U.S. agency concedes it moved slowly on crib recall

The head of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has conceded that the agency has not been "acting as quickly as it should" on crib safety problems.

Interviewed in the wake of the largest recall of cribs ever undertaken, Inez Tenenbaum pledged the CPSC agency would "firmly but fairly" enforce a law passed last year by the U.S. Congress giving it greater regulatory authority.

More than 2.1 million Canadian-made drop-side cribs are being recalled following reports of four infant suffocations. The cribs were made by British Columbia-based Stork Craft Manufacturing.

It's not the first time Stork Craft has recalled one of its crib products.

In January, it worked with Health Canada to voluntarily recall cribs made between May 2000 and November 2008 because it was found that metal support brackets used to support the mattress frame could crack if installed incorrectly.

Tenenbaum said her agency is in the process of writing new safety rules, and said in the meantime people should get rid of drop-side cribs or order a kit from the manufacturer to immobilize crib sides.

The repair kit for the recalled Stork Craft crib will keep the drop-slide fixed in place.

The CPSC said it is considering standards that would eliminate drop-slides from cribs in the future.

"That will make it so that the crib cannot have gaps created," said CPSC spokeswoman Nychelle Fleming in an interview with CBC News Tuesday.