“Had Mattel done adequate research before bringing this product to market, if they had conducted interviews with licensed pediatricians, disclosed infant deaths to the public when they learned about them, or agreed to recall it earlier, lives of children would have been saved.”
House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney on a recent investigation into Fisher-Price's Rock 'N Play.
Fisher-Price disregarded repeated safety warnings about its Rock 'n Play sleeper
Published on
jun 8, 2021
- Background: In 2009, Fisher-Price, a subsidiary of Mattel, introduced the Rock ‘n Play as an overnight sleep product for infants. Fisher-Price sold 4.7 million Rock 'n Plays sold before it voluntarily recalled the product n 2019,
- The Latest: A June report by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the House's "main investigative committee" found that Fisher-Price failed to ensure the Rock 'n Play was safe and continued to market it for overnight sleep despite repeated warnings and concerns from parents, pediatricians, and regulators in the U.S. and abroad, as well as "evidence sleeping at an incline could put infants at risk of serious harm or death."
- During a hearing on Monday held in response to the investigation, Fisher-Price admitted it received reports of 97 babies dying in the Rock 'n Play - nearly twice the number of deaths previously reported.
- Chairwoman Maloney noted that Fisher-Price recalled two similar products last week (Rock ‘n Glide Soothers and Soothe ‘n Play Gliders), saying Matel left other products on the market that posed the same dangers as the Rock 'n Play.
- Fisher-Price told CBS News it disagrees "with significant parts" of the finding laid out in report.
- Big Picture: The Committee also noted sweeping flaws in federal oversight of consumer product safety, including a lack of adequate regulatory or enforcement powers of the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), an independent federal regulatory agency. Earlier this month, the CPSC announced it will now set safety standards for products designed for infant sleep, which unlike cradles and bassinets were previously unregulated.