CPSC voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of new safety standards for play yards. Play yards, or pack n’ plays, are widely used in homes and child care facilities across the United States and can serve as both a sleeping and a play area. Since 1985, the CPSC has recalled over 20 different play yards and millions of units.

The new standards are a direct result of Section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The provision, also known as the Danny Keysar Safety Notification Act, or Danny’s Law, was introduced in 2001 as a stand-alone bill and requires that CPSC enforce mandatory safety standards on several children’s products. The provision is named in memory of Danny Keysar, who was 16 ½ months old when he was killed by a recalled play yard at his child care home. In the wake of his death, his parents, Linda Ginzel and Boaz Keysar, founded Kids in Danger in order to promote child product safety.

Linda Ginzel and KID executive director Nancy Cowles joined CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum and US Representative Jan Schakowsky (9-IL) on the Capitol grounds yesterday to mark the standard’s adoption. Here is some of what was said at that event:

Chairman Tenenbaum: “It has been 14 years since you and Boaz lost your sweet little Danny. A picture of his smiling face sits in my office, which I look at almost every day. It has been a long and difficult journey, but after 14 years of advocacy by you and your husband, I am proud to stand with you to announce that a new, mandatory play yard standard was approved today by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.”

Congresswoman Schakowsky: “What was unacceptable to me was that children were being injured and killed in accidents that were 100 percent preventable. I couldn’t believe that there were no standards in place to make sure that the places we put our children to sleep – where they spend hours by themselves – were safe.”

Linda Ginzel: “As Commissioner Adler has said, regulations and strong mandatory standards don’t cost more – they just make sure our children don’t pay the price for safety –with their precious lives.”

The standard greatly improves play yard safety, but a provision that addressed the misassembling of children’s products — an issue that is quite common and has resulted in injury and death — was removed after complaints by manufacturers. KID will work with CPSC and other advocates to ensure that an effective provision is adopted to address this issue.

You can see pictures from the event either on our FaceBook page or our Flickr account. Here is a press release from KID, Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America on the standard’s adoption and the statement of KID ED, Nancy Cowles.