Bill would ban the sale of padded crib bumpers

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KFVS) - A bill passed by Congress will ban the sale of padded crib bumpers.

Introduced by U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), it now heads to the White House to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The Safe Cribs Act, which was included in the legislation also banning inclined sleeper products, would make it unlawful nationwide to manufacture and import crib bumpers.

According to a release from the Senator Duckworth’s office, the crib bumpers are still sold by retailers despite current recommendations advising parents to keep cribs bare to prevent sudden infant death syndrome.

The legislation would direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to enforce a ban on padded crib bumpers nationwide.

“The fact that deadly crib bumpers can still be found on shelves across the country is extremely confusing to new parents who don’t believe stores would be selling them if they were truly dangerous to babies,” Senator Duckworth said in the release. “We should be doing everything we can to help new parents and prevent needless deaths like these, which is why I’m glad our bipartisan bill to end the sale of deadly padded crib bumpers finally passed Congress and is now headed to President Biden’s desk.”

Duckworth, Portman and Blumenthal introduced the legislation in April 2021. It passed the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee by voice vote later that same month.

In March, the Senate passed the bill.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, which contained identical language to the Safe Cribs Act banning crib bumpers, in June 2021.

“The use of padded crib bumpers poses an unnecessary threat to the health and safety of infants everywhere, there is no reason the sale of these items should continue,” Senator Portman said. “I am pleased that this legislation is finally heading to the president’s desk. I urge him to sign it into law quickly so that we may immediately begin protecting infants from the unnecessary and unacceptable risk of these products.”

“I applaud the House for passing this important measure to ensure deadly and dangerous crib bumpers are pulled off store shelves,” Senator Blumenthal added. “New parents can still unwittingly purchase this perilous padding for their children’s cribs despite dozens of babies suffocating. I look forward to the President signing into law this bipartisan effort I was glad to back with Senators Duckworth and Portman to prevent more needless tragedies.”

According to the news release, in 2011, the city of Chicago became the first city to ban the sale of crib bumpers. Maryland and Ohio also banned the sale of these products in 2013 and 2017 respectively, with minor exceptions.