Oh, BABY!
Posted by Valerie on November 23, 2009
I’ve taken some time off from blogging due to some illness. I had surgery earlier this month and feel much better than I have in months!
2.1 Million Drop-side Cribs Recalled
Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
This is an attack on American businesses and American families, and it won’t save lives.
When you read about two million cribs dating back sixteen years, don’t think “two million babies.” These cribs have been used for second and third children and passed on to sisters-in-law and sold in garage sales. When you read about two million cribs, think multiple millions of happy, healthy, safe babies.
Four infants suffocated in broken or improperly assembled cribs. That’s an image that my mind reflexively attempts to eject, but with four deaths among multiple millions of babies I can only conclude that these cribs are safe.
Babies die because humans are born and live their whole lives fragile; sadly, it just doesn’t take that much to hurt us. Automobiles, tricycles, homes with stairs, sidewalks, grapes, hotdogs, potato chips, playgrounds, swimming pools, and day care centers are all more dangerous than these cribs!
Stork Craft already recalled 500,000 cribs in January due to mattress bracket failures. (No serious injuries; no deaths.) With both recalls considered, Stork Craft has now committed to mailing replacement part kits to up to 2.6 million consumers.
Is this really best for babies? Think about it. Stork Craft has to cover the legal bills it’s already incurred, whatever law suits crop up now, the replacement parts, the communication and the postage along with possibly dozens of costs that haven’t occured to me.
Where will this money come from? It will come from some combination of laying off employees (no baby or child ever feels the effects of that), decreasing production costs (harmless, certainly), and increasing retail prices (if no crib, then what?).
Is this really best for babies? The government should have left the question open. Thanks to CPSIA, now, these cribs won’t appear in any thrift store or any crisis pregnancy center. No one’s going to go to jail to fence a cheap crib.
I promise you that there are mothers who can’t afford a new crib. Without a safe used crib, and if they don’t take their babies to bed with them, what will they use? A dresser drawer? A cardboard box? A basket not engineered for baby use? The narrow space between a mattress and the wall?
I wish that you could reassure me that no baby could possibly be hurt by this horrible ruling, but you can’t.
I wish that you could reassure me that within five years some social worker won’t be taking a baby because he’s sleeping in a clean cardboard box, but you can’t.
Did anyone mention that the parts in the replacement kits will also eventually wear out or be improperly installed?
What then?
