How and When To Use Warning Bags

Suffocation warning bags play a very important role in the packaging world. Some retailers even make using these bags a requirement when selling through them. As this blog is being written, there are no federally regulated criteria for when to use a suffocation warning bag. However, certain states have local laws requiring the use of these bags in specific situations. States that currently govern the use of suffocation warnings on bags are California, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Some major cities across the US have also followed suit, including Chicago and New York City.

Besides federal regulations, there are also company-specific enforced policies for using bags with suffocation warnings on them. One of the more popular services that require this is Amazon.com. Specifically, Amazon requires that any plastic bag with an opening of 5 inches or larger and at a thickness of 1 mil or less must also be labeled with a suffocation warning. To save you the trouble of printing out your own warning labels, we created pre-printed suffocation warning bags with the labels printed clearly on the bag in English, French, and Spanish.


The suffocation warning reads “To avoid danger of suffocation, keep this bag away from babies and children. Do not use in cribs, beds, carriages, or playpens. This bag is not a toy. The thin film may cling to nose and mouth and prevent breathing”. Our suffocation warning label bags were designed with safety in mind while making sure they meet all of Amazon’s standards. The size of the font also needs to meet certain legibility requirements depending on the size of the bag. The font size requirements for suffocation warning labels being sold through Amazon can be found here. External packaging, such as mailers or shipping containers, usually do not require suffocation labels due to their thickness. Any package with a thickness greater than 1 mil does not require a suffocation warning label.

With the growing availability of online retailer shipping services, the need for the correct packaging is imperative. We’re confident that after looking through our collection of pre-printed suffocation warning label bags, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.