ZRecs Hall of Shame: Ministry of Safety

A few months ago, we introduced the ZRecs Hall of Shame, a pantheon of terrible children's products. We put up two candidates linked by a theme, and readers vote for the worst of the two.

Our first inductee was Time-Out Teddy, a teddy bear fitted with an timer to police time-outs with cheap gadgetry and mixed messages. That was a few months ago, and Teddy has been... lonely. Time for another round of polling!

For our second draft pick, we again ask you to pick the lesser of two evils. On the one hand, we have companies which turn parents' desires to keep their children safe into products which are quite likely to make them less safe. On the other we have companies which flaunt the spirit of regulation while sticking strategically to its letter, and thus endanger kids with impunity. Whether the below candidates are exemplars of either of these excesses, we leave to our readers, as well as the determination of which is the most onerous trend.

Exhibit A: Sunshine Kids

Sunshine Kids, manufacturer of our favorite new car seat (the travel-friendly Radian 80, a five-point harness seat designed for children up to 80 pounds that eliminates the need for a transitional booster seat) is better known for a variety of aftermarket products which are recommended against by independent car seat safety organizations. Untested by NHTSA, such aftermarket products are charged with putting children's lives at risk by changing seat belt geometry, introducing untested wear on engineered seat belt fabrics, and adding dangerous padding underneath and around children that can compress in an accident and create slackness in safety straps that could allow children to slip out. If you aren't convinced by the safety warnings of independent experts, note that the use of such devices instantly voids the warranty of almost any car seat, or just ask your local car seat installation technician, who will tell you the same thing.

Pictured above are two of their "safety" products, the Mighty Tite seat belt tightener (see CPSafety for a good rundown of this hazard) and the Soft-Ride cushion, which boasts of "soft, absorbent" fabric that ignores the documented risks of extra padding in car seats (read our recent review of the Car Seat Poncho for a discussion how to validate this risk yourself). If a "safety"-driven company can afford to ignore such readily-available industry expertise, who can't?

Exhibit B: Dara Linda's Baby Bling and Jewelry Design

Back in July 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued an unusual recall: pacifiers decorated with Swarovski crystals. Produced by several work-at-home-mom shops and selling for around $30 apiece, the modified brand-name pacis posed aspiration and ingestion hazards when crystals inevitably separated from their pacifiers. Swarovski crystals contain 32% lead.

Five companies (some little more than eBay shops) consented to a recall of their hazardous "baby bling" before any injuries were reported: Dara Linda's Baby Bling and Jewelry Design, Bling Toes, Baby Bling Things, PeaNaPod Bling and Accessories, and MJM Crystal Designs. Most of those cited took the expected route and discontinued the dangerous product lines. BlingToes, for example, maintains a recall notice on their website to this day, no longer sells any crystal-studded baby products, and surely took a financial hit in the voluntary recall process, although the shop still offers a wide variety of crystal-enhanced accessories for adults.

Dara Linda Baby Bling and Jewelry Design took a different route. The company's website is still brimming with the same crystal-studded pacifiers, pacifier clips, and a variety of other baby and toddler accessories, and although it hosts the agreed-upon recall notice for those products produced within a given timeframe, the company now shields itself with a lengthy disclaimer declaring post-recall productions "novelty items for display only":

CUSTOMER AGREES THAT JEWELRY DESIGNS BY DARA KROVETZ BLING PRODUCTS ARE NOVELTY ITEMS FOR DISPLAY ONLY AND ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY INFANTS, TODDLERS OR CHILDREN OF ANY AGE. CUSTOMER ACKNOWLEDGES THAT RHINESTONES, CRYSTALS, AND OTHER DECORATIONS ON JEWELRY DESIGNS BY DARA KROVETZ PRODUCTS MAY DETACH FROM PRODUCTS AND POSE A CHOKING RISK OR MAY BE HAZARDOUS IF SWALLOWED.

That's right - the site's shimmering, fully-functional pacifiers, their handy and personalized pacifier clips, their rhinestone-studded children's sunglasses, and their hand-decorated shoes are not, in fact, for children. Of course, the new mother who receives such an unlabeled, hand-accented item as a thoughtful gift at her baby shower would not see such a notice, nor would the parent whose child received such an item from a grandparent or well-meaning admirer. Maybe Dara's "skull and crossbones" paci design would offer a hint.

The company failed to respond to a request for information ZRecs sent to the email address designated for the recall.

And so, fair readers, we once again turn the mic over to you. Which is worse? Did we unfairly put either company in the running?

Cast your vote in this post's comments for Sunshine Kids or Dara Linda to be inducted into our ZRecs Hall of Shame. Email entries cannot be accepted for this poll.

As an added bonus, we'll offer up $30 in prizes from ZRecs' stash of review items, with a variety of great kids' DVDs, CDs, toys and books to choose from, to one voter we'll select at random. The polls will be open until 5 p.m. CST Jan. 25, 2008, and we'll select one winner at random from everyone who commented with a vote for one of the two companies. We welcome you to comment and discuss beyond your additional vote - only your vote comment will be included in the drawing, so in your first comment please state the company you're voting for first, and then offer your impressions.

If you win: We'll list the winner's name in our "Claim Your Prize" section of ZRecs' lefthand sidebar, and announce it in a post as well, on Saturday, January 26; the winner will have a week to claim their prize.

Deadline: 5 p.m. CST Jan. 25, 2008

Official Rules

Have an idea for our next ZRecs Hall of Shame matchup? Email it to us at zrecommends (at) gmail (dot) com.