07-15-2010, 11:08 PM
cbelt3 wrote: Because most of us slept in these selfsame cribs..
Having worked in the health and safety biz, this is a classic fallacy that I've heard repeated time and time again, and that all safety professionals roll their eyes at hearing (or in many cases get the urge to scream). I've gotten this same story from people who didn't want to wear hard hats, safety boots or safety glasses. "I haven't gotten hurt yet so I don't see why I need to wear this" is typical. All this proves is that some fraction of the populace made it through alive. If 100 people went through childhood sleeping in a dangerous crib and 2 of them died, then there are 98 survivors left, all of whom can claim that "most [or all] of us slept in these selfsame cribs and didn't die". The statement is irrelevant. The only thing that is relevant is the statistical chance of death or injury associated with a crib design. If you (or your baby) is one of those in the small percentage that gets killed or hurt, you don't give a damn about how many others weren't victims.