I survived wearing those when I was a kid! I even raised 2 that survived those as well. This is ridiculous. Accidents happen regardless of how "safe" you may think you are. I mean, come on.. this is 2011 right? We are smarter than this....right?

Yet another government agency filled with people we would rather see unemployed...

Where was the CPSC when I was getting my head stuck inside tight turtlenecks as a kid? That's an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, right?

Somehow, in all the legalese on the website, the CPSC never says what the evidence is that supports the conclusion that the drawstrings are dangerous. I'm thinking it's in the same way untied shoelaces are dangerous. That was the horror story when I was a kid: someone always had a friend of a friend that got his leg amputated by an escalator because of untied shoelaces. Yes, they can result in serious injury or death, but typically not if you're using them correctly. So, is it that the drawstrings are getting caught on stuff all the time, or are the kids doing something wrong with them that's making them more dangerous?

I was nearly killed by a hoodie. And it was not the drawstring it was the actual hood. I was driving the family tractor under one of the apple trees. I ducked a branch and it caught the hood. Luckily I was able to kick the tractor out of gear. It left a nice mark on my neck. And I now never (almost) where anything with a hood.

Also why I became a banker instead of a orchard manager.

You've got to be Fucking kidding me, right?

And it was not the drawstring it was the actual hood.

That was the first thing I thought when I read the title of this post. How is the large piece of fabric dangling down the back waiting to get caught on something not the dangerous part of the hoodie? I've gotten caught on stuff plenty of times, but I also haven't met a piece of furniture I haven't run into and/or tripped over, so that speaks more to my general klutziness than an "unreasonable risk of serious injury or death."

It's good that the CPSC threw in the idea of what's "reasonable." Shows they have a sense of humor.

I was hoping this post was about some elderly vigilante group going after the sons of bitches that came up with the stupid nickname hoodie, and then made it fashionable for everyone to dress like the unabomber.

Growing up in colorado, my parents didn't buy us parka's with drawstrings, because they didn't want it catching on ski lifts and dragging us. I don't recall them thinking they shouldn't be sold, though. And we certainly didn't wear ski helmets....

Honestly, I'm not sure how I managed to survive childhood. I wore sweatshirts with drawstrings, I didn't have a car seat, didn't wear a seatbelt, rode in the bed of a pick up, and played in the streets until the street lights came on. Ok, I almost didn't survive the last one, but only because I may have taken longer getting home than my mom thought was needed...more than once.

What. The. Fuck.

What's the next "unreasonable risk of serious injury or death" in clothing, sleeves?

I can't wait until they make us fill in the lakes for drowning a kid.

They had warning signs about hoodie drawstrings on the playground I took my little girl to this weekend... and I almost took a picture to send to you! How funny.

There was also a sign by the splash pad about how changing diapers within 6 feet of the water feature is prohibited, and how using the splash pad when ill with diarhea or a contagious disease is prohibited. Oh, and then there was the sign on the playground about how playgrounds installed over hard surfaces can result in SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.

My vote for the items of childrens' clothing most likely to cause ""unreasonable risk of serious injury" is jeans with zippers. Just sayin'.

After reading this, I was curious, what are the numbers and statistics? It is interestingly high.. there were 26 reported cases of death, granted was that a year? not sure of the time frame - and since the guidelines were introduced there were no more fatalities.. http://www.morrisanderson.com/resource-center/entry/CPSC-Releases-Drawstring-Safety-Rule-for-Childrens-Outerwear/ Maybe there is some good in this rule which was orginally implemented in 1996?

We may not be aware of the dangers, I mean, who asks.. but how many of us would have thought twice until the danger was in our face?

How many Macy's employees will be laid off to pay this asinine penalty? And people wonder why there's such abject hatred and disgust for government employees. We need to start eliminating government agencies wholesale.

Now I get it.

I recently bought a hooded zip up sweatshirt from a mail order company and it came with no drawstrings (or even holes to insert my own).

I was a bit annoyed at that since being able to draw the hood tightly around your face is what keeps the wind and cold out. It's the purpose of having a hood on your sweatshirt.

I think the earmuff lobbyists are behind this.

you HAVE TO PROTECT THE CHILDRENNNNNN1111!11111!!!!!

OI.
So this is callous and unkind, and maybe cruel... People are stupid. They don't become less stupid if you wrap them in bubblewrap, instead they figure they are invincible... or that they don't need to worry or whatever.

I am sure that as many people have been killed with neckties or other scarves are caught in something, and there is certainly evidence that wearing ties can effect your health if you have a big neck. "Oh, but those are for adults..."
Correct. Adults get to make decisions like that. As they should with regard to what their children wear. IF the hoodie is a problem take the string out. Enter prising manyfacturers could build a better string... like my outer shell coats already have.

When you take safety/protection as your mantra, you become so narrowly focussed that you forget that kids are supposed to eat dirt, and that making the world "safe" takes away our ability to respond when it is actually dangerous.

These drawstrings must be banned to protect New England's most valued treasure - Bill Belichick.

Life must be banned.

The statistics are shocking: 100% of children alive today will die.

The CPSC must act now to ban life and end this terrible threat to the safety of our children.

My girls have, like, 30 hoodies between the 2 of them - all colors and styles and they ALL HAVE DRAWSTRINGS!! OH NO!!!

We haven't had any problems yet.

