The commission reported that a 2-year-old boy died on May 21 in San Jose, CA, after his sweatshirt's drawstring was caught on a slide in a daycare center. In another incident, a drawstring around the waist of a jacket got caught in a bus door, killing some children.
Wolfson said that children's coats, sweatshirts and jackets with drawstrings around the neck or waist have been deemed defective and recalled since 2006. The companies that imported and sold the clothes were fined for failing to inform the commission about the sales of drawstring tops.
Back in 1996, the CPSC issued guidelines that were created to prevent strangulations and entanglements from drawstrings. In May 2006, CPSC's Office of Compliance said that children's tops with drawstrings at the hood or neck are considered defective and poses risks of injury.
Under federal law, manufacturers, distributors and retailers must turn to CPSC immediately if it has been proven that a product is defective and may injure the public, impose serious injuries or death, or violate federal safety standards.
Despite mandates, manufacturers and retailers still fail to comply. Deaths and injuries were reported in the past years because manufacturers and retailers such as The Gap, Old Navy, Nordstrom's, Sears and K-Mart, disregarded CPSC standards.
The standards are already mandatory in New York and Wisconsin.
The industry should stop violating the guidelines and not put the children's safety to great risks, particularly risks of death, Wolfson said.
