CPSC Chairman Awards Safety Commendation to Gerber Products Company
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
announced today that Chairman Ann Brown has awarded the Chairman's
Commendation to Gerber Products Company, an affiliate of the Novartis
Group, for their long-time support of the Baby Safety Shower Program and
other safety initiatives. Since the program was launched in 1995,
communities around the U.S. have held "baby safety showers" and
distributed more than 600,000 safety checklists and how-to kits in
English and Spanish.
In addition, Gerber provided funding for production of a
television public service announcement targeted to reach African-
American parents with a message to prevent sudden infant death syndrome.
This effort included collaboration with the Department of Health and
Human Services Bureau of Primary Health Care and Black Entertainment
Television.
"I commend Gerber for this enduring and successful public/private
partnership," said CPSC Chairman Ann Brown. "The Baby Safety Shower
program has benefited countless families, and particularly young babies
whose parents most need the advice we have given."
"Helping parents raise happy, healthy and safe babies has been
Gerber's top priority for more than 70 years," said Frank Palantoni,
CEO, Novartis Consumer Health, NA and Global Head, Infant and Baby
Worldwide. "We're proud to extend this commitment through our long-
standing partnership with CPSC, which has helped us educate and protect
thousands of families across the country. We're delighted with this
recognition, and we salute CPSC for its outstanding contributions to
infant safety programs."
Other recipients of the Chairman's Commendation have included Lowe's
Companies Inc. and Lowe's Home Safety Council; Toys "R" Us; Procter &
Gamble; Sunbeam Plastics; Playskool, a division of Hasbro Inc.;
Rollerblade Inc.; the International Inline Skating Association; the
Whirlpool Corp.; the American Furniture Manufacturers Association; Face
Guards Inc.; the Rogers Sports Corp.; the Safe Strap Company Inc.; the
city of Pittsburgh; the state of Colorado; the National SAFE KIDS
Campaign; the American Water Heater Company; KaBOOM!; SawStop LLC; and
Williams-Sonoma Inc. Chairman Brown initiated the commendation program
to recognize substantial contributions to product safety by individuals,
companies, or groups for one-time, ongoing, or multiple actions.