It was a couple of months ago that a student here at Yale got her hair caught in some machine or other - should we make everyone everywhere cut their hair??

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/yale-student-dies-in-terrible-hair-pulling-lab-accident/

The Former Banker please do not tell the CDC your story, they will make apple trees illegal.

I shouldn't be alive. I too rode in the back of pickup trucks, never wore a bicycle helmet, jumped out of the swings while they were still moving, surfed on the teeter-totters, and fell off the merry-go-round more times than I can remember. I was exposed to countless germs when I ate dirt (on a dare), never wore shoes outside in the summer time (still don't inside), swam in the Mississippi River, and drank straight from the hose. Maybe that's why we have so many kids on prescription meds and antibiotic resistent germs exist today....

When I was a kid you'd have thought the greatest risks were from having a car come along and remove the arm you were dangling out your car window, having your face "freeze like that", or being blown up by the nitro inside a golf ball.

All along I was in more danger from the string that kept my mittens attached to my coat. Sunuvagun.

Heh. Now they want your electric car to be LOUDER:

http://money.msn.com/auto-insurance/article.aspx?post=37600546-e0fb-430e-8511-78f5608acd3e>1=33033

I used to jump up and down in a truckbed as it speed 40 mph on some dirt road outside of Yuma

Didn't someone in The Incredibles movie refuse to make superhero with capes because the capes kept getting caught on things with dire consequences?

Didn't someone in The Incredibles movie refuse to make superhero costumes with capes because the capes kept getting caught on things with dire consequences? oops

I collect toy trains and the CPSC has made it illegal for me to sell my trains to children because they contain lead and other materials harmful to children if misused.

I was at a show a few years ago and a 6-year old girl asked me a bunch of questions about a 1935 train set I had for sale. She came back with her dad later and he bought the set for her.

The two of them carried the train away with big smiles on their faces.

Today it is illegal for me to allow the father to buy his daughter a set of trains. Sad.

I suppose it's too late for me to sue anybody for the burn I got from my Creepy Crawlers. Or maybe it was Incredible Edibles.

Pretty good scar, actually. Looks kinda like a poodle.

I foresee a time when old farts will be telling stories of how they almost smothered in the padding their parents wrapped around them so they wouldn't get hurt.

I was going to put sunscreen on the back of my neck before going out today, but after reading this, I put on my hoodie and wore the hood up all day. I may have tugged at the drawstrings a few times, just for spite. Astonishingly, I have survived the day and am alive, here, to report it.

When I was a kid you'd have thought the greatest risks were from having a car come along and remove the arm you were dangling out your car window, having your face "freeze like that", or being blown up by the nitro inside a golf ball

OMG this made me laugh hysterically! I can't count the number of times my mother told me that if I hung my arm out the window is was going to be ripped off, or that if I made "those faces" my face would freeze like that. Thank you for the chuckle.

The "I survived___" stories, while amusing, are useless in a debate. The kids who didn't survive ___ aren't here to debate it. And I say that as a mom who loves when her kids climb high in trees, and doesn't own a knee or elbow pad.

What's the next "unreasonable risk of serious injury or death" in clothing, sleeves?

Hey, if it gets more young, svelte women to walk around sleeveless, I'll support it! ;-)

I'm not saying that I agree with the lawsuit or its outcome, but when my kids were little, I always took the drawstrings out of those things. I heard consumer alerts about kids going down slides and stuff and hanging themselves with the drawstring. So why wouldn't I pull the drawstrings out of my kids' hoodies?

What benefit was I denying them in order to take a simple step to alleviate a risk, however slight?

Climbing trees is a lot more dangerous than having a hoodie with a drawstring, but I would encourage them to climb trees because the benefit outweighed the risk. There isn't any benefit to the drawstring really, so why not get rid of the risk?

As a father that didn't always know everything, I'm quite happy that the big bad government let me know about an unnecessary risk that was easy to square away.

Before you jump all over me, consider the reality of losing a child to such a silly thing. Your child, dead. Would you say, "Well, at least she passed while having the drawstring in her hood that she loved so dearly. It was worth it."?

As a father that didn't always know everything, I'm quite happy that the big bad government let me know about an unnecessary risk that was easy to square away.

Letting you know about potential dangers of drawstrings in hoodies and mandating the removal of them in all hoodies are two different things.

Exactly, Conan. whistleDick, the point is that you squared it away, not the government agency. That's parenting: you looked at the available info, assessed the odds and made a decision based on that. Perfectly reasonable and defensible. This item reminds me of that push a while back to sell hotdogs only in pre-cut pieces so kids wouldn't choke on them. Because, you know, parents can't make the decision to cut up a damn hotdog on their own. It's needless and insulting to the parents like you who can make the decisions they think are right. Making information available is a wonderful thing, but flat-out banning is not always.

Meanwhile, a kid is murdered and dismembered the first day his parents allow him to walk home from school by himself.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/boys-body-found-suspect-being-questioned/?hp

"The police said it was the boy’s first day of walking from the school by himself. “He’d asked his parents’ permission to walk home alone and the parents were waiting outside” for him to return, Mr. Browne said."

"Meanwhile, a kid is murdered and dismembered the first day his parents allow him to walk home from school by himself."

And this exception will be cited loudly as the rule, and you personally will be criminalized for being near a child - even your own.