Kids' advocates: Deaths and recalls show need to mandate furniture standards

Last year saw an increase in recalls of unstable dressers and other furniture that posed a deadly risk to children, according to new findings that advocates say bolster the case for proposed legislation that would mandate standards, currently voluntary, to prevent tip-overs.

Of 63 children's products recalled in 2020, 11 involved furniture at risk of tipping over, according to an annual analysis of children's products recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC. Released Wednesday by the Chicago-based group, Kids In Danger, or KID, the findings come on the heels of separate data from CPSC that found between 2000 and 2019, 451 children under 17 were killed by furniture and TVs tipping over and crushing them.