Baby overboard

>> Safety regulations for kids' products may fall short

by NOEMI LOPINTO

On a brisk February morning, as Naomi Charron precariously navigated an icy Mile-End sidewalk with her 14-month-old son strapped on her back, she heard something snap. She had two bags of groceries in each hand and was only barely able to grab the left strap of her Outbound Toddler Tote as it flew off her shoulder. "I was very lucky it wasn't both straps," says Charron, "or my son would have been hanging upside-down by the belt around his waist." Charron held the strap in place with one hand and the groceries with the other until she was able to get home.

Charron's backpack was five years old, a gift from another mother. The strap was held to the frame by a hollow metal bolt, which was locked in place by a thin aluminum ring, the kind sold with new keys. The ring had simply popped off. Charron called Outbound Products to complain, but the company representative seemed unconcerned. "I thought they would want to know that one of their products was deeply flawed," says Charron. "And they should offer to repair it. However, they didn't seem committed to the quality of their product at all."

Health Canada oversees regulations for over 40 consumer products, among them children's toys, clothes, carriages, car seats and cribs. However not everything is regulated, and among the unregulated are high chairs, walkers, and baby backpacks. Marie-Josée Bolduc, an inspector for Health Canada, says if the accident statistics for a product are not very high, a company is permitted to apply "voluntary regulations." "Companies don't want to be associated with the death of a child," says Bolduc. "Canadian standards are among the highest in the world and corporations are very cooperative. It's easier for us to work within the voluntary program. If there's an accident we investigate the causes and we put out public warnings."

Voluntary regulations mean companies are given a set of instructions from Health Canada with regard to safety standards, packaging, sale and publicity, and are expected to submit the results of their product tests. For example, in the case of high chairs, companies should apply Health Canada standards for the width of the base, the height and the packaging instructions, and then products can be released on the market. Companies are legally responsible for any new product and may be asked to recall, repair or modify a product if there is an accident. A list of juvenile product recalls distributed by Health Canada cites 12 products recalled since March 2000, including reports of babies slipping out of backpacks, falling out of car seats, potentially becoming strangled on jolly jumpers, flipping out of strollers from faulty belts or, conversely, becoming trapped and rolling down stairs.

"With regard to backpacks, the Hazardous Products Act says that it is the company's responsibility to make the product safe," says Bolduc. "In [Charron's] case it was a five-year-old carrier. Parents have to be careful with second-hand products. We can't be everywhere."

David Crystal, the vice-president of Outbound Products was contacted by the Mirror and refused to comment. "This is not good enough," insists Charron. "An accident like mine could have meant a fatally injured baby. It is unacceptable that these products are not more closely monitored. There are way too many children's lives at stake."