The federal government has announced a ban on the 500,000 baby walkers in Canada and has prohibited their importation.
The move yesterday makes Canada the first country in the world to outlaw the devices.
The ban "is going to save lives. It's truly going to save lives," said Donna Fournier, whose daughter fell down stairs while using a baby walker at the age of nine months.
"She popped open the door to the stairs, and down she went in her walker," Ms. Fournier recalled in an interview from her home near Peterborough, Ont. "It was awful. It was the most horrific time of my life."
Health Canada said studies show baby walkers do not benefit children and "are inherently unsafe."
The department said babies can move at three feet per second in the walkers, and can easily run into furniture or pull appliance cords before parents can react. A U.S. study says that 23,000 children are injured each year in accidents caused by walkers.
The department concludes that baby walkers are regulated by the Hazardous Products Act and therefore may not be imported, sold or advertised in Canada. Inspectors will have the power to seize new or used walkers. Consumers and retailers could face fines of up to $100,000 or six months in jail if found in possession of baby walkers.
"The prohibition will send a message not only to importers, but also to Canadian parents and caregivers, that baby walkers present demonstrable and unacceptable risks to the safety of children, and accordingly should not be used," Health Canada said.
"Baby walkers are extremely dangerous," said Dr. John Stoffman, a pediatrician in London, Ont., who campaigned for the ban. "Not only do they not help children to walk; they are a very common source of head injury in children under the age of one year."
Dr. Stoffman said he has treated several children for fractured skulls, scalds and other injuries associated with walkers.
Voluntary restrictions were placed on baby walkers in 1989, in effect stopping their manufacture in Canada and their importation. However, thousands are still available through flea markets, small stores and the Internet for as little as $30 (U.S.).
Safe Kids Canada, an injury-prevention program affiliated with Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, estimates there are about 500,000 baby walkers in Canada.
"We did a survey last year with our sponsor, and we found about one in three, or 33 per cent, of Canadian families with children under 5 use or have used a baby walker," said Allyson Hewitt, executive director of Safe Kids Canada.
In 1997, the U.S. introduced new safety standards for baby-walker manufacturers that includes making the walkers too large to pass through doorways. Those walkers are being sold by some mid-sized retailers in Canada, Health Department officials said.
U.S. manufacturers said the new design cut injuries caused by the walkers in the United States to about 5,000 per year.
"Walkers provide a safe environment for children to play and explore the world around them, and consumers want and like walkers, especially the new generation of walkers," the New Jersey-based Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association says in a statement issued yesterday in response to the Canadian ban.
"These walkers contain technology that restricts movement and have been widely hailed as resulting in a dramatic reduction of injuries, while occupying children away from other household dangers."
The association added: "Walkers assist parents, providing a useful function in their daily lives, to those children who already know how to walk. Children who are unable to sit up on their own without support should not use walkers."
The association pushed Canada to adopt the U.S. regulations, but Health Canada said those do not go far enough. The department said children in the U.S. can still move around and reach up to pull down dangerous items, such as kettles, lamps or toasters.
Paul Waldie