Q4 2023 Consumer Product Recalls Analysis

Q4 2023 – CPSC

Product

Reason(s)

Children’s Sleepwear

• The children’s nightgowns/blanket sleepers/robes fail to meet the flammability standards for children’s sleepwear, posing a risk of burn injuries to children.

Children’s Product

• The recalled mattresses violate multiple provisions of the federal safety regulation for crib mattresses, including the thickness test and missing warnings and labels. The product poses a suffocation hazard to infants.
• The recalled children’s craft buttons contain levels of lead that exceed the federal lead content ban. Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health effects.
• The activity centers’ straps can detach or break while a child is in the activity center, posing fall and injury hazards to the child.

Window Accessories

• The window’s sash can detach from the frame and fall, posing an injury hazard to consumers.
• The recalled roller blinds have looped operating cords that pose a strangulation hazard to children.
• The glass can separate from the frame during hurricane conditions which can pose a serious injury hazard.

Durable Nursery Product

• In “parent-facing” mode, the backrest of the seat can move downward, placing the infant in a negative recline. In this situation, an unrestrained infant could tumble from the seat, posing an injury hazard.
• The recalled bassinets violate the Safe Sleep for Babies Act because they were marketed for infant sleep and have an incline angle greater than 10 degrees. The bassinets also violate the Infant Sleep Products regulation because they do not have a stand.
• The bath seats fail to meet the federal safety regulation for infant bath seats, including requirements for stability and leg openings, and can tip over while in use, posing a drowning hazard to babies.
• The recalled loungers fail to meet the safety requirements of CPSC’s Infant Sleep Products Rule, creating an unsafe sleeping environment for infants and posing a suffocation risk and fall and entrapment hazards to infants. The failures include not having a stand and not meeting the requirements for side height and fabric-sided openings. The product’s sides are shorter than the minimum side height limit; the sleeping pad’s thickness exceeds the maximum limit; and an infant could fall out of an enclosed opening at the foot of the lounger or become entrapped.

Toys

• The magnets used to connect the various pieces of the toy can become dislodged from their pouches, posing choking and laceration hazards to young children.
• CPSC testing determined the magnetic ball sets do not comply with the requirements of the mandatory federal toy regulation because they contain one or more magnets that fit within CPSC’s small parts cylinder and the magnets are stronger than permitted. When high-powered magnets are swallowed, the ingested magnets can attract each other, or another metal object, and become lodged in the digestive system. This can result in perforations, twisting and/or blockage of the intestines, infection, blood poisoning and death.
• The eyes of the plush toys can break off, posing a choking hazard to young children.
• The bottom portion of the recalled baby rattles can detach, posing choking and/or ingestion hazards.
• The playsets have levels of certain phthalates that exceed the federal phthalate standard. In addition, playset contains levels of lead that exceed the federal lead content ban.

Q4 2023 – Health Canada

Product

Reason(s)

Childcare Article

• The care instruction label for the bib may become detached, which may pose a potential choking hazard.

Children’s Product

• Products that position infant feeding bottles and enable infants to feed themselves without supervision are prohibited by law in Canada. Such products can result in infants choking on or aspirating the feeding liquid.  Unattended infant feeding practices are discouraged by Health Canada and Canadian professional medical associations.
• The zipper pull from nursing pillow can be easily twisted off and may pose a choking hazard.
• The mattress thickness exceeds the 38 mm (1.5 inch) requirement of the Playpens Regulations and can pose a suffocation hazard to the user.

Children’s Clothing

• Health Canada’s sampling and evaluation program has determined that drawstring in children’s upper outerwear/drawstring at the waist that can become caught on playground equipment, fences, or other objects and result in strangulation, or in the case of a vehicle, the child being dragged.

Toys

• The small plastic piece containing a high-powered magnet that connects one train to another can detach or become loose, posing an ingestion hazard.
• Health Canada's sampling and evaluation program has determined that the Borax powder packet provided with Slime does not meet the Canadian toy safety requirements related to boric acid content. Boric acid can be toxic to children if licked or swallowed. Children are more sensitive to boric acid toxicity than adults. High levels of boric acid ingestion may have long-term effects on a child's development and their future reproductive health.
• Magnets in toys do not meet the magnetic force requirements of the Toys Regulations and pose an ingestion hazard. Small, powerful magnets can be easily swallowed by children of all ages, posing serious and potentially life-threatening risks. 
• Small and medium sized rings have the potential to become stuck on or over a child’s head and there is a risk that a child could become entrapped if a ring is placed over the head.