Passage of Safe Sleep for Babies Act

This past week, the United States Senate passed the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, which will ban the sale of crib bumpers and inclined sleep products once signed by the President.

While understanding the Congressional desire to protect our most vulnerable population, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), in the interest of limiting concern and misinformation, reminds all parents and caregivers that products manufactured for the care and safety of babies and young children are among the most regulated in the U.S., and the mandatory and voluntary standards that apply are rightfully nuanced. Through the ASTM standards-setting process – a process endorsed by Congress in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 – manufacturers, industry, advocates and regulators join together to continually evaluate and improve product safety.

JPMA called on the CPSC to issue a federal rule for crib bumpers more than a decade ago and has renewed that request frequently. Although the CPSC did not advance the process – likely a rationale for the Congressional action – throughout those 10+ years, manufacturers worked through the ASTM process to strengthen, multiple times, voluntary standards related to these products. As such, the pillow-like qualities that caused concern in the past were long-ago engineered out of the products. The CPSC itself found insufficient data to justify banning the product category.

Similarly, when incidents related to the use of inclined sleep products became known, most manufacturers were proactive in redesigning their products accordingly, far in advance of this Congressional activity and the effective date of the CPSC’s new Sleep Products Rule.

JPMA strongly encourages the families and caregivers of infants and young children to use any and all juvenile products as designed, tested and intended by their manufacturers. Consumers should feel confident that when used in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions and age-grade, the products they purchase for the care of their infants and young children are safe and effective.

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