U.S. will ban drop-side cribs amid safety concerns

Federal officials do not know how many drop-side cribs are in use. They once made up about half the market of new cribs purchased, Cowles said. By early 2009, after a spate of recalls, drop sides fell to about 18 percent of 2.5 million new cribs sold annually, Dwyer said.

Because cribs can cost as much as $1,000, they are often used repeatedly, handed down to family members and friends or sold again, making it difficult to estimate what percentage of the marketplace they represent.

Cowles and other consumer advocates have been talking with federal regulators and crib manufacturers for nearly 10 years about ways to make drop-side cribs safer, but there's been little action. Federal safety standards for cribs were last updated in 1982.

In 2008, Congress ordered the safety commission to set new standards for cribs, baby bathtubs and other durable products for children. When Tenenbaum became CPSC chairman last year, she put crib safety on a fast track and told her staff to craft a ban on drop-side cribs.

At the same time, Tenenbaum urged ASTM International, the organization that sets voluntary standards for materials, products, systems and services, to prohibit drop-side cribs. "I got them on the phone, and said, 'You need to work with us right now to have the best voluntary standard possible,' " Tenenbaum told a congressional committee in January. ASTM International agreed to ban drop-side models; those voluntary standards for crib makers take effect next month.

Most of the cribs recalled in recent years met the ASTM International standards, leading consumer advocates to argue that new federal requirements should be tougher than the voluntary standards. In addition to banning drop-side cribs, the new federal standard also will require that cribs meet a certain level of mattress support and pass a "shaking test" to ensure they can withstand the jumping and pulling expected from a typical toddler, among other things. The new federal rules will require manufacturers to either make it impossible for a caregiver to incorrectly assemble a crib or use warning labels in a way that makes obvious incorrect assembly.

Anticipating these changes, most manufacturers have already stopped making drop-side cribs, Dwyer said.

Instead, they plan to produce cribs on shorter legs, so that a caregiver can more easily bend to pick up a child, or cribs that have a "drop gate," where the top five inches of one side folds down along a "piano hinge" to allow easier access to the infant, he said.

Consumer advocates and regulators say they remain concerned about the drop-side cribs still in circulation.

Anyone owning a drop-side crib should examine it thoroughly, said Patricia L. Edwards, a CPSC engineer. "If you've got a fairly new crib and it is in perfect working condition, still consider not using the drop side," she said. "But if this is your third child using the crib, or it is a hand-me-down crib from your aunt, I would recommend not using it anymore. The older a crib gets, the more problems we see."

And when the crib is no longer needed, throw it out, Cowles said. "Don't pass it on," she said.