Concerns are rising about the potential dangers caused by bumper pads in cribs, prompting the American Academy of Pediatrics to warn the pads pose a danger of suffocation and strangulation to infants. That warning seems overdue ecause, as USA Today reported, “The Consumer Product Safety Commission said 52 infant deaths involved bumpers from 1990 to May 2010.
The AAP sets guidelines for its physicians as part of updated policies to create safer sleep environments for infants and to cut the risks of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. In recommending parents desist from using the pads, the academy said there is "no evidence that bumper pads prevent injuries."
Further details of the potential dangers of crib bumper pads were outlined in a recent investigation by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri (MO). Researchers found the risks of accidental injury or even death outweighed the benefits of the crib bumper pads.
We are very concerned about the large numbers of injuries and deaths that are attributable to products that are meant to protect infants. One of our firm’s experienced Virginia dangerous products attorneys reported in September 2011, how Chicago became one of the first in the country to ban the sale of bumper pads.
In December 2010, we noted that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission had banned the manufacture and sale of drop-side cribs after finding they were linked to the suffocation and brain injury deaths of more than 30 babies and toddlers. And some booster seats that are meant to protect children in cars have actually been linked to injuries.
Toys for infants raise a new set of problems and dangers. Last year we noted how thousands of toys imported from China by a Newport News, VA, company were recalled because they posed a choking hazard.
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DM
About the Editors: The Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm, which has offices in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC), edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as pro bono services.
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