Category Archives: Consumer Products

Drop-side cribs have been banned under new federal safety regulations announced Wednesday (December 15, 2010) by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Some are calling it the end of an era, given the drop-side crib’s huge and decades-long popularity, but others are calling the ban long overdue. In the last nine years, defective cribs have been blamed for the deaths of at least 32 children, and millions of cribs have been recalled during that time — with many of those recalls involving defects in the drop-side mechanism of different cribs.

The ban applies to the sale, manufacture, and re-selling of any drop-side crib. Service businesses that use or offer cribs (such as day care centers and hotels) will have one year to comply with the ban, by replacing any drop-side cribs with safe and CPSC-approved fixed-side models.

The CPSC recently described the dangers of drop-side cribs this way: “When drop-side hardware breaks or deforms, the drop side can detach in one or more corners from the crib. If an infant or toddler rolls or moves into the space created by a partially detached drop side, the child can become entrapped or wedged between the crib mattress and the drop side and suffocate. Infants can also strangle in the “V” shape formed by a drop side that detaches in an upper corner.”

To learn more about crib safety standards, recent recalls, and how to make sure that your child’s crib is safe, check out Nolo’s recent article Crib Recalls, Safety, and Litigation.

For parents and caregivers who want to ensure that cribs and other baby furniture are up to safety standards — and not subject to any recent recalls — the CPSC has set up a special online Crib Information Center at www.cpsc.gov/info/cribs.

Like it or not, caffeine and alcohol are as American as Starbucks and Budweiser. But from now on, consumers looking to dabble in both are probably going to have to pick one vice or the other at a time. Last week, the FDA fired a loud warning shot over the marketing of drinks like Four Loko, Joose, and Core — alcoholic beverages that contain caffeine as an “unsafe food additive,” according to the health agency.

Here are the caffeinated alcoholic drinks affected by last week’s FDA marketing warnings (click on a hyperlinked company name to see the FDA warning letter sent to that beverage’s manufacturer):

• Core High Gravity HG Green, HG Orange, and Lemon Lime Core Spiked (Charge Beverages Corp.)
• Four Loko (Phusion Projects Inc.)
• Joose and Max (United Brands Company Inc.)
• Moonshot (New Century Brewing Co.)

The FDA is warning consumers that “individuals drinking these beverages may consume more alcohol — and become more intoxicated — than they realize,” and that “drinking caffeine and alcohol together may lead to hazardous and life-threatening behaviors.” It’s not for nothing that in some circles these drinks are known as “blackout in a can.”

On the heels of the FDA’s warnings, a number of states have already banned the sale of drinks like Four Loko, including Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington. And according to Time.com, at least one wrongful death lawsuit has already been filed over the safety of Four Loko.

Learn more about unsafe products and FDA warnings in the Dangerous Products & Drugs section of Nolo’s Accidents & Injuries Center