Failing to Protect Child Air-Bag Victims

Two Days, two Stories:

One (“Air Bag Deaths Down; Safety Campaign, Innovation Cited,” in the main news section Nov. 25) applauds the fact that air bag deaths are down. So far this year, air bags are “confirmed to have killed” only eight children and four adults. Last year, they killed 23 children and 17 adults. (Unconfirmed cases may total 54 last year and 31 so far this year.) These were all in “otherwise survivable low-speed car crashes.”

In the next day’s Southern California Living section, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of playpens (“Playpen Recall: What Can Parents Do Now?”) manufactured over the last 38 years and which “have contributed to the deaths of eight toddlers during the last 15 years.”

Talk about misplaced priorities: eight deaths in 15 years versus 31 in just the last two. Who are the consumers that this commission is trying to protect? And remember, these children have been killed by a “safety device.”

LOUIS MRAZ

Via Internet