OTTAWA BANS BABY-WALKERS

When I was about eleven years old, one evening I was sitting at the bottom of the basement stairs, and my little brother appeared in his walker at the top of the stairs. I probably should have closed the door to the stairwell. Todd was very happy to see me -- so happy, in fact, that he thought it would be a good idea to come meet me at the bottom of the stairs. I'll never forget the look of surprise and horror on his face after he took that first step, tumbled down the stairs, and landed head-first on the basement floor. I was stunned and could do nothing. My terrified mother rushed him to the hospital. Aside from some bruises he was fine, but if it weren't for Todd's thick skull (a trait that he seems to have lost in the metaphorical sense, at least), he might have been seriously injured, or worse.

Baby walkers are dangerous. Ottawa has banned them:

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.

I suppose that in the U.S. the baby walker lobby would call such legislation "needless interference with the market in child care products," and pundits would argue that parents shouldn't need the arm of the state to protect them from this product; parents should take more responsibility for their children's welfare, after all. I'm only being slightly facetious. It's all well and good to rail against government regulation in the abstract, but if you're against the regulation of baby walkers, something is wrong with your approach. Or you don't have kids. Or younger brothers and sisters.

I say: thanks, Ottawa. Law can serve as a repository of knowledge. If that knowledge can help save children from injury, then sometimes the market must yield. Parents do not have perfect information about the safety of their children -- how could they? -- and it is unreasonable (and fundamentalist in a market-oriented sort of way) not to help out parents in this regard.

Obviously a much more sophisticated approach to the question of baby-walkers is possible, one that relates tort law (or the threat of lawsuits) to product safety standards and makes do without an outright ban. That's the tack taken in the U.S., I gather. See here, and the CPSC's 2002 termination of rulemaking here (PDF files). I would be a consequentialist here and choose the approach is likely to prevent the most harm. But I see no reason to be against a ban.