On April 18, NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg joined Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Rep. Rob Andrews (N.J.), and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.) at the U.S. Capitol to announce the introduction of legislation in the Senate that would call on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to stop the sale of flammable children’s sleepwear that contributes to severe burn injuries to children.

The legislation, the Children’s Sleepwear Safety Act (S. 2208), would to revoke the 1996 amendments that loosened the standards for the flammability of children’s sleepwear and return them back to the ones which had kept children safe since 1972.

“I would like to thank Congressman Rob Andrews, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Clinton for their steadfast leadership and commitment to the issue of safe children’s sleepwear,” said Stittleburg. “The statistic that shows young children are twice as likely to die as a result of fire than the national average, is one that is all too real for those of us in the fire service who have seen a child burn victim up close. That is why this issue resonates so strongly for us and continues to be a top priority of the National Volunteer Fire Council.”

"The current CPSC regulation allows manufacturers and retailers to sell flammable clothing for children provided that it is not marketed as sleepwear. Our bill ensures that all children's clothing that could potentially be worn as sleepwear meets the Consumer Product Safety Commission's flammability standards for sleepwear," said Rep. Andrews. "The CPSC must prevent manufacturers and retailers from selling flammable sleepwear so that parents are reassured that when they dress their children for bed, they are safe."

"When parents get their children ready for bed at night, they should not have to worry that their pajamas could become a threat to their well being. The legislation I'm introducing today would close the loophole in our current regulations and create a tougher standard for children's sleepwear," Sen. Clinton said.

"More than 25 years ago, the Consumer Product Safety Commission established fire standards for children’s pajamas. Before the standards, an average of 60 children died every year from burning pajamas. After the standard was adopted, the average dropped to fewer than four per year. The standard worked, and it kept our children safe,” said Rep. DeLauro. “Unfortunately, in 1996, the Consumer Product Safety Commission changed the standard to exempt all sleepwear for infants nine months or younger and also tight-fitting sleepwear in children's sizes up to 14. The Sleepwear Safety legislation is necessary to reinstate these tougher standards."

Children's sleepwear was held to a higher flammability standard than other clothing for close to 25 years. In 1996, the CPSC voted 2 to 1 to relax its landmark 1972 safety standard for flammability of children's sleepwear. The National Fire Protection Agency estimates that without this standard, there would have been ten times as many children’s deaths and far more burn injuries. The CPSC's controversial loosening of the standard now allows "tight-fitting" sleepwear to be exempt from fire safety rules, based on the theory that tight-fitting pajamas are difficult to ignite. As a result of the CPSC's decision, today there is no fire safety standard for infants up to nine months, and no fire safety standard for tight fitting clothes up to children's size 14.

Infants are completely defenseless in this type of situation. Treated pajamas however, are much more difficult to ignite and give adults a chance to save the child's life because of the slower burn if ignited. Unintentional injury is the number one killer of children ages 14 and under. Each year, unintentional injuries kill 7,200 kids and leave an additional 50,000 children disabled. This year approximately 14 million children will require emergency treatment for preventable injury and will cost this country an estimated $13.8 million.

Proponents of the CPSC's 1996 ruling argue that there has not been an increase in the number of burn injuries and deaths since the standard was changed. Advocates of the Andrews/DeLauro/Clinton bill attribute this finding to the problems of reporting burn injuries directly associated with children's sleepwear in the 0-9 months-old size range, and furthermore believe that Congress should not wait for children to be injured or killed before deciding to return to a standard that has worked for decades.