationwide-recalls of roughly 100,000 drop side cribs made by various manufacturers and in 2009 more than 2 million
Stork Craft drop side cribs were recalled. That recall prompted a
class action lawsuit naming Stork Craft as one of several defendants. More than 110 reported incidents of adverse events including suffocation preceded the recall and subsequent lawsuit.