New research revealed today by the National Safe Kids Campaign and Johnson & Johnson shows that 88 percent of children who drowned were under the supervision of another person, usually a family member. Supervision was defined as being in the care of another individual, not necessarily in their direct line of sight.

While better quality supervision is critical, the study also found that many adults were not properly fencing pools, requiring use of personal flotation devices (PFDs), or teaching their children how to swim. Additionally, Safe Kids found that the majority (55 percent) of parents say they are "not at all worried" or "not very worried" about their child drowning.

Drowning remains the second leading injury-related killer of children ages 1-14, claiming more than 900 children's lives each year. It is a complex issue with no single safety device that works in all cases. Water safety entails the understanding and practice of four water safety wisdoms -- supervision, environment, gear and education.

The report, "Clear Danger: A National Study of Childhood Drowning and Related Attitudes and Behaviors," examined the circumstances of drowning deaths occurring in 2000 and 2001 among 496 children using data from Child Death Review Teams in 17 states. Safe Kids also commissioned nationally representative surveys of parents (of children 14 and under) and children ages 8 through 12 to determine knowledge, attitudes and behaviors concerning water safety.

The research was released today by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona, Olympic gold medalist Jenny Thompson and pediatric trauma surgeon Dr. Martin Eichelberger to launch National Safe Kids Week -- May 1 through 8, 2004 -- a week-long, nationwide, public education campaign.

"Adults need to actively supervise children around water. This means watching and listening at all times and staying close enough to intervene in an emergency," says Dr. Eichelberger, director of Emergency Trauma Services at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and CEO of the National Safe Kids Campaign. "We know that parents are well-meaning and don't want to put their children at risk."

"We want kids to be active and enjoy swimming but we want them to do it safely," adds Dr. Carmona. "Drowning is a silent killer that can strike even older, more experienced child swimmers."

More than half (55 percent) of parents say there are some circumstances where it is acceptable for a child to swim unsupervised.

Even when parents say they are supervising, many are participating in a variety of distracting behaviors including talking to others (38 percent), reading (18 percent), eating (17 percent) and talking on the phone (11 percent).

Safe Kids recommends adults take turns serving as the "water watcher" -- whose sole responsibility is to constantly observe children in or near the water.

While 98 percent of pool- or spa-owning parents report they have taken adequate steps to ensure children's safety, most have not made the necessary environmental changes.

Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of pool or spa-owning parents do not have isolation fencing around their pools or spas, and 43 percent have no self-closing and self-latching gate.

Installation and proper use of four-sided isolation fencing could prevent 50-90 percent of residential pool drownings.

Many tweens (kids aged 8 to 12) admit they never wear a life jacket when riding on a personal watercraft (50 percent), participating in water sports (37 percent) or on a boat (16 percent).

One in five parents (19 percent) mistakenly believes that air-filled water wings can protect their child from drowning.

It is estimated that 85 percent of boat-related drownings could be prevented if all passengers were wearing properly fitting life vests.

Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of drowning victims studied did not know how to swim. Seventy-three percent of victims ages five to nine and 30 percent of victims ages 10 to 14 were non-swimmers.

Although the majority of parents agree that all children should have swimming instruction by the age of 8, 37 percent of parents report that their child has never taken lessons.

Safe Kids recommends that children should be enrolled in swimming lessons with a certified instructor by the age of eight.