Nearly 40 percent of baby cribs sold found unsafe
- Source: Global Times
- [10:13 June 08 2010]
- Comments
A pregnant woman shops for a baby crib Monday at the Goodbaby flagship store on Xizang Road in Shanghai. Photo: Cai Xianmin
By Zhang Cao
Only 58 percent of the baby cribs sold in the city meet national quality requirements, the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission (SCRPC) announced Monday.
SCRPC selected 16 baby cribs from different brands for its inspection carried out in March, of which 13 were made in China, and three overseas.
Seven of the cribs, all Chinese, were found failing to meet requirements, including Goodbaby, a famous Chinese brand whose products are exported to more than 30 coun-tries across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Colorlife, X.M.B, PIYOPIYO, Baby-Q, SanMuBeDe and XIA YI DAI were the other six homegrown brands that fell short of the national standards. Problems included the sides of the cribs not being high enough, meaning infants could fall out, and spaces between slats being too wide apart, allowing infants to become trapped between them.
Goodbaby's public relations department could not be reached for comment Monday by the Global Times, but an editor of the company's internal journal surnamed Song confirmed that half of the company's baby cribs are exported to Western countries.
According to Goodbaby's website, the company has the capacity to produce 3 million units of baby products per year. It holds a 68-percent market share in China, 40 percent in the US and 13 percent in Europe.
Another company criticized in the report claimed it had already started to withdraw problematic products.
"We've been made aware of the situation and have started to take products off the shelves across China," said Fang Yanxiang, director of the marketing department of Guangzhou Midway Company, the owner of Baby-Q.
He added that the company only sells one or two baby cribs every month on average, which they source from a third party, and that cribs are not their major product. "We don't export at all," he said.
The SCRPC is not authorized to recall or withdraw products, according to a SCRPC press officer who asked not to be identified. "Only the Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce has the authority to order a recall," she said.
She added that so far no reports of injuries or complaints had been received from customers.
