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(Action requested - Please add your name in the comments section below if you agree with the comment provided)
 The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is considering adding the following warning label to all bassinets, cradles and non-full-size cribs:
"Use only the pad provided by manufacturer."
This may seem like a logical warning label to put on bassinets and cradles. However, the unintended consequence of this rule will lead to manufacturers having no choice but to stop selling non-toxic, organic bassinet, cradle and porta-crib mattresses. Most of these pads/mattresses are used as alternative replacements to the typical vinyl and polyurethane foam pads/mattresses that come with cradles and bassinets. If a warning label states "use only the pad provided by manufacturer", another mattress manufacturer will not be able to sell a pad/mattress that is obviously going to be used as a replacement pad in a bassinet or cradle - for liability reasons. Retailers will not want to carry them and violate CPSC rules. They will simply have to stop making and selling them.
There are already extremely few manufacturers making these non-toxic, organic pads/mattresses and this would be a huge step backward. The manufacturers who make the cheap, flimsy, chemical pads that come with the cradle or bassinet currently have no incentive to make the original pad with non-toxic organic materials since these materials are expensive and would greatly increase the manufacturing costs. Most of these pads are made low-cost overseas.
Environmental and health conscientious consumers deserve the right to choose not to use the original pads/mattresses and to choose pads/mattresses that meet their expectations, as long as those pads fit properly and otherwise comply with CPSC requirements.
It's important to let the CPSC know that safety is not just about acute physical safety, e.g. proper firmness, but chemical exposure and environmental safety is just as important to the health of infants.
The CPSC is currently accepting public comments on this issue. I have signed on to an in-depth comment (you can view it here) that will be submitted to the CPSC.
We are including the following statement in this comment and asking parent consumers to sign on. If you agree with the following statement and would like your signature to be included in this comment, please go to this page and add your full name. Please also feel free to add your own comments if you would like.
"As a concerned parent, I choose to put my baby on a mattress or pad of my choosing made without questionable chemicals. The overwhelming majority of chemicals in mattresses and pads are unregulated. As such, I choose to follow the precautionary principle and use only materials, components and ingredients that meet my expectations."
Please add your full name below in the comment section. By adding your name below, you are giving us permission to include your name in the comment we submit to the CPSC as a signatory to the statement above.
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