Six Manufacturers Halt Sale Of Baby Gates

Six Manufacturers Halt Sale Of Baby Gates Commission Announces Agreement with six manufacturers of V-shaped accordion style baby gates to halt voluntarily further production and distribution. The Commission staff believes these gates present a strangulation hazard in the V-shapes along the top edge of the gate and in the diamond-shaped openings in the body of the gate. These gates are commonly used to block entry of infants and children to stairs and other rooms in a home. This action was taken by the Commission after an eighth death involving an accordion style gate occurred in Meridian, Idaho, in October, 1984. In that incident, an 11-month old infant died from strangulation when his head became entrapped in a diamond-shaped opening in the body of an accordion style gate. Since 1975, the Commission is aware of seven additional deaths when children's heads became entrapped either in the V-shaped openings along the top edge or in the diamond-shaped opening of the accordion style gates. There have been at least another 23 non-fatal incidents associated with these gates. The firms that agreed to stop producing and distributing the accordion style gates are Madison Mill Inc., Nashville, Tennessee; Mapes Industries Inc., Great Neck, New York; North States Industries, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Nu-Line Industries Inc., Suring, Wisconsin; Paris Industries, South Paris, Maine; and Worldbest Industries, Cudahy, Wisconsin. The companies stated that these actions are not an admission that these products present a substantial product hazard. At the same time the Commission accepted each firm's proposal to stop production and distribution, it instructed the staff to consider regulatory options if any firms market accordion style gates in their present design after January 31, 1985. In requesting that accordion style gates not be manufactured or distributed by the six firms or any other firm after January 31, 1985, the Commission recognized that other styles of baby gates are avail