Children's play yard recalled

I read recently where the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just recalled 200,000 children's play yards. These "Rainforest" model play yards were made by Simplicity Inc., which is now out of business, for Fisher Price. There is a danger of the side rails collapsing and potential injury or death to the children or infants. Apparently CPSC officials knew last year that these side rails were collapsing, but felt that it did not "rise to the level of a recall". 

This article just reinforces my thoughts that you cannot depend on the CPSC to timely act and protect your children. It is my opinion that this agency is underfunded and overworked and hope that the new administration will provide additional funding and manpower, so that the agency can see that dangerous and defective products are taken off the shelves. Consumers need to know that just because a product is in the marketplace, does not mean that it has been tested or evaluated by the manufacturer or a government agency. If consumers experience safety problems with a product, they need to contact the CPSC. Apparently, it was the over 1300 complaints to the CPSC that finally motivated this recall!

To the credit of the CPSC, they only have 420 employees to police over 15,000 kinds of consumer products. In my opinion, the agency is woefully understaffed. The CPSC does not test or certify products before they are sold. The sellers or importers of products are charged with insuring that their products comply with government standards or regulations. Unfortunately, that means that we consumers pay the price through serious injury or death when a negligent product manufacturer or importer sells a product that has not been adequately designed, tested or inspected. My experience with the CPSC over the last 11+ years has been that they typically do not become involved in the investigation of a product until they have received several consumer complaints, and there is the potential for serious injury or death. They just have too few staff to go out and start randomly testing or inspecting items to see if they comply with government regulations. Luckily, with the internet, consumers can research products before they purchase them. I always recommend "googling" an item on the internet before purchasing it, and checking the CPSC website to see if the item or its manufacturer have any recent recalls.