Consumers, Businesses Will Benefit from Greater Confidence in Marketplace
Washington,
DC—Today, consumer, public interest and scientific groups applauded the
U.S. Senate for passage of the sweeping Consumer Product Safety Reform
Act, S. 2663. This bi-partisan legislation represents the most
significant improvement in almost two decades to the Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC), the agency that oversees the safety of more
than 15,000 consumer products in the United States. The groups
praised the leadership of Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR), Ted Stevens
(R-AK) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI) for their efforts in reaching this
major accomplishment.
“After 2007 became the Year of the
Recall, consumers’ confidence in our product safety system was dashed,”
said Ami Gadhia, Policy Counsel for Consumers Union. “In today’s
climate of partisan politics, it is great to see the Senate come
together to protect children and consumers in this global marketplace.
This legislation will help to make our products safer, give consumers
vital and timely information about emerging problems, and help restore
the public’s faith in the products they buy for their families every
day.”
“For far too long the Consumer Product Safety
Commission has been starved of the resources, regulatory and
enforcement authority and transparency it needs to ensure the safety of
consumer products,” stated Rachel Weintraub, Director of Product Safety
and Senior Counsel for Consumer Federation of America. “We congratulate
the Senate for passing the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform
Act, which patches the holes in our nation’s safety net. Consumers have
been waiting for these necessary reforms.”
The Consumer Product
Safety Reform Act, S. 2663 as passed, will do the following: increase
CPSC’s budget over the next seven years to $155 million; create a
consumer database of product hazard information to better help
consumers make informed purchasing decisions; make the industry’s
voluntary toy safety standards mandatory, ensuring that all toys are
tested to comprehensive criteria; establish third–party, pre-market
testing of children’s products; increase the current limit on CPSC’s
civil penalties to $10 million for most violations, and cap it at $20
million for “aggravating circumstances;” give State Attorneys General
tools to better protect their residents; lower lead levels in
children’s products; and protect CPSC staff and private-sector
employees who blow the whistle on wrongdoing.
The groups
acknowledge the importance of marrying the strong reforms of the Senate
bill with key provisions in the House product safety bill passed in
December. In particular, the groups point to the Senate’s provisions
addressing the public database, State AG enforcement and whistleblower
protections. The groups will urge conferees to keep these provisions,
while also adopting a critical House measure that ensures product
testing of more children’s products by defining such products as those
designed for children under 12 years of age. The Senate bill covers
products designed for children under seven years of age.
“Better
product safety requires a comprehensive approach – fewer toxic toys,
more money and authority for the CPSC, more disclosure to the public of
hazards, more enforcement by state attorneys general and more
independent testing of toys and other children’s products,” said Ed
Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Consumer Program Director. “We intend to work
with the House and Senate to quickly package the best elements of both
their bills into a final bi-partisan law.”
“Kids In Danger was
founded 10 years ago after the death of Danny Keysar in an untested,
unsafe portable crib. We applaud the Senate for passing this bill which
will fix the flawed children’s product safety system that led to
Danny’s death -- it will save lives,” said Nancy Cowles, Executive
Director, Kids In Danger.
“CPSC staff and those who work in the
private sector are on the front lines in our efforts to protect the
public from unsafe products. By including whistleblower protections in
this bill, the Senate recognizes that when employees sound the alert
about product safety violations, they should be heard and should not
have to fear retaliation,” said Celia Wexler, Washington
Representative, Union of Concerned Scientists.
“The Senate bill
is a real step forward for consumers, and we’re thankful for the hard
work of Senators Pryor, Durbin, Inouye, and Stevens,” said David
Arkush, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “But this
bill doesn’t finish the job. Even with this legislation, the CPSC
still will need more authority to make mandatory safety rules, to order
swift mandatory recalls of hazardous products, and enforce the law with
stiff penalties. We look forward to working with Congress to make even
greater improvements to the CPSC.”
“This bill took a lot of hard
work to pass,” said Paul Brown, Government Relations Manager for the
National Research Center for Women & Families. “It was far from
child’s play. But your child’s playtime will be safer because of this
bill. It lowers lead levels in children’s products and it requires
mandatory toy safety standards.”
