Its manufacturers have retired around 5 million pools that have been linked to nine deaths of children in the last two decades, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Monday morning.
In a press release, the CPSC declared that the swimming pools, specifically those 48 inches tall or higher, are equipped with compression straps that serve as a support point, which allows young children to climb to neglected water, even if a staircase is eliminated.
As a result, nine children who died were between 22 and three, said the CPSC. The deaths occurred in California, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin and Missouri between 2007 and 2022.
The CPSC press release stated that he was also aware of three other incidents in 2011 and 2012, in which it was reported that the children who obtained access to the pool had previously used the compression straps to enter the pools.
The manufacturers are Bestway, based in Hong Kong; Bestway (USA) Inc., based in Arizona; International Ltd, from China; Intex Recreation Corp., in California, and Polygroup North America Inc., based in Texas.
They were sold in stores such as Walmart, Target, Sears, Kmart, Lowe’s and Toys “R” US, as well as through online stores such as Amazon. The price varies from $ 400 to $ 1,000 and are manufactured in China.
Anyone is urged with one of the affected pools to communicate with the manufacturer to request a free repair kit, which includes a rope that adheres to each of the vertical support posts and wraps the pool.
The rope “will maintain the structural integrity of the pool” instead of the compression strap, which must be cut and eliminated.
There were also around 266,000 of the pools in Canada, where they have also been removed from the market, according to a Health Canada announcement.
