There is NO safe corded window treatment on the market today.
Daycares
are not inspected for safety of corded window treatments.
Children have died in daycares because of corded window treatments
Children
have also died in government housing, Section 8 housing and military housing
because of corded window treatments.
Before
the November2000 recall(retrofit)program for inner
cord strangulation, the Consumer Product Safety Commission had
documented at least16 inner cord strangulations. The first being reported
in the late 1970's.
Separate
tassels DO NOT make the blinds "safe." Children have strangled
to death by one single cord wrapped around the neck.
There
are window blinds and corded window treatments being sold at department
stores, hardware stores and discount stores that do not have the inner
cord stoppers on the products. We have purchased these products at well
known franchise retail stores across the USA. This means for 5 years consumers
have been purchasing window blinds that they THINK are safe because they
think they are brand new blinds. If you look at the inside of the headrail
there is a sticker. If it dates before 2001, you have and bought a defective
recalled product with no inner cord stoppers attached to them.
The
CPSC and the WCSC websites state that window blinds purchased after 2001
are safe with all safety features attached. What they do not tell you
is that the "new" blinds are not safe and still kill children.
Also as stated above, not all stores are selling "New" safe
window treatment but trying to get rid of old window blinds that were
recalled
.
In
1981 the Consumer Product Safety Commission was fully aware of atleast
41 strangulation deaths by looped pull cords.
Cord
joiners/beads
are loops in the pull cords but approved by ANSI and the Window Covering
Safety Council which both have a safety standard that require no loops
in the pull cords.

There
have been documented cases of children dying from climbing up and getting
the cords down from the cleats or hooks while the caregiver was doing
household chores or aiding another child, thinking the room the child
was in was safe. These children are usually ages 2 and up. Some websites
may suggest to remove furniture from underneath the corded window treatment.
Most children over the age of 2 can place ANY furniture or toy back under
the window to reach the cords that are tied up!

Both
recalls, one in 1995 and one in 2000, have FAILED to reduce the number
of deaths per year.
By December 2003, 16 children had been reported strangled to death in 2003,the average age this year is 4 years old!
Please save a child today by removing the corded window treatments from your home. Pass this information on to a friend or a loved one and help us educate the truth about the window covering industry.
*6/4/97 Journal of the American Medical Association, 182 deaths from 1981-1995 in U.S. alone, maybe as many as 359 fatalities w/ 50% unreported. Reiterated in an A.M.A. Press Release of 6/3/97. As of August 2004, 384 death reported w/50% unreported totals the estimated deaths at 768.
*All information is taken from Freedom of Infomation Acts from the Consumer Product Safety Commission database and website and the Window Covering Safety Council website.
~Statistics compiled and reseached by Parents for Window Blind Safety. All rights reserved.~

