Health Canada warns parents about crib problems

OTTAWA – Health Canada on Thursday warned parents to inspect their cribs in the wake of two new massive recalls in the United States linked to one suffocation death and 99 incidents of hardware problems.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday announced the recall of all Simplicity cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames, blamed for the suffocation death of a baby from Massachusetts. The recall includes both fixed-side and drop-side Simplicity cribs.

The frames of the crib can bend or detach, causing part of the mattress to collapse and creating a suffocation hazard for infants and toddlers, the commission said in a statement.

Citing entrapment and suffocation hazards, the commission also announced Thursday the recall of about 217,000 Graco-branded drop-side cribs made by LaJobi, Inc. of New Jersey. The drop-side hardware can break or fail, along the drop side to detach from the crib, creating a hazardous gap.

The CPSC and LaJobi have received 99 reports of drop side incidents, including drop side detachments. There were two incidents in which children became entrapped in the gap, but were successfully freed by caregivers, the commission said.

In Canada, the distributor of Simplicity products, Montreal-based Elfe Juvenile Products Inc., did not return calls asking whether any models of the Simplicity crib linked to the death of the Massachusetts baby were distributed or sold in Canada.

However, Elfe, which also imported the newly recalled Graco crib in the U.S., confirmed on its website that about 5,180 of the recalled Graco-branded cribs have been sold in Canada under the "Sarah" and "Hampton" banners. The company said parents should immediately stop using the cribs and wait for a repair kit to permanently affix the drop-side.

Health Canada, meanwhile, issued a statement, saying it does not yet know whether models of the Simplicity crib recalled in the U.S. were sold in Canada.

Under the current product-safety law, the department "does not have mandatory recall powers or the ability to trace products through the supply chain. As a result, we are following up with Canadian manufacturers and distributors to determine whether these products were available in Canada and pose a risk to Canadians."

In the meantime, "we encourage parents to inspect their cribs for worn or broken hardware or any other visible signs of wear or damage," Health Canada said Thursday.

Simplicity cribs and bassinets have been linked to 13 deaths in the U.S. and been the subject of multiple recalls in Canada and the U.S. since 2005.

Simplicity and its successor company, SFCA Inc., are no longer in business, so Health Canada and its U.S. counterpart must rely on importers, distributors or retailers to collect sales and distribution information for Simplicity products.