Remember the 1 million Simplicity and Graco [made by Simplicity] cribs recalled last week because the droprail can come undone and create a deadly gap between the crib and the mattress? It turns out the first child to die from the crib defect was in 2005. Over 55 trapped and injured kids, and three deaths in three years--maybe four, as recently as last week--and the CPSC didn't issue a recall until just after the Chicago Tribune contacted the agency and said they were working on a story about the cribs.
So get your kid out of any and all Simplicity Aspen 3-in-1 cribs ASAP, and contact your US Congress members to demand an investigation and CPSC reform legislation.
Missteps delayed recall of deadly cribs [chicagotribune.com via consumerist]
Did The Chicago Tribune Embarrass The CPSC Into Recalling A Million Cribs? [consumerist]
Previously: 1 mm Simplicity cribs recalled; Chicago Tribune on car seat recalls
I hadn't paid as much attention to the crib recall since we are past those days (for now!), but now that I see the name I'm thinking that it looks familiarly like one of the cribs we strongly considered back before the kid was born. Sheesh, there but for the grace of God...
Funny what happens when you vote for folks who don't believe that the government has the right to regulate business.
[I'd say the responsibility, but exactly. -ed.]
Horrible! Sounds like the natural side-effect of regulatory negligence. At the very least, the political hacks staffing the commission (check out the biographies on the CPSC web site) should be subjected to hostile questioning at congressional hearings, if only so they can be publicly shamed.