Bethesda, MD – Kids In Danger (KID) and Consumer Federation of America (CFA) applaud the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) unanimous vote today to develop a final rule to address furniture instability. Currently, there is no mandatory standard for dressers and other clothing storage units despite at least 226 deaths, including 193 children, since 2000. The current voluntary standard is weak and not effective enough to prevent tip-overs.

KID and CFA have been pushing the CPSC to pass a strong mandatory rule to prevent furniture tip-overs for several years. The CPSC’s historic and long-awaited vote today was the result of years of advocacy from parents and consumer groups. KID and CFA now call on the CPSC to finalize this rule to protect children from unstable furniture.

“CPSC’s action today will keep children safe once this rule is finalized,” stated Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids In Danger. “It could not have happened without the efforts of so many parents whose children were killed by unstable furniture, many the founders of Parents Against Tip-overs (PAT). They are the true champions of this effort. We also appreciate the amendments offered and passed today which decrease the likelihood that noncompliant products will remain in the marketplace well after the rule goes into effect.”

“We applaud today’s significant vote by the CPSC to move forward on the development of a strong effective tip-over standard for clothing storage units. It is the culmination of years of work by parents who lost children due to furniture tip-overs and turned their tragedy into effective advocacy,” stated Rachel Weintraub, legislative director and general counsel with Consumer Federation of America. “We look forward to working together with parents, other consumer advocates and the CPSC to finalize this life saving rule.”

CPSC Chairman Alex Hoehn-Saric stated in his opening remarks, “as any caregiver knows, children will climb. This draft proposed rule aims to ensure that the furniture we buy to store our clothing will not tip over onto small children, harming or killing them.”

The CPSC also passed two amendments to the rule today: one that would prevent manufacturers from stockpiling unsafe dressers and selling them long after the rule goes into effect, and another that would shorten the time for the rule to go into effect after promulgation from 180 days to 30 days.