By Nancy Cowles
It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years since KID was founded. We wanted to share with you, our important partners, the highlights of those 15 years that have a direct impact on your grandchildren’s safety.
Fifteen years ago, Danny Keysar, the son of Linda Ginzel & Boaz Keysar, was tragically killed when the recalled crib he was in at child care collapsed, strangling him. Far from a freak accident, the death was caused both by the dangerous crib design and the faulty product safety system that allowed it to stay in use. If you want to learn more about KID and our founding, visit our web page.
Those fifteen years have brought about vast improvements in safety that keep all our children a little safer. While KID still has a lot more work to do, we take a moment now to reflect on those improvements:
In Illinois and ten other states, it is prohibited to use recalled products in child care facilities. A system is in place to help providers identify and remove these dangerous items. Each year, KID does dozens of workshops for providers, parents and grandparents to give them the tools they need to keep children safe.
- Standards have been strengthened to address not only the hazardous design that killed Danny, but to address other hazards as they emerge and in many cases, before children are seriously injured. There are new standards for cribs, bassinets, play yards and more.
- 2007 brought the Year of the Recall when millions of lead-tainted toys, toys with dangerous magnets and hazardous cribs were recalled. That led to a substantial rewrite of product safety laws– bringing us strong crib standards, mandatory standard for toy safety, a prohibition on lead in children’s products, and so much more.
- Consumers can now learn about unsafe products and report incidents at SaferProducts.gov.
- The City of Chicago and the state of Maryland have banned the sale of hazardous crib bumper pads, which, combined with a strong safe sleep message, will keep babies safer.
So help us commemorate our 15th anniversary:
- Sign up at Kidsindanger.org and CPSC.gov for recall notices and our monthly Action newsletter with recalls and product safety news. If you sign up at KID and write “15” in the “how did you hear about KID” box, we’ll send a free safety kit.
- Thanks to “Danny’s Law” parents and grandparents can now register infant and toddler products online, making sure you’ll hear of any recall. You can find manufacturers’sites here.
- Spread the word to others about the importance of product safety and the work KID is doing to keep children safe.
You deserve safe products for your grandchildren and we are proud of the role KID has played in moving toward that goal.
Nancy Cowles has been Executive Director of KID since 2001 and has over 30 years experience conceiving, building and directing organizations to investigate a wide variety of consumer issues and to craft solutions.