National Fire Protection Association Responds To U.S CPSC Commissioner's Decision On Children's Sleepwear Flammability Standards

"This ruling has removed needed protection from a highly vulnerable group" says NFPA.

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QUINCY, Mass., May 3, 1996 -- Today the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) responded to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ruling regarding children's sleepwear with disappointment and deep concern for the safety of America's children. The CPSC ruling allows children's sleepwear to be made of flammable materials like untreated cotton, so long as it is tight-fitting on children or the age it is designed for. And CPSC's ruling totally exempts sleepwear for children up to 9 months of age, on the ground that they are not mobile enough to approach dangerous open flames.

"Children age five and under are twice as likely to die in fire as everyone else," says NFPA research expert Dr. John R. Hall, Jr. "CPSC's ruling has removed needed protection from this highly vulnerable group. As Chairman Ann Brown said in her minority statement opposing the changes, "the sleepwear standards are working." We believe that CPSC's reasoning in support of this change was fatally flawed in a number of ways."

Specifically, these include NFPA's concern that clothes designed to be tight-fitting may not be tight-fitting in practice. Oversized garments are likely to be purchased for children in order to provide greater comfort and room to grow. When this occurs, parents will be stripping their children of any protection from open flame clothing fires and the severe, often fatal, burns they can cause. For preschoolers, already at higher risk of death from fire, the results could be catastrophic.

NFPA says the greatest fire dangers to small children come from other young children. "Every year, hundreds of children die in fires caused by children playing with fire. They represent more than a third of all the preschoolers killed in fires each year," says Dr. Hall. "Many nine-month-old infants will be able to crawl or walk toward the attractive hazard of an open flame in the hands of an older sibling or playmate. Once they enter the play circle, these toddlers will be exposed to clothing ignition with no protection at all."

Dr. Hall notes that CPSC made this change with provisions for enhanced labeling, consumer education by industry, and close tracking of any change in burn experience. "This means that CPSC shares NFPA's concern that this relaxation will cause a real hazard for children. Unfortunately, there is no early-warning system for clothing fires," concludes Dr. Hall. "The first evidence that the new standard isn't working will be burned bodies of small children. That's a terribly high price to pay to test a speculative theory that proven fire protection can be rolled back without consequence."

Celebrating its 100th anniversary, the National Fire Protection Association has led the way to fire safety since 1896. The mission of the international nonprofit organization is to reduce the burden of fire on the quality of life by advocating scientifically based consensus codes and standards, research, and education for fire and related safety issues. The Association publishes the National Fire Codes(R) and the Learn Not to Burn(R) Curriculum. NFPA headquarters is in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA. Visit NFPA's home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.nfpa.org.

Contact: Julie Reynolds of NFPA, 617-984-7274 or public_affair@nfpa.org.