Congress Looks to Ban "Drop-Side" Cribs

Congress is moving toward banning “drop-side” cribs, which have been identified over the last decade as potentially life threatening devices and have been blamed for the deaths of 32 children and infants over the past ten years. The Associated Press’ Jennifer C. Kerr supplies these details:

[A]t least 32 infants and toddlers since 2000 (have) suffocated or were strangled in a drop-side crib, which has a side that moves up and down to allow parents to lift children from the cribs more easily than cribs with fixed sides. Drop-sides, around for decades and probably slept in by many of today’s parents, are suspected in an additional 14 infant fatalities during that time.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates cribs, has warned about the problem. Its chairman, Inez Tenenbaum, has pledged to ban the manufacture and sale of cribs by the end of the year with a new performance standard that would make fixed-side cribs mandatory. It could be several months into 2011 before becoming effective.

If you or a family member currently uses a drop-side crib for one of your loved ones, we here at Perenich The Law Firm advise that you immediately look to find a different style crib, such as the fixed-side design, in order to prevent further tragedies from occurring. As your Clearwater and Tampa Bay Personal Injury attorneys, we have seen too many of these sad tragedies that affect the loved ones of others, and we hope that by spreading this important information, we may avoid future heartbreaks.