Pictures speaks Volumes: Other Babies hurt by Carters tagless clothes

Carters continues to stand by their position that babies' reactions to their tagless clothing is "rare" and "isolated" thus not warranting a company recall of their merchandise. However, these pictures speak a thousand words and break our hearts.

Carters, isn't ONE baby's injury enough to start this recall? We have received numerous emails from parents nationwide as well as other countries sharing their own horrible experience with their babies wearing these Carters tagless clothes. Enough is enough! Recall this merchandise and save other families and their babies from enduring this preventable injury.

Carters Should Examine Ava's Case

Carters often references their safety investigation of their tagless labels. I am curious though, why haven't they ever contacted us about Ava's case? It seems logical that their investigation would benefit from the data of a case such as Ava's. Carters investigative team has never asked us about Ava. We would be happy to share the data. Carters would see that Ava was diagnosed with a chemical burn from a medical expert. They would see that Ava chronically suffered. Who knows, they might even find an answer to this hazard by looking at her case. We are not part of the lawsuit, we only want answers and we only want full disclosure and appropriate actions.

We made the effort of writing the Executive staff of Carters and only received responses to placate our frustration, not a response of action. The CEO interview in ZRecs just further exasperates us for these reasons: They are sticking to boilerplate responses, falling back on statistical quality thresholds based on fallable data, and they continue to ignore the fact that babies are suffering from their products.

We will continue our quest to compel Carters to do the right thing.

Carters CEO speaks with ZRecs

ZRecs interviewed Carters CEO, Michael Casey:

http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/carters-on-the-record-an-interview-with-michael-casey-carters-ceo/

Being on the record, Casey surprisingly provides more information and color into what went into the creation of these tagless labels and their corporate stance on the whole situation.

We do take issue and differ with the terminology Casey tries to clarify with ZRecs. We stand by our position and our pediatrician's diagnosis that Ava did in fact suffer a CHEMICAL BURN, not contact dermatitis. Our pediatrician, a well-known Doctor and child safety expert, as well as his experienced colleagues all diagnosed Ava had in fact suffered a chemical burn from these tagless clothes. Additionally, Zrecs asks Casey why Carters won't recall the clothes and Casey's response, "[t]he level of inquiries on this... even now, has not been significant in terms of its relation to the total number of our garments. It is some fraction of 1% of the garments from the Fall 07 line." So I guess 1% of inquires or the injured babies is not enough to warrant a recall...wow, enlightening to know that this "trusted" company of children's clothing does not think it's serious enough to begin a formal recall. Truly disappointing, but not surprising to hear their corporate position on this matter and very sad for any baby and family that has been affected by Carters tagless clothes. We'll be waiting for more updates on the nationwide class action....

NBC Story Follow up: Families Affected by Carters Tagless Clothes

We were interviewed by NBC as were other families whose babies had been affected by wearing these Carters tagless clothes. Here are the videos:

Class Action Lawsuit (click on Ava's picture on the left to see the video):
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Talk-of-lawsuit-over-baby-Clothes.html

Viewers' Responses to the NBC Investigative Stories on Carters tagless clothes (click on the picture with "restitution" highlighted):
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Carters-tagless-clothing-investigation-reaction.html

We are so relieved this story and all of our experiences are finally getting the coverage it requires. Carters, we hope you are watching; these were once your consumers whose trust you had, but whose babies you have injured. We look forward to the days and months to come as Lindsey Webb, the CA class action plaintiff, the other parent-plaintiffs nationwide and their legal team push their class action ahead...how will Carters respond? Can they really continue to keep their heads in the sand and stand by their corporate position that a recall is not necessary?

The Class Action Against Carters Begins...

Carters must now respond through the legal system. The class plaintiff in CA, Lindsey Webb, and her attorneys from Emerson Poynter, Whatley Drake & Kallas, Thomas Butler and Robert Jigarjian filed this Class Action Complaint on November 6, 2008. We are pleased with the complaint's allegations and requested relief for plaintiffs. Please read on.

