Legal News for Product Liability Lawyers. Sunsations Inc. & CPSC announce voluntary recall on children’s drawstring hoodies due to threat of serious injury.
The CPSC recalled children’s sweatshirts with drawstrings due to strangulation hazard.
Washington, D.C.– Sunsations Inc., clothing company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) came together on December 3, to announce a voluntary recall of approximately 12,000 children’s hooded sweatshirts with drawstrings because they pose a strangulation hazard. Consumers are being urged to either remove the drawstrings from the sweatshirts or return them to Sunsations for a full refund.
In February 1996, the CPSC published certain guidelines in which consumers were advised to remove the drawstrings in these sweatshirts entirely. In these guidelines, alternatives to drawstrings such as snaps, Velcro, buttons, and elastic are suggested. These guidelines do not only refer to the drawstrings found around the hood of sweaters but also drawstrings that hang around the waist, which can also lead to serious injury in children.
It is reported that over two-thirds of all fatalities and injuries involving sweatshirt drawstrings were drawstrings found around the hood of the sweater. For instance, according to examples provides by the CPSC, a five-year-old child was on the playground at her school when the drawstring of her sweater got caught on the slide and strangled her. Since waist drawstrings make up the other third of drawstring-related deaths and injuries, an incident was cited in which a 14-year-old boy was exiting a school bus when his waist-level drawstring got caught in the door. The bus driver apparently did not notice what had occurred, and the boy was pulled underneath the bus and sadly killed.
Although there is no mandatory requirement in the use of drawstrings, the guidelines were created by the CPSC to help prevent such tragic accidents from occurring.
For additional information about the hooded sweatshirt with drawstrings recall contact Sunsations at (800) 786-9044, or visit their Web site at www.sunsationsusa.com.
Legal News Reporter: Sandra Quinlan- Legal News for Product Liability Attorneys.