Drop-side cribs recalled over entrapment, suffocation, strangulation risk

Ottawa -

Health Canada has issued a recall notice for dropside cribs from five companies amid concerns that babies could fall out or become trapped, which could lead to suffocation or strangulation.

The agency says the dropside hardware in the various crib models can break or become damaged, causing the drop-side to detach. This, in turn, could create a space between the crib and mattress where infants and toddlers could roll in and become trapped.

Neither Health Canada nor the companies involved in the recalls have received any reports of incidents or injuries related to the use of the cribs.

In the U.S., more than two million cribs from Evenflo, Delta Enterprise Corp. and five other companies were recalled.

No deaths were linked to the recalled cribs in the U.S., but there were more than 250 reports of drop-sides detaching or failing and at least 16 entrapments of infants. In one case, a child was found unconscious and later hospitalized.

In the announcement from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, all seven companies recalled drop-side cribs. Delta and Child Craft also acknowledged problems with fixed-side cribs.

Drop-sides have increasingly come under scrutiny, with several warnings from the CPSC in the last year that the cribs can be deadly. CPSC chairman Inez Tenenbaum has pledged to ban their manufacture and sale by year's end.

In Canada, the recalled products include:

-Dorel Distribution Canada model number 10DV611BC in Honey Pine. In Canada, 1,404 of the recalled Chinese-made cribs were sold from 2005 to 2007. The company is no longer distributing this crib in Canada.

-"Scandi" model manufactured by LaJobi Inc., and imported by Isis Inc. of Toronto and Montreal with the model number 4130192. Around 170 were sold in Canada from August 2009 to February 2010.

-Delta Enterprise Corp. is recalling cribs with the following model numbers: 4842-2, 4842-41, 4842-42, 4857-1, 4857-3, or 4857-4. Around 21,390 of the recalled cribs were sold at various retailers across Canada from July 2005 to October 2008.

-Drop-side cribs sold under the brand name Simmons Juvenile Products. Around 230 units of recalled cribs were sold across Canada from 2005 to June 2007.

-Cribs sold under the brand name "Million Dollar Baby" with one of the following model numbers: M0391, M0591, M1701, M2301, M4801, M5901 and M5921. Around 760 of the recalled cribs were sold in Canada from February 2007 to March 2010.

Each of the companies is offering free retrofit kits to affected consumers.
---
For more information, contact the companies by telephone:

Delta: 1-877-342-3418

Dorel Distribution Canada:1-800-295-1980

Isis Inc.:1-800-667-4111.

Million Dollar Baby:1-888-673-6488

Simmons: 1-877-342-3439