US Maryland Announces Ban on Crib Bumper Pads

March 2013

Relevant for: Toys & children’s products

Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) has announced itsban on the sale of baby bumper pads in the state of Maryland.Starting June 21, 2013, baby bumper pads will be considered a hazardous material and may not be shipped or sold to any purchaser in Maryland. Sale of baby bumper pads may be permitted if a future ASTM voluntary standard for baby bumper pads is accepted by the Secretary and the baby bumper pads meet such standard, or if the Consumer Product Safety Commission finds that the benefits of certain baby bumper pads exceed their risks. More information on this regulation can be found in DHMH’s website.

In this regulation, “baby pumper pads” means “a pad or pads of non-mesh material resting directly above the mattress in a crib, running the circumference of the crib or along any of the interior sides of the crib, and intended to be used until the age that an infant pulls to stand” and does not include vertical bumpers that wrap tightly around each individual crib rail or mesh crib liners.

Maryland is the second to ban crib bumper pads in the US. The city of Chicago, Illinois, has also banned the sale of crib pumper pads in the city since earlier this year (see our previous update in TÜV SÜD Consumer Products E-ssentials Vol. 35.

References:
Ban of hazardous baby bumper pads in Maryland
DHMH website 
TÜV SÜD Consumer Products E-ssentials Vol. 35