I recently received a comment on one of my earlier Carter's postings that I found deeply disturbing. This little girl has been suffering deep chemical burns after wearing Carter's tagless onesies. The burns have been on her back, in the shape of tagless "tag", since she was six weeks old. The story of her doctor's visits, the hospitalization due to a staph infection that developed because of one of these open, weeping chemical wounds, and so on, is almost Faulknerian in both its length and complexity.
Ava's burns are the worst I've seen. Her injuries only intensifies the urgency of this matter. It is Carter's responsibility to recall the Fall 2004 line, and any other line they find that contains the irritant, immediately. That the company has refused to do this despite hundreds, if not thousands, of complaints demonstrates its willingness to expose its customers to serious risk, and to expose itself to some costly lawsuits.
Back to little Ava. Her parents have tried to raise a response with Carter's for some time now, only to get the same useless response so many other parents have received. Send back all the onesies for a refund and a teddy bear. Some parents have been pleased by this. They shouldn't be. This isn't about the money. While none of us are rich, Carter's onesies cost about six bucks a pop; and I'm sure all of us would take the loss if Carter's would simply recall these items of clothing and protect other infants from burns like this.
An excerpt from Ava's parents' blog, Ava's Tagless Horror with Carters (which you should visit and pass along to any parents you know):
Then one day, the burn got worse and Ava was clearly in unbearable pain. We immediately took her to the pediatrician. The doctors in the practice saw Ava’s wound and agreed she should immediately be admitted to the children’s hospital emergency. Ava caught a staph infection from her open wound. As you may know, staph can be life threatening, especially to an infant; Ava was barely 3 months. She had to be in a strict sterile environment (medical masks, gloves and gowns were required by all who entered who room) and we waited for IV Antibiotics to mitigate further health risks. Ava and my wife were in the hospital overnight. We were alarmed by doctors who all claimed the issue to be very severe but none of whom could diagnose it. We were all horrified and traumatized by this, wondering if our daughter would recover. Ava was on antibiotics for at least a month, the burn subsided but never healed and continued to painfully affect her.
Ava's pediatrician confirmed Ava's injury was a chemical burn, not a rash. He agrees that the Carter's tag caused it, has filed a report with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (note: if you have had this problem with Carter's, please file an online complaint with the CSPC), and has notified the pediatric community in San Francisco of the Carter's problem. Incidentally, Ava's parents never suspected the tagless onesie as a culprit; in fact, they thought that the tagless clothes would be less irritating to Ava's wound. It wasn't until they checked online and learned of other parents' problems with Carters' onesies that they realized what had been causing the injuries all along.
I can only wonder at Carter's reluctance to do anything useful about this. Every day that passes, more parents learn of this problem and are, perhaps, more troubled by the company's inaction and refusal to acknowledge an obvious problem. Companies who believe that bad press will pass are foolish; in this day of blogging, consumer rating websites, and cached information, the stupid moves companies make are memorialized for years to come. And one demographic you don't play with are parents with internet access.
Finally--I could go on and on about this--I found this bit of information from Carter's, reproduced on Ava's blog, particularly idiotic. When speaking to a consumer affairs employee at Carter's, Ava's parents received this information: Mary had a group meeting with all of Carters Consumer Affairs Representatives and all agreed to “welcome” victims and to be more compassionate. Mary, no welcome and no compassion is needed. The only acceptable action at this point is a recall.
Immediately.
If not--and I don't say the following lightly--it might be time for Ava's parents, and the parents of other children who have suffered burns from these onesies, to get lawyers. Lawsuits are often the only language companies like Carter's understand.
NOTE: If you are a Minnesota mom and are dealing with this problem, please contact me, either by commenting below or by e-mailing me at bookofmoonsATgmail.com.
5 comments:
We are grateful for your support and responding to our plight with Carters. At this point we are trying to explore all of our options to get a resolution that will serve everyone. We are no longer interested in Carters refunding the hundreds of dollars we spent on Carters clothes (their letter, teddy bear & prepaid bags are not a solution!). We are not interested in dealing with their insurance company, Travelers, to get reimbursement for Ava's thousands of dollars of medical bills. We have continued to ask, request, and plead for this solution: publicly make a statement about Carters tagless clothing and begin the recall. It's the ONLY solution.
The greater good is served if they will take corporate responsibility: recalling all of these defective tagless clothes and doing the right thing! No parent, no baby, no one should endure this excruciating chemical burn and the frustrating experience with Carters. Please continue to share this information. You're right...the "Tipping Point" is near if not already here. Thank you for your advocacy and information!
Janet, thanks so much for commenting. Hang in there. In my experience reporting on such issues in a journalistic capacity, I have seen that corporations hope lack of engagement with the wronged consumer will mean that, eventually, that consumer will give up and that the outcry will diminish to the point of silence. Once our babies are out of Carter's onesies, for example, and the wounds and rashes are not visible, perhaps, they think, we will lose our passion for the fight. I will continue to cover this story regularly. Good luck to you and your family. Please keep me updated.
We rec'd a handwritten letter from Carters' CEO yesterday and wanted to share its content with you and visitors of your site. We posted the contents on our blog along with our response. Just wanted to keep you updated and hope you rec'd my email to your gmail acct. Thank you!
My son was also "burned" by a tagless label on a Carter's fleece blanket sleeper, though not nearly as bad as Ava. I posted his story, as well as pictures, on my blog at http://www.morethanweexpected.com/2008/10/poor_holden_was_burned_by_a_ta.html. Every parent and pediatrician's office should be made aware of this horrifying possibility. I never would have expected this from Carter's, a company that I thought was trustworthy. The fact that their products are made for CHILDREN should be enough reason for them to reconsider not recalling these hazardous items.
My daughter had the same reaction to Carter's tagless onesies. The red patch would 'weep' and layers of skin peeled off. I am frustrated also! Have any of you found onesies that have 'real' old-fashioned tags? Or nothing at all? My daughter's sensitive skin is better, but still can get irritated. It's hard to find any clothes out there that doesn't have the tagless silkscreened print in them. If you have suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much! (I've posted this a quite a few of the sites to hopefully find some suggestions!)
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