Today,
consumer, public interest and scientific groups applaud President Bush for
signing product safety reform legislation into law that will overhaul the
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
The bi-partisan Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, passed
overwhelmingly by the House on July 30, 2008 by a vote of 424-1 and by the
Senate on July 31, 2008 by a vote of 89-3.
This critical new law will make consumer products safer by requiring
that toys and infant products be tested before they are sold, and by banning
lead and phthalates in toys. The bill also will create the first comprehensive publicly
accessible consumer complaint database, give the CPSC the resources it needs to
protect the public, increase civil penalties that CPSC can assess against
violators of CPSC laws, and protect
whistleblowers who report product safety defects.
In
approving this sweeping reform measure, Congress and the Senate put children’s
and consumers’ safety first by enacting the most significant improvements of
the Consumer Product Safety Commission since the agency was established in the
1970’s.
“This Act is the
legacy of the countless children, including Danny Keysar - whose parents
founded Kids In Danger - who have been killed or injured by unsafe children's
products and toys,” stated Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of Kids In Danger.
“It is to honor their memories that we must now undertake the implementation of
this landmark measure.”
A key portion of the legislation, dealing with the safety of
juvenile products such as cribs, high chairs and strollers, is named in Danny
Keysar’s honor.
“Protecting America’s
littlest consumers better was always a good idea, but now it’s the law,” said
U.S. PIRG Consumer Program Director Ed Mierzwinski. “We look forward to working
with a stronger CPSC with more tools at its disposal.”
“We especially appreciate the visionary features of the new
law, such as its ban on toxic phthalate chemicals in children’s products and
its creation of a revolutionary new publicly-accessible database of potential
hazards,” added U.S. PIRG Public Health Advocate Liz Hitchcock.
“This new product safety law is responsive to the mounting
evidence and dire consequences of our broken product safety net. This bill
patches up our current system by giving the CPSC the resources, regulatory
authority and enforcement tools it needs to protect consumer from hazards posed
by unsafe products,” stated Rachel Weintraub, Director of Product Safety and
Senior Counsel with Consumer Federation of America. “We applaud Congress and
the President for supporting this critical reform and urge the CPSC to
implement this law effectively.”
“This long-overdue law gives the CPSC the shot in the arm
that it desperately needs,” said Ami Gadhia, Policy Counsel with Consumers
Union. “It is now up to the CPSC to use the tools given to them by this
law, and restore the confidence of consumers in the products on store shelves,”
added Gadhia.
"This is a huge victory for consumers over big
business," said David Arkush, Director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch
division. "This law puts safety first by making new and
important changes, like requiring that toys be tested for safety before they are
sold and creating an Internet database where consumers can share information
about dangerous products."
“This new law is a significant victory for families,” said
Dr. Diana Zuckerman, President of the National Research
Center for Women &
Families. “For the first time, it bans several chemicals from
children's toys at the same time it requires more research be conducted on
those chemicals, rather than allowing potentially dangerous exposures
while research is underway. I hope the message is clear: chemical
companies can not neglect their responsibility to do well-designed safety
research and then use the lack of evidence of risk as
a justification to sell potentially dangerous products.”
Zuckerman added that several phthalates, chemicals used to make plastic
flexible, have been linked to human reproductive problems and to liver and
kidney cancers in animals.
“We hope the enactment of this law marks the beginning of an
era of more transparency and scientific integrity, not only at the CPSC, but
all federal agencies,” said Dr. Francesca T. Grifo, director, Scientific
Integrity Program, Union of Concerned Scientists.
The
consumer organizations congratulate the work of the House and Senate Conferees
and their staff who worked tirelessly to reconcile the House and Senate versions
of this bill. Their work resulted in the passage and enactment of the strongest
and most comprehensive product safety reform in decades. The House and Senate
Conferees were: Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK),
Chairman Mark Pryor (D-AR) , Senator John Sununu (R-NH) , Senator Barbara Boxer
(D-CA) Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN),
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX),
Chairman John Dingell (D-MI), Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), Chairman Bobby
Rush (D-IL), Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Representative Jan Schakowsky
(D-IL), Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), Representative Diana DeGette
(D-CO), and Representative Edward Whitfield (R-KY).
The
groups also thank Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) ,
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Representative DeLauro (D-CT), Representative
Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and
Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) for their
critical work on this bill.
Here
are some examples of how the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008
changes and improves the safety of products sold in the United States:
• Lead will
be essentially eliminated from toys and children’s products.
• Consumers will have access to a publicly-accessible
database to report and learn about hazards posed by unsafe products.
• Toys and other children’s
products will be required to be tested for safety before they are sold.
• State Attorneys General will have
the necessary authority to enforce product safety laws.
• CPSC has the authority to levy
more significant civil penalties against violators of its safety regulations,
which will help deter wrongdoing.
• Toxic phthalates will be been
banned from children’s products.
• Whistleblowers will be granted
important protections.
• CPSC will receive substantial
increases in its resources – including its staffing levels, its laboratory and
computer resources and its various authorities to conduct recalls and take
other actions - going forward.
