Gerry Baby Products Co. of Denver, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, is warning consumers that certain models of Gerry Baby cribs can collapse if they are improperly assembled.
The company has received 11 reports of cribs collapsing when children were placed in cribs where the side rails had been installed improperly. No injuries have been reported.If the crib's side rail is put on backwards, the mattress support could collapse and the child could fall or slip through the space between the mattress support and the bottom rail.
If the crib is assembled according to manufacturer's instructions, there is no risk of collapse.
The company sold 17,038 cribs with that potential problem between May and August 1994 nationwide. The retail price was approximately $90.
The unassembled cribs were sold in various shades of natural wood and were packaged in a brown cardboard box labeled in part "Gerry Fold-Away Crib . . . Compact crib that folds in seconds. . . ."
When it's fully assembled, the crib measures 25.5 inches wide, 39.5 inches long, 26.5 inches deep and 38 inches high.
If you own a Gerry Baby crib model series 8200, 8300 or 8500, check the manufacturer's date code on a label attached to the crib's hinged mattress support. Call Gerry Baby Products at 1-800-525-2472 for assistance in determining whether or not your crib has been properly put together. The company will send you a supplemental instruction sheet to help you confirm that the crib is assembled correctly.
To assemble the crib correctly, the wide portion of all four bottom rails must face the inside of the crib to support the mattress support.
Honey resists spoilage
Honey is a very dry product, and mostly sugar, qualities that help make it resistant to spoilage, even at room temperature. Any water that comes into contact with it will be drawn in by osmosis. As a result, most bacteria are dehydrated, killing them or rendering them weak and fragile.
Bees also treat the honey with an enzyme that generates free radicals, in effect sterilizing the honey with hydrogen peroxide.
In ancient times, honey was sometimes used as a wound dressing, and some modern doctors still use sugar. Experts say the treatment probably works because sugar dries the bed of the wound to promote new tissue growth and dehydrates the bacteria that cause infection. There are commercial wound pastes made of synthetic microscopic water-absorbing beads that do the same thing.
- C. Claiborne Ray,
New York Times News Service