I will get a copy of the complaint uploaded soon, but some of the highlights are below. If you would like a copy emailed to you, please email me at: avastaglesshorrorwithcarters@gmail.com

The Complaint cites some factual background with published reports from research groups on the unique qualites of babies which we found surprising and extremely informative:
"Children are more susceptible to chemical toxicity than adults" and "infants have a relatively greater surface area of skin than adults, thereby increasing their potential dermal absorption of certain compounds." "This higher rate of intake means that children will receive higher doses of whatever contaminants are present..."

"The thin skin of a newborn may well be more permeable to specific chemicals than the skin of an adult. Compounding this fact, the surface area of a child's skin relative to body weight is greater than adults, such that the potential dose of a chemical following dermal exposure is likely to be about 3 times greater than infants than adults."

The complaint's alleges these legal theories (details of each in the complaint):

1. Strict products liability - Defect in design or manufacture
2. Strict products liability - Failure to Warn
3. Misleading & Deceptive Advertising
4. Untrue Advertising
5. Unlawful Business Acts & Practices
6. Unfair Business Acts & Practices
7. Fraudulent Business Acts & Practices
8. Breach of Express & Implied Warranties
9. Intentional Misrepresentation / Fraud
10. Negligent Misrepresentation
11. Unjust Enrichment
12. Negligence & Negligence Per Se
13. Suppression
14. Violation of Magnuson-Moss Act
15. Injunctive & Declaratory Relief

They are demanding a jury trial. Finally, some of the relief they are requesting is a certification of the class of plaintiffs, judgment to "restore, by way of restitution, refund, or reimbursement, to any person in interest any money paid to and/or acquired by Carters" and "an Order directing Carters to immediately take all reasonable steps to ensure the defective clothing is removed from the stream of commerce...."

Thank you to this plaintiff and her team for taking this legal stance and demanding Carters finally do the "right thing" for everyone involved.

You Are Not Alone, Share Your Stories and Pictures

Many parents nationwide have sadly sent me photos depicting their babies' back wounds from wearing Carters tagless clothes (as well as other well-known brands). Their stories echo the same nightmare experience we had: numerous Dr's visits trying to diagnose and help their babies, many sleepless and stress days and nights soothing their child and trying desperately to find out what caused this back wound, discovering the internet information and watching the media stories and wondering why there hasn't been a recall. One commentator has created this blog to share our stories and our babies' photos. I urge everyone to share their experience and offer up pictures of their babies' wounds (pictures in this case speak volumes where our children could not):

http://cartertstaglessnightmares.blogspot.com/

We appreciate everyone's support and collectively, we hope all of us can bring more media attention and public awareness to the hazards of these tagless clothes. Where the media stories and our demand for a formal recall remain ignored, some parents are seeking redress through legal resources. Perhaps that is what is necessary for Carters to own up and stand behind their corporate promise to "make trusted" clothes for our kids. At this point, our trust is irrevocably shattered.

Inundated With More Horror Stories & Baby Pictures

We have been flooded with emails (some including graphic photos of babies' back wounds) from other victims of Carters tagless. We are now more furious than ever. Has Carters really lucked out? All the news coverage quotes their advisory, just 400 victims, only limited to the Fall 2007 line. How can Carters get away with this? Maybe only 400 complaints have been filed, but who would know to file a complaint? How many mothers have the time to file a complaint, especially while dealing with a child who has a chronic and painful injury. If there are 400 official complaints, there must be thousands or tens of thousands of victims who have not yet officially reported their babies' wounds. Also, Ava's Carters clothes were not just limited to the Fall 2007 line and her injury persisted while wearing

Just today, a victim told us she asked a Carters store manager if she knew about the tagless safety issue and yesterday's advisory and statements from CPSC and Carters. The manager of Carters retail store had no idea! Carters: you have a duty to effectively communicate to your distributors and especially your own stores. You can not stop with this advisory. Communicate effectively and comprehensively, be compassionate and fair with your victims, and recall your products.