Fuschillo Bill to Ban Dangerous Drop-Side Cribs in New York State Passed by Senate Consumer Protection Committee

Local Parents Who Lost Children to Drop-Side Cribs Joining Senator Fuschillo in Fighting to Get Law Passed

State Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. (R-Merrick) today announced that legislation he is sponsoring to ban the sale, import, manufacturing, and distribution of drop-side cribs in New York State has been approved by the State Senate’s Consumer Protection Committee. Malfunctioning drop-side cribs have been blamed for multiple deaths and injuries of children, including on Long Island. 

Senator Fuschillo, said “Children’s products that can kill or injure a child do not belong on store shelves. Removing them from the marketplace will help protect children from harm. Both the full Senate and Assembly should vote to approve this commonsense measure to keep babies safe.”

The legislation (S. 6356A), sponsored by Senator Fuschillo, Senator Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), and Senator Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie), would ban the sale, import, manufacture, and distribution of drop-side cribs and other cribs deemed unsafe by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) throughout New York State. 

Merrick residents Michele & Henning Witte and Susan & Robert Cirigliano of North Bellmore have been working with Senator Fuschillo to get the legislation passed. Both the Witte and Cirigliano families lost infant children to drop-side cribs and testified about their experiences during a public forum Senator Fuschillo sponsored in February to seek input about the proposed law.

According to the CPSC, the hardware on a drop-side crib can often break or malfunction, causing the drop-side to detach and create a space between the drop-side and crib mattress. Infants and toddlers can roll into this space and become entrapped and suffocate, or sustain serious injury if the drop-side detaches completely. Safety concerns have led to millions of cribs being taken out of circulation through CPSC product recalls.

The CPSC recently recalled 635,000 cribs following the tragic death of a six-month old child in Iowa, who was strangled after the drop-side hardware broke. Similar recalls have resulted in millions of cribs being taken out of circulation because of safety concerns.

The sale of drop-side cribs is already prohibited in at least eight states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.  Both Nassau and Suffolk counties  have already approved their own countywide bans on the sale of drop-side cribs.           

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