Injuries up, recalls down for kids' products
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The handful of children's products recalled in 2011 dropped by nearly one-fourth, but 32 percent of those recalls were backed by offence reports, according to a report just out from Kids in Danger.
The safeness advocacy group said it could not explain the drop in the number of recalls "because of the sneakily surrounding the recall process. We don't know if CPSC (the Consumer Product Safeness Commission) looked to recall more products and were unable to persuade manufacturers, or if this represents a lowering in dangerous products in the marketplace. It is clear that recalls for lead violations and globule-side cribs were down, just as new requirements for standards and testing came into aftermath."
The number of products fixed or replaced remains "largely unchanged the previous few years," the CSPC said in an article this week in USA Today . "Only 15 percent to 30 percent of products are sent back or repaired, but some extravagant-profile recalls get higher response rates."
According to the story, 121 of the products recalled by CPSC were children's products. Nursery products made up the largest classification of those (30 percent), followed by toys (26 percent).
It said the "most destructive" product before being recalled was little girls' Keds shoes "with decorative stars that caused 27 reports of lacerations."
Three deaths occurred: two from strangulations involving a nursery survey and one entrapment in a bunk bed.
Three of the products had been reported at least 100 times before being recalled, according to Kids in Hazard, including a swing set, a remote control helicopter and a pogo stick.
The challenge in some cases may be reaching the consumers who in actuality purchased the products. "Stores track shoppers' purchases closely, but their aptitude to link a person with a purchase depends on the payment method, whether the consumer has a hoard loyalty card and privacy issues," Kevin Stemeckert, retail scrutinization chief at technology advisory firm Gartner Group, told USA Today. He said that online retailers could most patently contact consumers.
Source: Deseret News