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BCIA

BCIA

Written by Barbara Wishingrad

July 2010 News about safety standards and baby carriers, please read if you are interested in babywearing and the benefits it can bring to families and our culture.

Industry Leaders form New Trade Organization, Baby Carrier Industry Alliance

Berwick, Maine, July 22, 2010 – Leading Baby Carrier Manufacturers, Retailers, Educators, and Component Part and Accessories Manufacturers proudly announce the formation of the industry’s first trade organization, the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance (BCIA).

The newly formed BCIA will educate families about the indisputable benefits of using quality baby carriers, coordinate information gathering and research, and work with government organizations to ensure safe, quality baby carriers that emulate in-arms carrying are available to parents and caregivers.

“This organization has been a long time coming; the industry as a whole wants parents to feel confident with their choice in baby carrier. We want parents to know that they are offering their baby the best, and safest, possible start to life by carrying their child in an ergonomically correct baby carrier,” says Vesta Garcia, founder of Peppermint and Ellaroo.

The immediate responsibility of the BCIA is to finalize work on a voluntary standard for infant slings. “We are working as quickly as possible to get a strong standard to ballot in the near future,” says Kristen DeRocha, chair of the American Society of Tests and Measures (ASTM) subcommittee on sling standards and founder of Hotslings. The BCIA believes the completion of this standard is key to ensuring the safety and general availability of both commercially produced and handcrafted babywearing products.

In 2007, a small group of sling manufacturers voluntarily approached the ASTM, the body responsible for creating standards for thousands of consumer products in the United States, to request that work on such a standard begin. In Spring 2008, several manufacturers of infant carriers and carrier component parts began work on the standard along with the CPSC, Health Canada, and several consumer groups. The BCIA looks forward to the eventual adoption of the voluntary safety standards so it can move towards its larger goal of education and research.

For more information on the BCIA visit our website: www.BabyCarrierIndustryAlliance.org