Federal safety regulator pledges to ban drop-side cribs
The Consumer Product Safety Commission chief vows to ban the sale and manufacture of the cribs, which have been linked to the strangulation or suffocation of at least 32 children in the last decade.
The nation's top consumer products regulator on Friday committed to enacting a mandatory safety standard this year that will ban the sale and manufacture of baby cribs with sides that drop down, a fixture of the American nursery that has been linked to dozens of children's deaths.
Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum made the pledge as her agency for the first time revealed that 32 children have suffocated or been strangled in the last decade when the drop sides of their cribs separated. Most of the deaths occurred in the last few years, according to the commission.
An additional 14 entrapment deaths in cribs may be the result of drop-side failure, but the agency didn't have enough information to be certain.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-crib-20100508,0,3553984.story