Propac Recalled Hooded Sweatshirts For Strangulation Hazard. Propac Distributing Corporation, of Gardena, California has issued a recall of about 7,000 of its Youth Hooded Sweatshirts due to strangulation hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced. The CPSC explained that the Propac Youth Hooded Sweatshirts, which were manufactured in China, have a drawstring through […]
Propac Recalled Hooded Sweatshirts For Strangulation Hazard. Propac Distributing Corporation, of Gardena, California has issued a recall of about 7,000 of its Youth Hooded Sweatshirts due to strangulation hazard, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced.
The CPSC explained that the Propac Youth Hooded Sweatshirts, which were manufactured in China, have a drawstring through the hood, which can pose a strangulation hazard to children. This recall involves youth zipper and pullover hooded sweatshirts with drawstrings, which were sold in black, navy, and gray. The Proclub brand sweatshirts have RN number 100418 printed on a tag inside the collar and were sold at retail stores in Los Angeles, California and Las Vegas, Nevada from November 2008 through December 2008 for about $19.
To date, no incidents or injuries have been reported; however, the CPSC is advising consumers to immediately remove the drawstrings from the recalled sweatshirts to eliminate the hazard, or return the garment with drawstring to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers also can return the sweatshirts to Propac Distributing for a full refund. Propac Distributing can be reached toll-free at 1-888-337-0011 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday or at its Web site at www.proclubinc.com
In February 1996, the CPSC issued guidelines to help prevent children from strangling or becoming entangled on the neck and waist by drawstrings in upper garments, such as jackets and sweatshirts. In May 2006, the CPSC’s Office of Compliance issued an announcement that such outerwear with drawstrings at the hood or neck would be regarded as both defective and a substantial risk of injury to young children.
Unfortunately, the CPSC guidelines are routinely ignored by the clothing industry, and that attitude has had deadly consequences for some children. From January 1985 through January 1999, the CPSC received reports of 22 deaths and 48 non-fatal entanglement incidents involving drawstrings on children’s clothing. As a matter-of-fact, we often report on such recalls. Most recently we wrote about similar recalls issued by Hard Tail girl’s hooded jackets and pullover sweatshirts and C-Mrk Inc. boys hooded sweatshirts sold at Macy’s department stores in Southern California.
We have also long reported that in recent years, imports from China have been at the center of safety worries in the United States and other countries. For instance, there was a heparin contamination with a counterfeit ingredient that was implicated in dozens of deaths in the U.S., and hundreds of serious reactions both here and abroad. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also issued recalls of several foods imported from China that may have been tainted with the industrial chemical melamine; melamine-tainted dairy products hospitalized thousands of children in that country. Also, despite federal lead standards and that many consider lead poisoning to be one of the most important chronic environmental illnesses affecting children today, toys—many imported from China—continue to be made with elements that exceed federal standards and that could pose serious, sometimes fatal, health concerns.
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