Baby Walkers Remain a Hazard to Safety of Young Children, Expert Says

Health Canada has posted an advisory warning against the purchase of baby walkers on eBay. Baby walkers have been banned in Canada since 2004. Health Canada

Baby walkers purchased by Canadians should be immediately seized and destroyed by federal authorities to ensure no children suffer injuries, says a former Health Canada employee.

Baby walkers available on eBay.ca were the subject of an Oct. 28 advisory by the federal health agency to warn parents that the products have been illegal in Canada for two decades due to potential safety risks.

The Oct. 25 advisory urged parents to immediately “dispose of the walkers in such a way that they cannot be used again” because they pose a risk of injury to the youngsters who use them.

Mike Baillot, a mechanical engineer who worked in the product safety division of Health Canada when baby walkers were banned in 2004, said the products shouldn’t be the subject of an advisory. Instead, they should be seized at the border by the Canada Border Services Agency, he said.

“Next, charge the importer, and impose the maximum fine,” he told The Epoch Times.

Health Canada describes baby walkers as enclosed activity structures built to support a baby or young child in either a sitting or standing position so their feet touch the floor. Walkers are mounted on wheels or a device that allows independent horizontal movement.

Selling, advertising, or importing baby walkers comes with fines of up to $100,000.

Taking a tough stance on baby walkers is necessary, Baillot said, noting the products at one time were the No. 1 cause of injuries and death in Canada among young children.

The most common occurrence was babies falling down the stairs while in a walker, he said, adding that the agency received many different types of reports right up until 2004.

“There were reports of one case of an infant in a baby walker falling into a swimming pool. Another case involved a child in a baby walker sliding down a driveway,” he said. “In the records, there were many that received burns through scalding from water and other items on stoves. Some involved siblings pushing the baby walker down the stairs.”

Ban Decision

While baby walkers were officially banned by the federal government in 2004, they had been subject to a voluntary retail industry ban since 1989 due to the number of injuries being sustained by youngsters.

The voluntary ban became an issue, however, because while major manufacturers respected the voluntary ban, importers were not part of it, Baillot said. The official ban was put in place when baby walkers continued to make their way into the Canadian market.

It was not a decision that was made lightly, however. Baillot said Health Canada worked with children’s hospitals, medical associations, nursing associations, and Brown University in Rhode Island on the issue.

Health Canada tested baby walkers that met new U.S. standards, with skid strips to prevent tipping and falling down stairs, he said.

“After building a test unit and testing all the baby walkers as per the new U.S. regulations, we found that they all failed,” he said. “The new standard was to address stair falls, yet did not address the other baby walker dangers. As a result, a decision was taken to institute a ban.”

Baby walkers are still legal to purchase in the United States despite calls from the American Academy of Pediatricians to ban them.

A study published in the United States in 2018 found that more than 230,000 children under 15 months old were treated for injuries related to infant walkers between 1990 and 2014. The most common injuries included skull fractures and broken bones.

Objections to Ban

Health Canada held a consultation about baby walkers before implementing the 2004 ban, Baillot said. There were “numerous objections” to walkers being banned, he said.

One argument against the ban was that walkers could be made stationary by removing the wheels. But Baillot said as long as the child’s feet could touch the floor, they would be able to propel themselves forward, even without wheels.

Proponents of the products said there would be no danger if children were properly supervised, but Baillot disagreed. Even a “moment of inattention was enough to cause an accident” because baby walkers can move as quickly as three to four feet per second, he said.

“Even an attentive adult can not react fast enough.”