From the diaries by Erick

A prime example of the power of the unelected bureaucracy was shown last week. The Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Inez Tenenbaum, has decided that baby cribs used by most folks in the last 20 years kill babies, and no only should no longer be made, but should not even be re-sold privately.

Starting this summer, it will be illegal to sell a crib with sides that drop down or those that do not pass strict tests measuring the durability of slats and mattress supports.

Each of these flaws has led to deaths of babies. When a piece of a crib separates — whether it’s a slat, a mattress support or the entire side — babies can fall into the gap. Trapped, they hang to death.

The new rules, which go into effect in about six months, usher in another historic change: It will make it illegal to sell nearly all used cribs since few second-hand cribs will meet the tougher standards. Parents will be allowed to resell cribs that are compliant with the new safety rules, but it will likely take years for many of those to hit the second-hand market.

First they outlawed many children’s toys due to fears of lead, now it’s the cribs. This regulation is from an administration that promotes killing babies in the womb, and outside it too. The irony…

We have a single unelected bureaucratic nanny making these laws. Can Congress stop this madness? Is this mad? Just read more:

Since 2007, more than 11 million cribs have been recalled.Between Nov. 2007 and April 2010, the safety commission received reports of at least 35 fatalities that were attributed to structural problems of a crib. Nearly all of the deaths were due to entrapments of a baby’s head, neck or body, and about half of the deaths were due to failures with the drop side of a crib.

H/T to Rush on this one from his Thursday show. And I have to agree with Rush. Thirty-five fatalities over nearly three years is not a crisis. Yes, it might deserve more warnings on the products, but a blanket ban on drop-down sides? Really? This may mean that more babies can climb out of the cribs, or parents dropping the babies into the crib because they cannot bend over far enough to place the baby on the mattress without wratching a back. I want to see a wheelchair-bound mother get their baby in and out of the crib without a drop-side crib. Not to offend anyone out there, but I am surprised that Inez Tenenbaum does not ban all cribs since most babies that die from SIDS die in a crib.

I guess I’ll have to burn the crib we used for our three children. Does maple burn safely enough for the CPSC?