A small business owner who has successfully sold millions of baby sleepwear products tells Fox News Digital that her business was brought down by the Biden administration’s actions in hitting her product category, which she called “anti-science”.
“We had been successfully in business for over 10 years when we first heard about any ruckus with the government,” Manasi Gangan, owner of Nested Bean, told Fox News Digital about her baby sleepwear company. “We had sold more than 2 million products. successfully for families across America, and when we heard that the product line was widely categorized as unsafe, we couldn’t believe it.”
Gangan, an immigrant small business owner, told Fox News Digital that she started her “innovative line of sleepwear” that “mimics the gentle touch of a parent” after she had trouble getting her second child to sleep. .
“All we’re trying to do is lend a hand to parents who really deserve rest and sleep, and we’ve been very successful in helping these parents get a good night’s rest,” Gangan said.
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In May, Nested Bean’s products, along with similar products made by Dreamland Baby, were pulled from the shelves of major retailers such as Amazon and Target after a letter from the Consumer Product Safety Commission warned of potential safety hazards. weighted sleepwear products.
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Gangan told Fox News Digital that the CPSC has not done due diligence. She said she has done extensive research on security, commissioned a study This showed that her weighted products did not obstruct the breathing of babies and that there have been no fatalities associated with her product.
“They are claiming that the product is not safe and we are again at a loss as to why, because in the 13 years that we have developed and offered these products, their safety has been our number one priority,” Gangan said. “We put these products and this innovation into the industry after talking to safety experts, after getting inspiration and advice from research, neonatal care research, and yet when we shared this information with this committee, they refused to take it into account and are claiming that these categories of products are not safe”.
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Some lawmakers, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have gone as far as promoting legislation to ban the sleepwear category altogether. saying earlier this year“The stakes are simply too high to allow weighted baby sleep sacks and diapers to remain on the market without evidence that they are safe.”
When reached for comment, Blumenthal told Fox News Digital, “What worries me the most is that these companies could be putting children’s lives at risk. They have sold millions of units of products while marketing them as safe in the face of strong opposition from children, security experts”.
“Parents and caregivers of newborns find it very difficult to rest because of babies’ disrupted sleep patterns, and they need transparent information. Encouraging parents to use these products without clear evidence of safety them and against the recommendations of experts is dangerous and irresponsible”.
Gangan said she has shared information with Blumenthal’s office and met with his staff to show her product is not dangerous, but that has “fallen on deaf ears” in what she suggested could be a politically motivated effort to promote a message that Democrats are looking for. out for families.
“The senator is intentionally giving misinformation to his constituents based on a political agenda,” Gangan said. “That’s the only thing I can assume, it’s an election year.“
Blumenthal’s office suggested they were open to seeing a “more comprehensive” study from Nested Bean.
Critics of the sleepwear company have cited a study from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warning of the potential dangers of weighted sleepwear products and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has affirmed that numerous infant deaths have occurred due to weighted sleepwear products.
The AAP study, CBS News reported, did not test the products in question under real-world conditions for long periods and only tested the weights on five babies for two minutes.
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Gangan argued that CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. has “incorrectly attributed multiple infant deaths” and specifically cited a medical examiner’s report that did not mention Nested Bean or a weighed product and appeared to be linked to “a tragic combination of multiple proven and sleep insecurities.”
“While associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have raised theoretical and hypothetical concerns about the potential risks of excess weight, there are no studies or incident data showing how, under what circumstances, or at what weight they may occur. these potential risks. in the products weighed in the market”, writes Gangan in a letter addressed to Trumka in February. “On the other hand, there are studies showing the effective and safe use of weighted products in hospital settings with the most vulnerable babies. Nested Bean and other companies are supporting independent, peer-reviewed studies to help develop of a better understanding of the potential issues involved”.
Gangan told Fox News Digital that she has met with every CPSC commissioner except Trumka, who she says “doesn’t take meetings” and took her case to no avail.
“We met with the chairman and other commissioners of the CPSC, shared our data-research tests that we had successfully completed before we even brought a single product to market, and since then, the tests that had been completed, to share how a safe product can be brought to market, how innovation can be brought to market, hopefully influencing regulation, hoping to provide data, facts, science to guide regulation,” Gangan said. “And instead we were shocked to be shut down. So until April of 2024. Despite our many attempts to share information, being open and honest, Commissioner Trumka wrote letters to retailers saying pressured them to stop selling our products and this is not based on any data or science. It is an anti-science attempt to spread misinformation based on personal bias.”
or published study in the journal Advances in Neonatal Care in 2020 concluded that “no adverse events” occurred with infants who slept under weighted blankets in the 30-minute trial sessions.
In another letter to Trumka, Gangan wrote: “In April 2023, CPSC’s internal Compliance staff concluded an investigation of Nested Bean’s products, sending the company a closure letter stating that no further action was warranted.”
Trumka’s actions in the weighted baby sleepwear category have prompted backlash from the Republican-led House Small Business Committee, which echoed Gangan’s concern.
“Commissioner Trumka failed to take ‘reasonable steps’ to comply with the statute’s requirements before disclosing the identities of the weighted blanket manufacturers,” wrote Committee Chairman Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, in a July letter to the CPSC. . “First, he failed to ensure that the information was accurate. Then, he made claims without any scientific research to back them up.”
“The Committee is concerned that a single CPSC Commissioner is putting undue pressure on entities and forcing them to improperly remove small business products from their shelves to the detriment of those small businesses. Small businesses deserve a chance to compete fairly in the marketplace without influence from the federal government—whether it’s through rulemaking or letters from a rogue CPSC commissioner, America’s small businesses deserve to have their voices heard and considered. theirs.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the CPSC said, “Commissioner Trumka’s activities in this matter were conducted in his individual capacity as a member of the Commission, and not on behalf of the Commission itself.”
Gangan told Fox News Digital that starting her business was a pursuit of the “American Dream,” and government regulations have crippled that dream and challenged the narrative that Democratic administrations support immigrant and minority businesses.
“America is the land of opportunity, that’s why the whole world knows America, so when I came to this country, an immigrant with only a degree and a pocket of dreams, I did very well in my career, I decided to take a chance and start . this business to help more parents like me and the values that I have stood for supporting women, supporting small businesses, supporting the truth, supporting scientific data, have been significantly challenged by this action,” said Gangan.
“So on the one hand, when we hear, ‘supporting immigrants, minorities, small businesses and protecting science,’ and on the other hand, when the administration of the same party I believed in is now threatening, my business has been devastating to my business I am questioning my beliefs at the moment It has been devastating. from our customers before.”
Original article source: Immigrant business owner slams Biden admin’s ‘anti-science’ push that crippled her sales: ‘Devastating’