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NEW YORK, NY – The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation and its National Advisory Board released a public statement today condemning Apple’s new application for iPhone, “Baby Shaker.”
The app, developed by Sikalosoft, begins with this description: “On a plane, on the bus, in a theater. Babies are everywhere you don’t want them to be! They’re always distracting you from preparing for that big presentation at work with their incessant crying. Before Baby Shaker there was nothing you could do about it.”
Apple, Inc., which notoriously and routinely rejects new apps from developers with a “rigorous” vetting process, nonetheless apparently allowed this horrible application to be sold through its store.
Sikalosoft first released the app Monday and despite objections from concerned citizens, it was reportedly still available for purchase from the iPhone store for $0.99 on Wednesday afternoon.
Patrick Donohue, Founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, stated in an e-mail to Apple CEO Steve Jobs and several of his Vice Presidents, “As the father of a 3-year-old who was shaken by her baby nurse when she was only 5 days old, breaking 3 ribs, both collarbones and causing a severe brain injury, words cannot describe my reaction.”
He continued, “You have no idea the number of children your actions have put at risk by your careless, thoughtless and reckless behavior! We will do everything we can to expose your reckless actions and reverse the horrific impact it will have on the innocent children throughout the United States.”
The well-known website www.krapps.com first reported the new application shortly after its release, and also condemned Apple for approving the application.
“Ok, we get it… crying babies can indeed get annoying. On a plane, at a restaurant, in the hotel room next to yours… we get it, annoying… shut that kid up! But Apple, try using just half your freaking money-making brain and reject Baby Shake… tell Sikalosoft to make some revisions, call the damn thing Pacify Junior and mix in some pacifiers to calm the baby down. See how easy that was… simple stuff, sort of funny while protecting the integrity of the Apple brand,” the site’s authors wrote in part of their posting.
Marilyn Barr, Founder of the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome and National Advisory Board member of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, was also horrified by Apple’s latest release.
“Not only are they making fun of Shaken Baby Syndrome but they are actually encouraging it. This is absolutely terrible,” Barr stated Wednesday afternoon.
Jennipher Dickens, whose 2-year-old son Christopher was shaken by his 21-year-old biological father when he was only 7 weeks old, said, “This horrible iPhone app will undoubtedly be downloaded thousands of times by others in that same young male demographic – the population group that is already statistically the most likely to shake babies. As a result of the child abuse my son endured in the form of Shaken Baby Syndrome, my son now has irreversible brain damage.”
She continued, “Words do not even adequately describe how much this disheartens me, both as a mother and as the communications director for the largest national organization preventing and helping children with Pediatric Acquired Brain Injuries.”
Dickens also serves as the Communications Director for the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation and is the founder of another SBS prevention organization, Stop Shaken Baby Syndrome Inc.
The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation encourages parents and citizens to contact executives at Apple and demand:
- Immediate removal of the offensive application
- A personal apology to parents of SBS victims and survivors from Steve Jobs
- A significant effort to reverse the damage they have already undoubtedly caused
Contact information:
Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc. – E-mail: sjobs@apple.com, Phone: 408-996-1010, Fax: 408-996-0275
Scott Forstall, Senior Vice President, iPhone Software – E-mail: sforstall@apple.com, Phone: 408-996-1010, Fax: 408-996-0275
Sina Tamaddon, Senior Vice President, Applications – E-mail: stamaddon@apple.com, Phone: 408-996-1010, Fax: 408-996-0275
Donohue and Dickens can be reached by calling 212-201-0599. Barr can be reached by calling 801-627-3399. For more information on the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, visit www.TheBrainProject.org.
The mission of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation is to create a model system for all children suffering from Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury (PABI), the number one cause of death and disability for children in the United States. PABI affects children and young adults from birth through age 25 and includes both traumatic and non-traumatic causes. Traumatic causes include Shaken Baby Syndrome and other forms of abusive head trauma as well as motor vehicle accidents, falls, blast injuries from war, being struck by an object and sports concussions. Non-traumatic causes include strokes, meningitis, ischemia, poisoning, pediatric AIDS, lack of oxygen to the brain, brain tumors, and substance abuse.
The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation has gathered the “best of the best” in the field of pediatric neurology and neurorehabilitation on its National Advisory Board, and together these experts drafted a 65-page National PABI Plan, which outlines the proper continuum of care for children with PABI from prevention, acute care, rehabilitation and on through integration into adult systems. Sarah Jane Brain State Lead Centers of Excellence are being established in every state as well as D.C. and Puerto Rico. These centers will ensure the full implementation of the PABI Plan, the goal of which is to develop a “seamless, standardized, evidence-based system of care universally accessible for all individuals and their families regardless of where they live.”
The organization is hosting a 15-city American PABI Heroes Tour from May 3-17, 2009, featuring musicians who are sponsoring families of children and young adults with PABI, including a 2-hour panel discussion around one of the 7 PABI Categories of Care in each city (prevention, acute care, reintegration/long-term, mild TBI, rural/tele-health, registry/healthcare IT, and adult transition).