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Kids In Danger (KID) is a Chicago based nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children by improving children's product safety. KID was founded in 1998 by parents (Linda Ginzel and Boaz Keysar, both, as of October 2005, professors at the University Of Chicago ) of sixteen-month-old Danny Keysar who died in his Chicago childcare home when a portable crib collapsed around his neck. Although the portable crib had been recalled five years earlier, word of its danger had not reached Danny’s parents, caregiver, or a state inspector who visited the home just eight days before Danny’s death. Since 1991, 16 children have died in cribs of similar faulty design. Portable cribs are just one of the myriad children's products that may prove to be dangerous. Danny's death and other crib related deaths were hardly isolated events. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among children. In the United States, an average of 50 children under age 5 die annually in incidents associated with nursery products. An estimated 64,900 children under age 5 were treated in hospital emergency rooms in 2004 for injuries associated with nursery products. Children’s products are recalled an average of almost twice a week by the CPSC in the United States. Kids In Danger believes these problems are a result of a lax regulatory system. Many people are surprised to learn that the government does not require that verification that children's products have been tested for safety before they are sold. Simlarly, the federal government does not hold most consumer products to any sort of mandatory standards, relying instead on voluntary industry written standards. Many dangerous products (such as Danny's crib) contain flaws that would have been easily discovered had they been put through rigorous testing. KID believes that mandatory safety testing would work for everyone's benefit, reducing the number of lawsuits and recalls that manufacturers are forced to go through, as well as dramatically reduce the number of product related injuries and deaths among infants (as well as the population as a whole). It is KID's mission to fight these preventable deaths. KID does this through several programs it runs, including Safe from the Start which provides outreach materials on children's product safety to schools, childcare providers, Head Start centers and WIC programs, and Teach Early Safety Testing (TEST), which educates undergraduate engineering students in product safety issues. KID is currently run by its executive director, Nancy Cowles. External Links |
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