http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/newsfeatures/article/729947--information-scarce-on-crib-recall
Exclusive: Early recall 'blindsided' Stork Craft CEO
Vancouver–The CEO of Stork Craft, the Vancouver-area company at the heart of a massive recall of cribs linked to at least four infant deaths, said he was blindsided by the early release of the recall.
Health Canada and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission had planned to announce the release today of more than 2.1 million Stork Craft drop-side cribs, the largest crib recall in history. About 1 million of those cribs were sold in Canada.
The early release meant concerned parents had little luck Tuesday morning trying to get more information about the recall.
Calling the toll-free number (1-877-274-0277) given out by safety authorities in both countries for parents to order a free repair kit resulted in a constant busy signal.
he U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission toll-free information line, meanwhile, produced a litany of automated recall information but nothing substantive on the crib recall. The Health Canada website directed parents to the toll-free number or the manufacturer's website.
The manufacturer's website, storkcraft.com, appeared to not be working.
Jim Moore, president and CEO of the Richmond-based manufacturer told the Toronto Star Tuesday morning that someone at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission leaked the information Monday night.
"This is a well thought-out voluntary recall," said Moore Tuesday morning. "We've worked long and hard with CPSC to come up with a special part to turn the Stork Craft drop-side crib into a rigid-side crib."
Moore said the release was supposed to be a joint announcement with Health Canada and CPSC, but the Canadian agency, like his company, was "blindsided" by the earlier-than-expected announcement of the recall Monday night.
Moore said the suddenness of the recall meant that not everybody was prepared to deal with the announcement.
Interviewed on morning news shows, Inez Tenenbaum, the head of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the agency had not been "acting as quickly as it should."
Tenenbaum also said that all drop-side cribs by any manufacturer are unsafe and parents should stop using them.
She told NBC's Today show that she recommends that parents replace their drop-side crib.
Up to 5 million drop-side cribs by various manufacturers have been recalled in the last few years, and ASTM International, a voluntary industry-standards organization in the U.S., on Nov. 15 decided it would no longer certify any drop-side crib in North America. Canada is a member of the organization.
ASTM "has for some time been investigating incidents related to drop-sides," said Len Morrissey, director of the technical committee of the operations division. Their decision has no power of law but strongly influences government regulators and manufacturers "to take these cribs out of their product lines."
Toys "R" Us earlier this year stopped selling drop-side cribs, he said. ASTM toughened its stand after determining that no design modification could mitigate the hazard of misassembled cribs or malfunctioning hardware, he said.
Health Canada had no comment Tuesday morning on whether it would ban all drop-side cribs. Nothing on its website advised parents on the concerns about drop-side cribs.
Bill C-6 before the Canadian Senate would update the Canadian Product Safety Act for the first time in 40 years and give the government the power to order a recall, said Pamela Fuselli, executive director of Safe Kids Canada. Currently, a recall can only be voluntary.
Monday's recall involves cribs dating back to 1993.
A Star reporter found Stork Craft drop-side cribs with movable sides on the sales floor at Sears in the Eaton Centre on Tuesday. The company had no immediate comment.
Meena Hundel, who is expecting her first child next week and was shopping at The Bay at the Eaton Centre, said she has avoided drop-side cribs because "I knew there were lots of recalls already."
Marlene Krybus, co-owner of Marlene's Just Babies at 631 Dupont St. in the Annex, said in the 35 years she's been in business, she has never purchased from Stork Craft, and she has never sold drop-side cribs with plastic parts.
"I didn't particularly like the hardware, I never trusted it, I never liked it," she said, referring to Stork Craft's recalled cribs.
Krybus, who co-owns the store with her husband, Manny, said she doesn't sell any drop-side cribs anymore, but when she did, she would only sell those with metal hardware.
"By eliminating the drop-side on a crib, you've eliminated 95 per cent of the risk of any problem occurring," she said, citing the precariousness of the plastic movable parts.
Krybus said she doesn't see very many drop-side cribs on the market anymore because crib-beds – cribs that convert into toddlers' beds – have become more popular.
"I don't have anything on my floor that even has a drop-side now."
Cribs get passed down through generations, but "it's not worth it" if the crib is drop-sided, Tenenbaum said. "They are shown to not be reliable. In the future, you will not see cribs with drop-sides. These drop-sides will be banned."
Moms To Be and More owner Karen Judd has been fielding calls from concerned parents ever since the recall was announced, despite the fact that the Leaside store doesn't sell the Stork Craft model.
"We're talking them through it, putting them at ease," Judd said.
Moms To Be and More does sell other drop-side cribs, and Judd said she has spent time convincing customers that "not every drop-side crib is going to be a death trap for their children."
She said the drop-side cribs she sells are more stable than the Stork Craft model, which "are generally not sold in boutique-style stores," she said.
Judd said she and her other staff members are working with parents who have purchased the cribs under recall to make sure they stop using the product, get the repair kit and make the necessary repairs before letting their child use it again.
The cribs are being recalled because the drop-side plastic hardware can break, deform or parts can become missing. In addition, improper installation of the drop-side can result in broken or disengaged plastic parts.
Those problems have resulted in the drop-side getting detached in one or more corners resulting in infants and toddlers getting trapped in between the drop-side and the mattress. In four of those cases, all in the U.S., babies have died after suffocating.
The U.S. and Canadian governments are aware of 110 incidents of the drop-side breaking off, including 67 in the U.S. and 43 in Canada.
Of 12 infants who got trapped in the cribs in the U.S., four died of suffocation, including two aged 7 months, a 9-month-old and a 6-month-old. Three babies became trapped in Canada, but all survived. There were 20 cases of babies falling from the cribs, including eight in Canada, with injuries ranging from concussion to bumps and bruises.
It is the second time this year the company has recalled cribs. In January, Health Canada recalled Stork Craft cribs with a manufacturing date between May 2000 and May 2008 and bearing the firm's insignia "storkcraft baby" after it found a problem with the metal support brackets for the mattress frame.
The massive recall includes cribs sold in Canada through Sears and Wal-Mart, among them two models of Stork Craft cribs with drop-sides and plastic brackets, the Holly and the Lily.
The recall includes Stork Craft cribs with manufacturing and distribution dates between January 1993 and October 2009. Nearly 150,000 of the cribs carry a Fisher-Price logo. It also includes Stork Craft cribs with the Fisher-Price logo manufactured between October 1997 and December 2004.
Stork Craft has an 85,000 square-foot plant in Richmond, near Vancouver. According to a company profile, 10 per cent of its 50 products are made in Canada. The rest are built in China and Indonesia.
