Keep Children Safe: Remove Unsafe Children's Products from the Marketplace

NEW YORK, NY (08/27/2010)(readMedia)-- A Statement from Mindy A. Bockstein, Chairperson and Executive Director of the New York State Consumer Protection BoardThe NYS Consumer Protection Board (CPB) is today commending Toys"R"Us, Babies"R"Us and their participating suppliers for launching the third "Great Trade-In" event, an innovative safety program designed to remove potentially unsafe old and second-hand children's products from homes, day care centers and other locations. The past two "Great Trade-In" events led to the return of nearly 200,000 used and potentially unsafe children's products around the country.

According to the retailer, from August 27th through September 19th, used cribs, car seats, bassinets, strollers, travel systems, play yards, high chairs and toddler beds can be dropped off at Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores nationwide, in exchange for a 25% savings on the purchase of any new baby item in these product categories, from participating manufacturers. This program shows how retailers, by raising awareness and offering consumers an incentive to return their used items, can make a difference in the effort to help keep children safe.

Older cribs, car seats, and other durable infant and toddlers products often do not meet the most current safety requirements and in some cases may be subject to a safety recall. Drop-side cribs have been especially troublesome; during the past five years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced 12 recalls involving more than 9 million drop-side cribs due to suffocation and strangulation hazards. The CPSC is aware of 32 infant and toddler suffocation and strangulation deaths and hundreds of incidents that were caused by or related to drop-side detachments in cribs made by various manufacturers. The "Great Trade-In" program can help rid the marketplace of drop-side cribs.

The CPB urges consumers to regularly check the complete listing of recalled products, at the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) web site at www.recalls.gov or www.nysconsumer.gov, which focuses primarily on posting recalls relating to toys and juvenile products. Recalled items, as well as older items not subject to a recall but which no longer meet updated safety standards, should be safely discarded.

We encourage consumers to avail themselves of this opportunity to replace potentially dangerous children's products instead of passing them on to friends, relatives or second-hand stores.

As the New York State designee to the CPSC, the CPB conducts recall effectiveness sweeps to monitor the removal of recalled toys from store shelves. We are taking this occasion to again call on consumers to be vigilant and keep children out of harm's way by reviewing the items they own, heeding warnings and instructions from manufacturers and/or returning or destroying those that are not safe.