Our coalition of medical and consumer organizations submits the following comments on the new proposed collection of information by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) relating to warning label comprehension and interpretation by consumers for children’s sleep environments. We support the proposed information collection, and specifically the CPSC’s intention to oversee a survey to evaluate consumer awareness of infant sleep product warning labels.
Infants are uniquely vulnerable to sleep-related injury or death in their early stages of development, when immature cardiorespiratory or arousal systems can lead to a failure of the protective responses that older children exhibit. Because of these developmental differences, a sleeping environment that is safe for an older child can pose potentially fatal risks for infants. Accordingly, it is critical for all products that may be used for infant sleep to align with the AAP’s safe sleep recommendations to protect infants from injury and death, as well as to minimize confusion for parents and caregivers.
For full comments, click here.