Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Mar 17;15(3):540. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15030540.
This paper addresses the public health issue of toy product recalls in the United States, an under-addressed topic in scholarly literature, yet highly relevant to the prevention of pediatric injuries. Toy-related injuries led to 274,000 emergency room visits and seven fatalities in 2016 in the United States, and toy-related injury rates have remained stable over the last five years despite declining incidences of recalls. While dangerous toys not being recalled and the misuse of "safe" products are possible contributing factors, consumer non-response to recall notices also contributes to unintentional child injury from dangerous toys. We discuss the process of recalling toys, and the role of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in that process. We also review potential factors behind significant consumer non-response to recall notifications, citing economic and psychological theories as explanations for the actions of multiple stakeholders in the recall process. We close by proposing reforms at the regulatory, consumer, and retailer levels that might boost compliance with recall notifications and ultimately reduce injury morbidity and mortality.
本文探讨了美国玩具产品召回这一公共卫生问题，该问题在学术文献中未得到充分关注，但与预防儿科伤害高度相关。2016 年，美国因玩具相关伤害而导致 274000 人到急诊室就诊，并有 7 人死亡，尽管召回事件的发生率有所下降，但过去五年来，与玩具相关的伤害率一直保持稳定。虽然未召回危险玩具和“安全”产品的误用可能是促成因素，但消费者对召回通知的不予回应也导致了儿童意外受到危险玩具的伤害。我们讨论了召回玩具的过程，以及美国消费品安全委员会在这一过程中的作用。我们还回顾了消费者对召回通知不予回应的潜在因素，援引经济和心理理论来解释召回过程中多个利益相关者的行为。最后，我们提出了在监管、消费者和零售商层面进行改革的建议，这些改革可能会提高对召回通知的遵守程度，并最终降低伤害发病率和死亡率。
