"Risk Of Strangulation Or Choking": Potentially Lethal Babies' Dummy-Holders Sold Into West Sussex

Wednesday, 7 October 2020 22:47

By John Warburton @Warblefly

West Sussex Trading Standards: Potentially Lethal Baby's Dummy-Holder

Babies could be choked or strangled by dummy-holders being bought on-line by innocent parents in West Sussex.

In an investigation by the county's Trading Standards team, every one of the dummy-holders bought on-line failed safety tests officials carried out.

Trading Standards officers said they bought nine types of holder from market place sites and found that all the items posed either a serious risk of strangulation or choking.

This was because of their excessively long cords, which meant a baby could potentially wrap the device around his or her neck, and suffocate.

The beads on some of the cords also shattered easily — leaving the small pieces ready to choke an infant.

The safety standard for these products sets out a maximum cord length of 220mm.

Those holders that failed had cord lengths up to 325mm, leading to a serious strangulation risk.

Officials warned customers to only buy recognised brands from known UK sellers.

Peter Aston, West Sussex Trading Standards Team Manager, said:

“Using any one of these holders could have had fatal consequences and as a result, we are taking this investigation incredibly seriously.

“The market place sites are de-listing the products and enquiries are continuing to establish if the sellers have a physical presence in the UK.

"Where this is the case, a formal investigation will take place.

"However in a number of cases it appears the product is coming straight from China.

"In this situation, whilst the product can be de-listed by the market place site, liability falls with the Chinese manufacturer rather than the market place site.

“As this is clearly a national issue, we are sharing our findings with the Office for Product Safety and Standards for their consideration.”

Deborah Urquhart, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, added:

“These are worrying results and the consequences of using any one of these holders could have been devastating.

"I would urge residents to only buy from trusted, recognised brands when purchasing products online.”

Anyone who thinks they have purchased an unsafe product, should contact Trading Standards at https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/tsreport or via Citizens Advice on 03454 04 05 06.