The Safe Sleep for Babies Act will protect infants from being killed in their sleep by dangerous consumer products. The law bans both crib bumpers, a category of products responsible for at least 107 infant deaths between 1990 and 2016 alone, and inclined infant sleepers designed like the recalled Fisher-Price Rock n’ Play, which was linked to a significant number of infant fatalities. Congress and President Biden determined that these products are simply too dangerous to be on the market, and we owe them our great thanks for enacting this ban today.
Some 3,400 babies under age one still die suddenly and unexpectedly in their sleep environment each year. The manufacturers of some infant products have known from the start that their products were risky and violated safe sleep advice, and CPSC was working to address these risks. The Safe Sleep for Babies Act will save lives by speeding and significantly expanding on this work. CPSC must move with all deliberate speed to implement Congress’ bans, including by publishing CPSC regulations to meet the broadened definitions of covered products.
The Commission must follow Congress’ direction as we contemplate the product elements that present a danger to infants.
I am thankful to the members of Congress who championed consumer protection through their work on the Safe Sleep for Babies Act: Representatives Tony Cárdenas, Jan Schakowsky, and Mondaire Jones, and Senators Tammy Duckworth, Rob Portman, Richard Blumenthal, and Sherrod Brown.
We are one step closer to a future where parents can trust the safety of the products they use with their babies—particularly those products with a design that accommodates a sleeping infant.
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1 Safe Sleep for Babies Act, H.R. 3182, 117th Congress (2022).
2 Staff Briefing Package on CPSC Staff Response to the Record of Commission Action on Crib Bumpers (September 2016), Tab E, at 2.
3 “Fisher-Price Recalls Rock ‘n Play Sleepers Due to Reports of Deaths,” Consumer Product Safety Commission (April 2019) (online at https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2019/Fisher-Price-Recalls-Rock-n-Play-Sleepers-Due-to-Reports-of-Deaths); “Fisher-Price® Rock 'n Play Sleeper Recall,” Mattel Global Consumer Support (April 2019) (online at https://service.mattel.com/us/recall/BJD57_ivr.asp)
4 Marlene Cimons, “Despite a Decades-Long Effort, Babies are still Dying of SIDS,” Washington Post (April 2022) (online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/04/10/how-common-is-sids/).