Mitch Lipka
Jun 24th 2010 at 7:00AM

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(June 24, 2010) — In its ongoing effort to halt the use of dangerous drop-side cribs, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a 2 million-crib recall involving seven companies including Evenflo, Child Craft and the maker of the Babi Italia line.

The crib companies and the number of cribs involved in these recalls are:

• Evenflo, 750,000 Jenny Lind models
• Delta Enterprise Corp., 747,000 drop-side plus every model that uses a wood stabilizer bar
• LaJobi, 306,000 Bonavita, Babi Italia and ISSI brand cribs
• Million Dollar Baby, 156,000
• Jardine Enterprises, 130,000 sold exclusively by Toys R Us/Babies R Us
• Simmons Juvenile Products Inc., 50,000
• Child Craft, two recalls involving drop-side and stationary side cribs (total unknown because the company is out of business)

The cribs involved in this set of recalls account for 250 incidents and 27 injuries to infants and toddlers that have been reported to the CPSC, agency spokesman Scott Wolfson told Consumer Ally. This string of recalls brings to 9 million the number of drop-side cribs recalled over the past five years.

Each of the companies involved in the latest recalls — including Child Craft, whose name was purchased after the company went under — in the coming weeks will provide either a kit to immobilize the drop-side of the cribs or some other repair to make the cribs safer, the CPSC said. the companies should be contacted directly. The cribs were made between 2000 and 2009.

Since 2001, drop-side cribs have been implicated in the deaths of 32 infants and toddlers and are suspected in 14 others. Improper assembly and hardware failure can cause the drop-side of the cribs to dislodge, creating a gap in which a baby can smother or strangle.

Just since November, recalls have involved crib brands including Graco, Simplicity, C&T International, Golden Baby, Sorrelle, Generation2, ChildESIGNS, Dorel and Stork Craft.

Wolfson said he realizes the public is getting overwhelmed with the sheer number of crib recalls.

“We understand the frustrations that parents have expressed in hearing about all these recalls,” he said.

The agency has been working on a new set of rules for how cribs must be made that would effectively ban drop-side cribs. CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum told Consumer Ally in an interview earlier this year that she is committed to getting those standards in place by year’s end.

Because of all the recalls and attention to safety issues with that type of crib — once the most prevalent type of cribs in American homes — manufacturers have mostly stopped making them and big retailers such as Toys R Us/Babies R Us will no longer sell them.

“The solution is not to simply do recalls. The solution is a new strong standard that brings a new generation of cribs to retail stores that parents can have confidence in,” Wolfson said.

Concerned about all these recalls? Check out our list of things parents and caregivers should consider to ensure the safety of young ones in cribs.