1 million cribs recalled across Canada

OTTAWA — Almost one million drop-side cribs in Canada were recalled late Monday just as the world’s standards organization is poised to institute a worldwide ban of cribs with a movable side rail, following multiple baby deaths.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the massive recall of Stork Craft drop-side cribs, which includes over 1.2 million cribs sold in the United States.

The cribs, produced by the Richmond, B.C.-based company Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc., are blamed in four suffocation deaths of babies in the United States.

Health Canada is aware of three entrapments, none of which was fatal, the U.S. commission said. In total, there have been 43 incidents in Canada and 67 in the U.S.

Some of the recalled cribs, distributed from 1993 to October 2009, were manufactured in Canada. Others were made in China and Indonesia. Some also were sold with the Fisher-Price logo.

The U.S. commission is urging North American parents to immediately stop using the recalled cribs until they receive a repair kit from Stork Craft that converts the drop-side on these cribs to a fixed side.

Health Canada will provide further details on Tuesday about the remedy for Stork Craft customers in Canada, an official said late Monday.

The crib’s drop-side plastic hardware can break or deform and parts can become missing. The drop-side also can be installed upside-down, which can result in broken or disengaged plastic parts.

“All of these problems can cause the drop-side to detach in one or more corners. When the drop-side detaches, it creates space between the drop-side and the crib mattress. The bodies of infants and toddlers can become entrapped in the space, which can lead to suffocation,” the U.S. commission said in a statement.

News of the massive crib recall comes just as the global standards organization ASTM International is set to publish new safety standards for cribs that will result in a de facto ban of drop-side cribs in Canada and elsewhere.

“The latest designation of the crib standard . . . no longer contains provisions that allow movable side rails on full-sized cribs,” Len Morrissey, director of ASTM International’s technical division, said Monday.

Retail giant Toys ‘R’ Us, anticipating the change in cribs standards, already stopped ordering drop-side cribs from manufacturers in March “out of an abundance of caution.” Company spokeswoman Jennifer Albano added she expects inventory to be gone from all Canadian and U.S. stores by next month.

Meanwhile, almost every drop-side crib that has been shipped to Sears Canada since October by its main supplier, Stork Craft, has been modified so that all drop sides are permanently fixed in the up position, unable to move up and down.

Spokesman Vincent Power said the chain continues to sell one model of a drop-side crib by another supplier, but Sears Canada expects the inventory to be sold by year’s end and no more have been ordered. Also, all cribs profiled in the next spring catalogue will be non-drop side.

ASTM International’s new standards, approved officially on Nov. 15, are considered voluntary safety guidelines, but manufacturers are expected to follow them because the major industry players were involved in their development and signed off on the proposal in March.

Drop-side cribs have been popular with parents over the years, especially with people who are short or people with bad backs. But government regulators, charged with investigating the deaths of babies in these cribs, have noticed a problem with the rail that moves up and down, designed to help parents place their child in the crib or to take them out.

Kiley Johnstone and her husband, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., liked the drop-side feature of the crib they purchased over a year ago in anticipation of the arrival of their first child. And today, they use it every day for their 13-month old son.

“He’s really heavy and he’s a year (old) now, so he has to be on the lower setting. It’s really hard on the back to get him down there,” said Johnstone.

Crib regulations in Canada and the U.S. still allow the sale of drop-side cribs, but ASTM’s move to make full-sized cribs with a drop-side a violation of voluntary safety standards means a de facto ban is coming into effect.

Over 4.6 million other cribs, some blamed for the suffocation deaths of babies, already have been recalled in the U.S. since 2007; in Canada, more than 500,000 have been recalled.

ASTM International, based in Pennsylvania, is one of the world’s largest standards developing organizations and prides itself on developing consensus standards. The independent organization, which includes more than 140 technical committees, publishes standard test methods and specifications for thousands of products, including cribs, paints, medical devices and electronics.

There are more than 32,000 voluntary members from 125 countries, including Canada.