The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission is warning parents and caregivers to immediately stop using a popular brand of bassinet after the death of a second baby attributed to the product. Six major retailers have stopped selling the bassinets.
The warning covers the Simplicity 3-in-1 and Simplicity 4-in-1 bassinets. CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said Thursday that the danger is so severe that the agency was compelled to issue the warning late Wednesday ahead of a likely recall.
“Recalls can take time, and the commission felt that time was of the essence and that warning the public about this product was so important that we could not wait until a recall was announced,” she said.
Last week, a 7-month-old Shawnee, Kan., girl was strangled after trying to slip through the metal tubes that run down the side of the bassinet. Police said her body fit through the tubes, but her head was too big.
In September 2007, a 4-month-old girl from Pineville died after becoming caught between the rail of her Simplicity 4-in-1 bassinet and the mattress.
Katelynn Marie Simon was discovered in that asphyxiating position by her parents, Elizabeth Simon and Chris Priddy, 4 1/2 hours after her 5 a.m. feeding. The infant was taken to Freeman Hospital West in Joplin, where she was pronounced dead.
Jeff Slaton, an attorney for the girl’s family, said his clients will be relieved when the defective bassinets are pulled off the shelves.
Slaton said he filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Simon family against Wal-Mart and Simplicity Inc. on Aug. 20, the day before the Kansas baby died.
“It’s rather obvious when you look at this bassinet that it’s defective and dangerous,” he said. “The problem is that people don’t think in those terms. When you go to Wal-Mart and find something covered with Walt Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, you don’t think like that.”
Slaton said he hasn’t been hired to handle the Kansas case.
Wal-Mart, one of the largest distributors of the product, said Thursday that it is pulling the bassinets off of its shelves and its Web site.
“We are working with the supplier and CPSC and are directing store managers to remove product identified in the CPSC press release from store shelves and initiating a register block to prevent sale,” Wal-Mart said in a statement. “In addition, we are in the process of removing this product from sale at Walmart.com.”
In addition, Toys “R” Us, Kmart Corp., Big Lots, Target and J.C. Penney have halted sales of the bassinets, the CPSC said late Thursday.
The CPSC says the “close-sleeper/bedside sleeper” bassinets have metal bars spaced farther apart than the maximum 2 3/8 inches allowed under federal crib-safety standards. The bars are covered by an adjustable fabric flap that is attached by Velcro, which can fall if not properly attached and allow an infant to slide between the bars.
Vallese said the agency is acting under new authority granted under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, signed earlier this month by President Bush.
“It is now clear what the foreseeable danger with this product is,” she said. “The fact that we have put out this warning pretty much has determined that this is a product that should not be used by consumers.”
Simplicity recalled about 1 million cribs Sept. 21, 2007, after reports of three deaths and seven babies who had become entrapped in its cribs. Vallese said the recall put Simplicity out of business, and its assets were purchased by SFCA Inc. in April.
In a release Wednesday, the federal agency said SFCA “has refused to cooperate with the government and recall the products. SFCA maintains that it is not responsible for products previously manufactured by Simplicity Inc.”
In a statement Thursday, SFCA insisted that the warning does not involve any product it manufactures or distributes. It noted that the CPSC said its warning does not include bassinets produced in recent months that have fabric permanently attached over the bar — a feature SFCA says its bassinets include.
“All bassinets produced and sold by SFCA are produced in this manner, with fabric permanently attached over the lower bar, and meet or exceed ASTM standards and CPSC guidelines,” the company said.
Vallese said there are about 1 million of the affected bassinets, which have been on the market for about seven years, in stores and in homes across the United States.
Globe staff writer Jeff Lehr contributed to this report.
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