Crown Crafts recalls tainted bibs from Illinois

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 5/7/2007 1:18:00 PM

Gonzales, La. – Infant products maker Crown Crafts Inc. said it and some retail customers are voluntarily recalling from retail shelves in Illinois a number of baby bibs partly made of vinyl containing quantities of lead which exceed those allowed under a new Illinois state standard.

E. Randall Chestnut, Crown Crafts ceo, said a new Illinois standard, enacted earlier this year, "is much more stringent and uses a substantially different test methodology than the one used by the federal Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC)." All the bibs involved, three separate designs, said Chestnut, "meet every federal CPSC standard, without exception."

Chestnut said the Illinois law measured the amount of lead in a product, while the CPSC rule examines the amount of lead that a child might have access to while teething or chewing on the bib. CPSC nationwide testing of a range of bibs from various retailers nationwide concluded, "None of the bibs that were tested at CPSC's laboratory would pose a risk of substantial illness to children from mouthing."

"We take the well being and safety of children very seriously. The company takes great pride in our products, which are manufactured with high-quality materials that are tested to meet U.S. consumer product safety standards," said Chestnut.

The bibs were imported from China by Crown Crafts' Hamco subsidiary.

Chestnut said Crown Crafts' net income for the current fourth quarter will be reduced by about $200,000, or $0.02 per diluted share, as a result of the voluntary recall.

Crown Crafts stock dipped substantially when word of the recall first came out, but has recovered most of its lost ground, and shares were trading today at $3.89, off 6.7% from their level of $4.17 immediately before the recall.