Earlier this week, New York, NY headquartered company Swimwear Anywhere started a recall of about 200 Marc Jacobs girls' jackets that has a drawstring around the neck area.
The 100% cotton swimwear cover-up jackets that are sold in sizes 2 to 12 have been found out to pose strangulation hazards to its wearers should the drawstring get entangled or caught on hand rails, playground equipment, bus doors and other moving objects.
While there has been no injuries tied to the recalled merchandise as of writing, parents who have bought the jackets for their girls are urged to keep the item away for their children's safety.
Strangulation is among the leading causes of accidental child death all around the world today. In fact, it is the second leading cause of death in the UK as of 2012 according to the Child Accident Prevention Trust.
In the US, strangulation in children is often a result of the lack of thought and action for childproofing residences. In fact, among the leading strangulation incidents all over the US that result in child death is blind cord accident.
For instance, according to PWBS - Parents for Window Blind Safety, a nonprofit organization in the US that supports parents and families who lost children to window blind cord strangulation, has reported 2009 to have the most number of window covering deaths and injuries at 52 with horizontal blinds making up for 52% of all the cases.
In South West England, a Gloucestershire couple lost their 18-month old baby to a related window blind cord strangulation incident. At present the couple has filed a petition that is seeks to "re-open the manufacturing standards for looped blind cords". As of writing the said petition is 500 signatures short to completion.
The petition has been backed by the US CPSC (United States Consumer Product Safety Commission) in a letter addressed to the Window Covering Manufacturers Association. The in the letter the former mentioned that window covering strangulation is one of the tip five home hidden hazards.