Government moves to ban drop-side cribs

WASHINGTON — They've been a fixture in millions of U.S. homes since the 1940s, used by parents and passed on to friends and relatives. But the federal government is moving to ban drop-side cribs, saying the nursery furniture with a movable side poses lethal dangers to children.

By the end of this year, it will no longer be legal to sell a drop-side crib. And places of public accommodation — day-care centers and hotels — will be prohibited from using them, federal officials said. Under rules being developed, violators would face a range of penalties, from an order to stop use to criminal sanctions for repeat offenders.

Drop-side cribs — which have one side that lowers to allow caregivers easy access to a baby or a toddler — have caused at least 32 infant deaths in the country since 2000, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Fourteen other deaths could be related to drop-side cribs, but investigators lacked information to make a clear link, agency officials said.

"There have been ... too many recalls and far too many deaths from defective cribs in recent years," said Inez Tenenbaum, chairwoman of the safety commission.

A crib is the one place meant to be safe enough to leave a child unattended; when it malfunctions, the infant is usually alone.

Since 2005, more than 7 million drop-side cribs have been recalled by manufacturers because of suffocation and strangulation hazards, including one last year involving 2 million StorkCraft cribs that was the largest single product recall in the commission's history.

It is unclear whether manufacturing changes have made the cribs more dangerous or whether the government has gotten better at pinpointing the cause of infant deaths.

Many deaths associated with drop-side cribs occurred when the movable side partially detached, trapping the infant between the mattress and wooden slats of the crib. In some cases, caregivers unwittingly installed the drop side incorrectly. In other cases, the crib hardware apparently failed and the side detached.

The crib industry maintains that drop-side cribs are not inherently hazardous.

"When these products are used correctly, they're perfectly safe," said Mike Dwyer, executive director of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, which represents about 90 percent of crib manufacturers.

"Many of these incidents involved improper assembly. There are a lot of secondhand cribs sold through garage sales, thrift stores — and that's a problem. They have missing hardware or missing instructions. ... Some parents and caregivers are using baling wire and duct tape."

Federal officials do not know how many drop-side cribs are in use in this country. By early 2009, drop sides fell to about 18 percent of 2.5 million new cribs sold annually, Dwyer said.

Because cribs can cost up to $1,000, they are often used repeatedly in a family, handed down to friends or sold again, making it difficult to estimate what percentage of the total marketplace they represent.

When Tenenbaum became agency chairwoman last year, she urged ASTM International — the organization that sets voluntary standards for materials, products, systems and services — to prohibit drop-side cribs. ASTM International agreed to ban drop-side models and is working on revised voluntary standards for crib makers that will take effect next month.

Most of the cribs recalled in recent years met the voluntary ASTM International standards, leading consumer advocates to argue that new federal requirements should be tougher than voluntary standards.