Recalled toys, sports equipment and furniture for infants and children cause thousands of injuries, even death.

Has This Ever Happened to You?

• Maria searches a swap meet for the perfect stroller for her baby due in a couple of weeks. When she settles on one to purchase, she has no idea that this particular stroller is on a Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) list of recalled products known to cause injury and deaths.
• To help save money, Dylan’s family and friends give the mother-to-be used baby items that they had purchased for their own children back in the day.

These are common ways baby care items, clothing and accessories are recycled through a network of thoughtful people who are trying to help, but often don’t realize that the toys, sports equipment and furniture they’re re-gifting are frequently recalled products.

Now, in an effort to keep children and babies from the increased danger of recalled items, Safe Kids California (SKC) is launching a program to educate the public about the danger of unknowingly purchasing or accepting products that have been recalled. The campaign’s centerpiece of public service announcements, or PSAs, recorded in English and Spanish showcase important safety messages about recalled items. While many items are safe, it is important that parents check the CPSC list when accepting new or used items.

“When we discovered that almost 30 percent of recalls in 2012 were children’s products, and that there were 230,000 emergency visits to the ER involving injuries from nursery items and toys, we knew that we had to take action,” says Iana Simeonov, project director from the Public Health Institute. “Our goal was to demystify and contextualize the process of children’s product recalls for consumers while making the information more accessible to English and Spanish speaking parents.”

Watch Here. The Wheels Make the World Go Round PSA highlights strollers and outdoor sports equipment, which are among the most frequently recalled products that can be recycled without warning through swap meets, garage sales, second-hand stores and among friends and family.

The Baby’s Day PSA uses a clever crib mobile visual to help parents understand that products for infants and toddlers are recalled more frequently than other products. To learn more, visit http://www.safekidscalifornia.org/recalls.

In addition to the new PSAs, the project includes a mobile-optimized Safe Kids California website, a Twitter stream of recalls and a “widget” that notifies users of important recalls directly from the CPSC in real time.

“SKC has the bandwidth to reach hundreds of thousands of parents,” Iana says. “With its help, we will roll out the content to Safe Kids coalitions and partner agencies in California and across the country.”

About the Children’s Product Recall Project
Safe Kids California is part of the Safe Kids Worldwide global network dedicated to keeping kids safe from preventable childhood injury – the number one cause of death among children ages one to 19. Funded by the Public Health Institute in Oakland, CA, the fiscal agency is the Folsom Cordova Community Partnership (FCCP), dedicated to enhancing the education, health and well-being of the children, youth, and adults of the community. For more information, contact Iana Simeonov at 415-341-5035.

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