CPSC announces crib recall affecting 635K Units

Parents, beware. In a story appearing on at least 177 news websites, the AP (1/19) reported, “A Barbados-based company on Tuesday recalled about 635,000 cribs sold by Kmart, Sears, Wal-Mart and other stores after the death of a 6-month-old boy and multiple reports of injuries. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of 20 models of Dorel Asia cribs with both drop sides and fixed front rails. Some of the Chinese- and Vietnamese-made cribs were recalled because their drop sides can detach, creating a space where a child can be trapped and suffocate or strangle.”

The Los Angeles Times (1/20, Chang) reports, “The safety commission said a 6-month-old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, became trapped and died in one of the cribs after the drop-side hardware broke. The agency and Dorel Asia received 31 reports of drop-side incidents and 36 of slat breakage; a total of 10 injuries were reported. In a separate statement, Dorel Asia said it had learned from a safety investigator that the 6-month-old’s crib had been previously broken and that the parents had used duct tape to hold it together.” CNNMoney.com (1/19, Ellis) reported that Dorel “said the circumstances of the infant’s death were ‘highly unusual.'”