ADULT SLEEPWEAR FIRE LABELS URGED

Federal consumer protection officials are calling for manufacturers of sleepwear for the elderly to voluntarily label their products’ flammability, a proposal that garment-makers say is ill-conceived and overly simplistic.

Jim Hoebel, manager of the fire hazards program for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said the success of federal regulations requiring fire-retardant fabric for children, coupled with a high death rate among the elderly from burning sleepwear, show the need for at least the voluntary effort by manufacturers.

He said the labels would contain a rating system to tell consumers how flammable the fabric is.

Larry Martin, legislative officer for the American Apparel Manufacturers Association, said his group opposes the labeling because it would not solve the problem and probably would not be adopted by foreign manufacturers, who now make up 40 percent of the adult sleepwear market.

"We’re in no position to guarantee how many companies would comply with a voluntary standard," he said. "Who's going to persuade the foreign manufacturer to follow a standard?"

Two Newport News women were severely burned, one fatally, when their nightgowns caught fire last week, city fire officials say. Of the city's three fire deaths this year, two involved women burned by flaming nightgowns.

The type of fabric in the nightgown of the most recent victim, 84-year-old Julia Pace Parker, who was found dead Dec. 10 in her home in Hidenwood, is not known because the garment was destroyed, said Lynn James, a Newport News Fire Department spokeswoman.

On Dec. 11, 51-year-old Irene Hanrahan of Hilton suffered second and third-degree burns when her nightgown caught fire as she opened the door of her woodstove, James said.

Hanrahan was in stable condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital Sunday.

James said Hanrahan was wearing a loose-fitting, knee-length nightgown made of a cotton-polyester blend. She said the fire had burned most of the front of the garment before Hanrahan's husband wrapped a blanket around her to smother the flames.

Fire officials said the material in the garment probably contributed to the seriousness of the burns. Cotton and polyester, when together in the same loose garment, are considerably more flammable than 100 percent polyester, say James and Hoebel. Cotton itself also is highly flammable.

Of 27 fabrics from adult sleepwear tested for fire resistance, the consumer product safety staff found that only seven met the standard required for childrens’ clothing, Hoebel said.

He said the law requiring that childrens’ wear be fire resistant – essentially not burn after the flame source is removed – the number of children killed in clothing fires dropped dramatically.

"Before the standard we were counting maybe 50 or 60 deaths. Today it runs one or two. It's really been a success story," Hoebel said.

"Shortly after the govern ment issued flammability standards for children's sleepwear in the early 1970s, we recognized the elderly sleepwear was also a serious problem," Hoebel said.

In 1985, 235 people died in clothing fires in the United States, he said. Of those, 70 percent were in the 65 and older group and the product that was involved most often was nightwear, Hoebel said.

While Hoebel said he would like to see the garment industry regulate itself by voluntarily labling adult sleepwear with a "flammability rating," the manufacturers offered a counter proposal several months ago.

"We propose a mandatory warning label that would be permanently affixed to all adult nightwear," Martin of the garment manufacturers group said. The label would say something like "Keep this garment from flame or other ignition source," Martin said. "A person will see the label every time someone picks up that garment."

In addition to the problems of enforcement and applicability to foreign manufacturers, Martin said the consumer protection agency's proposal is flawed because it places too much emphasis on fabric, and overlooks style and shape.

"Their proposal completely ignores the shape of the garment, which is as important as the fabric," he said. "A tight-fitting garment is less likely to be exposed to a flame."

Martin said the apparel association plans to argue its case before the safety commission in the coming months. Hoebel said the staff plans to pitch its proposal to the three-member commission, and its chairman, in mid-January.

Hoebel admits there is one problem with any effort to label sleepwear for the elderly: Elderly sleepwear cannot be distinguished from regular adult clothing, unlike children's garments.

"Elderly adults wear the same sizes, styles and essentially the same product as the general adult population," Hoebel said. "If we’re going to regulate sleepwear for the elderly we would have to somehow define that product."

Regardless of what results from the consumer agency, Martin said, "No one is going to make a garment that won't burn."

Sign up for email newsletters