Fisher-Price recalls over 2 million 'Snuga Swings' following the deaths of 5 infants

NEW YORK (AP) — Fisher-Price is recalling parts of over 2 million infant swings across the U.S., Canada and Mexico due to a serious suffocation risk, following reports of five infant deaths.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned that all models of Fisher-Price's Snuga Swings should never be used for sleep or have bedding materials added. The products' headrest and seat pad body support insert can increase risks of suffocation, the notice published Thursday said.

There have been five reports of deaths involving infants between 1 to 3 months old when the product was used for sleep, according to the commission. In most of those incidents, which took place from 2012 to 2022, bedding material was added to the product and the babies were unrestrained.

Consumers are urged to immediately cut off the headrest and remove the body-support insert before continuing to use the swing. New York-based Fisher-Price, a division of California toy giant Mattel, is providing a $25 refund to consumers who remove and destroy those parts of the product. Instructions can be found on Mattel's recall website.

In a statement, CPSC Commissioner Richard L. Trumka Jr. slammed Fisher-Price for what he called a “flawed” recall, saying the remedy provided by the company is not enough.

The recall “is doomed to fail and will keep many babies in harm’s way,” Trumka stated. He criticized Fisher-Price for only recalling a portion of the product and offering consumers a fraction of the $160 they originally spent.

“My advice: get your $25 refund and then throw this product away; do not keep it in your homes because even after the so-called ‘repair’ this product will still be unsafe for infant sleep,” Trumka added.

He also argued that Fisher-Price was repeating past failures — pointing to previous infant deaths related to products like the brand's “Rock 'n Play” and “Newborn-to-Toddler Rockers” devices.

"Fisher-Price should know better than to skimp on another recall," Trumka stated. “Fisher-Price can do more to save babies lives — I think it needs to."

A spokesperson for Mattel did not comment further about the recall when reached by The Associated Press Friday.

The Fisher-Price Snuga Swings now under recall were sold at major retailers — including Amazon, Walmart, Toys R Us and Target — across North America between October 2010 and January 2024, according to the CPSC. About 2.1 million swings were sold in the U.S., 99,000 in Canada and another 500 in Mexico.

There are more than 21 models of Snuga Swings, which were manufactured in China and Mexico, coming in a range of different colors and toy accessories. A list of impacted product numbers and descriptions can be found on Thursday's recall notice.

This photo provided by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows an example of a Fisher-Price Snuga Swing being recalled Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, following the death of five infants. (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission via AP)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans marked the 64th anniversary of the day four Black 6-year-old girls integrated New Orleans schools with a parade — a celebration in stark contrast to the tensions and anger that roiled the city on Nov. 14, 1960.

Federal marshals were needed then to escort Tessie Prevost Williams, Leona Tate, Gail Etienne and Ruby Bridges to school while white mobs opposing desegregation shouted, cursed and threw rocks. Williams, who died in July, walked into McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School that day with Tate and Etienne. Bridges — perhaps the best known of the four, thanks to a Norman Rockwell painting of the scene — braved the abuse to integrate William Frantz Elementary.

The women now are often referred to as the New Orleans Four.

“I call them America’s little soldier girls,” said Diedra Meredith of the New Orleans Legacy Project, the organization behind the event. "They were civil rights pioneers at 6 years old."

“I was wondering why they were so angry with me," Etienne recalled Thursday. “I was just going to school and I felt like if they could get to me they’d want to kill me — and I definitely didn’t know why at 6 years old.”

Marching bands in the city's Central Business District prompted workers and customers to walk out of one local restaurant to see what was going on. Tourists were caught by surprise, too.

“We were thrilled to come upon it,” said Sandy Waugh, a visitor from Chestertown, Maryland. “It’s so New Orleans.”

Rosie Bell, a social worker from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, said the parade was a “cherry on top” that she wasn’t expecting Thursday morning.

“I got so lucky to see this,” Bell said.

For Etienne, the parade was her latest chance to celebrate an achievement she couldn't fully appreciate when she was a child.

“What we did opened doors for other people, you know for other students, for other Black students," she said. “I didn’t realize it at the time but as I got older I realized that. ... They said that we rocked the nation for what we had done, you know? And I like hearing when they say that.”

Associated Press reporter Kevin McGill contributed to this story.

Civil rights activist Dorotha Dodie Smith-Simmons celebrates the sixty-four year anniversary of the New Orleans Four desegregating schools, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024 in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith)

Civil rights activists, from left to right, Gail Etienne, Dorothy Prevost and Dorotha Dodie Smith-Simmons watch marching bands pass by to celebrate the sixty-four-year anniversary of the New Orleans Four desegregating schools Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith)