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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)


Self Description

October 2004: "The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years."

http://www.cpsc.gov/about/about.html

Third-Party Descriptions

July 2011: "The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued new regulations for cribs that the authorities say are the toughest in the world. The most pronounced change is that drop-side cribs, long a nursery staple, are prohibited from being sold. But manufacturers must also strengthen the crib slats and mattress supports, make crib hardware more durable and subject their products to tougher testing."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/16/business/with-new-safety-rules-for-cribs-makers-scramble-and-retailers-fume.html

September 2007: "Top officials at the Consumer Product Safety Commission say they have enhanced protections for the American public in recent years. But they have also blocked enforcement actions, weakened industry oversight rules and promoted voluntary compliance over safety mandates, according to interviews with current and former senior agency officials and consumer groups and a review of commission documents."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/business/02consumer.html

March 2008: "The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been hampered as the White House has left vacant a position on the three-member commission, which has prevented the agency from issuing new rules or penalizing companies that violate the existing ones. The commission has a staff of about 400, roughly half its size in the 1980s. Fifteen inspectors monitor all imports of consumer products under the agency’s supervision, a market that last year was valued at $614 billion."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/business/07consumer.html

November 2007: The Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency often lack the authority and resources to monitor and control tobacco smoke, asbestos, tanning salons and the cancer-causing agents in food, water and the everyday products we use on our bodies and in our homes. Under antiquated laws, chemical and radiation hazards are examined one at a time, if at all. Of the nearly 80,000 chemicals regularly bought and sold today, according to the National Academy of Sciences, fewer than 10 percent have been tested for their capacity to cause cancer or do other damage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201648.html

October 2007: The task of getting dangerous products out of consumers’ reach is perhaps the most pressing challenge the Consumer Product Safety Commission faces in this era of surging recalls, particularly of products from China. It is an essential part of the agency’s mission, because premarket testing is not required for consumer products in the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/washington/08consumer.html

June 2007: An array of agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, have proposed or adopted rules that would make it more difficult for consumers to bring lawsuits under state laws that are more favorable to victims than are federal regulations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/business/26bizcourt.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Owned by (partial or full, past or present) US Federal Government - Independent Agencies Organization Oct 9, 2004
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Ann Brown Person Oct 19, 2006
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Anne Graham Person Oct 31, 2006
Employee/Freelancer/Contractor (past or present) Susan K. Gurley Esq. Person Oct 31, 2006
Employee/Freelancer/Contractor (past or present) Dr. Robert P. Hartwig PhD., CPCU Person May 5, 2007
Director/Trustee/Overseer (past or present) Thomas Hill Moore Person Jun 23, 2009
Organization Executive (past or present) Dr. R. David Pittle Person Oct 9, 2004
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Hal Stratton Person Mar 25, 2005
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Inez Moore Tenenbaum Esq. Person Apr 29, 2011

Articles and Resources

33 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 13]

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Jul 15, 2011 After Long Battle, Safer Cribs

QUOTE: The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued new regulations for cribs that the authorities say are the toughest in the world....some manufacturers had not had all of their cribs certified by testing laboratories, frustrating some retailers who have been stuck with cribs that they are not permitted to sell.

 New York Times
Apr 20, 2011 Concern Grows Over Window Blind Safety

QUOTE: Critics of the industry complain that manufacturers have dragged their feet on addressing safety hazards for decades, making minor tweaks or putting the onus on parents to shorten cords or buy tie-down devices... “What they are really trying to do is reach a low price point.”

 New York Times
Sep 05, 2009 In Toys and More, Are Chemicals Safe or Harmful? New law tightens use of phthalates, but industry says hazard isn't proven

QUOTE: Over the past few years, researchers have uncovered multiple health hazards, either in animal or human studies, linked to phthalates [chemical that is in many consumer products].

 HealthDay
Jul 18, 2009 Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks (Driven to Distraction Part 2 of 3)

QUOTE: [Americans] increasingly use phones, navigation devices and even laptops to turn their cars into mobile offices, chat rooms and entertainment centers, making roads more dangerous. A disconnect between perception and reality worsens the problem. New studies show that drivers overestimate their own ability to safely multitask, even as they worry about the dangers of others doing it.

 New York Times
Jul 15, 2009 Why We Must Ration Health Care

QUOTE: Health care is a scarce resource, and all scarce resources are rationed in one way or another.

 New York Times
Apr 04, 2009 Tainted drywall from China is driving owners from their homes: A toxic substance is suspected of causing corrosion, health problems, and foul odors, bringing lawsuits and calls for government action

QUOTE: The discovery of sulfur-emitting compounds within the [Chinese]imported construction materials has sparked a national investigation, numerous lawsuits, and a scandal that is feared to have affected as many as 100,000 homes, a majority so far in Florida.

 Christian Science Monitor
Feb 12, 2009 The New Book Banning: Children’s books burn, courtesy of the federal government

QUOTE: the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute.

 City Journal
Feb 05, 2009 Safety rules on lead in kids' products perplex and polarize

QUOTE: A federal law taking effect Tuesday makes it illegal for anyone to sell children's toys, books, clothes and jewelry if the items contain virtually any lead or phthalates... But testing whether the products contain either is not required for a year.Toy Industry Association President Carter Keithley says the decision amounts to a "don't ask, don't tell, but don't sell" policy.

 USA TODAY
Nov 15, 2008 In Transition, Tangle of Ties to Lobbying

QUOTE: President-elect Barack Obama has imposed stricter conflict-of-interest restrictions on his White House transition team than any president before him. But a list of transition team members that his office made public on Friday includes a complicated tangle of ties to private influence-seekers.

 New York Times
Jul 19, 2008 Cosmic Markdown: EPA Says Life Is Worth Less (Green)

QUOTE: Now, for the first time, the EPA has used this little-known process to devalue life, something that environmentalists say could set a scary precedent, making it seem that lifesaving pollution reductions are not worth the cost. "By reducing the value of human life, which is really a devious way of cooking the books, the perceived benefits of cleaning up the air seem less," said Frank O'Donnell of the District-based group Clean Air Watch. "That has the effect of weakening the case for pollution cleanup."

 Washington Post
Mar 07, 2008 Senate Votes to Strengthen Product Safety Laws

QUOTE: Besides increasing the staff and budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the legislation would create a public database of complaints about products and empower state prosecutors to act if they think the federal government is not doing enough to protect consumers.

 New York Times
Nov 04, 2007 Off Target in the War on Cancer: An Ounce of Prevention

QUOTE: those who profit from the continued use of some risky technologies have devised well-financed efforts to sow doubt about many modern [cancer-related--Ed.] hazards, taking their cue from the machinations of the tobacco industry. The best crafted public relations campaigns masquerade as independent scientific information from unimpeachable authorities.

 Washington Post
Oct 08, 2007 The Testing Lab: Dangerous Sealer Stayed on Shelves After Recall

QUOTE: Critics say the Stand ’n Seal case demonstrates how the Consumer Product Safety Commission is too overwhelmed with reports of injuries and with new hazards to comprehensively investigate or follow up on many complaints. The agency’s laboratory is also so antiquated it did not have the equipment necessary to evaluate fully the remedy BRTT offered — leaving the agency to rely largely on the company’s promise that it would fix the problem

 New York Times
Sep 01, 2007 Safety Agency Faces Scrutiny Amid Changes

QUOTE: Under the Bush administration, which promised to ease what it viewed as costly rules that placed unnecessary burdens on businesses, industry-friendly officials have been installed at agencies that oversee the nation’s workplaces, food suppliers, environment and consumer goods.

 New York Times
Jul 26, 2007 Toymaking in China, Mattel’s Way

QUOTE: The recent wave of recalls and warnings from China has ignited worldwide...[and] companies are trying urgently to figure out how to do business here, without risking their reputation, consumer trust, or customers’ lives. Mattel may have some of the answers.

 New York Times
Jul 02, 2007 Schumer Wants More Scrutiny of Imports: Senator Calls for New Federal Regulator, Citing Recent Recalls of Chinese-Made Goods

QUOTE: Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called yesterday for the creation of a federal import czar, blaming problems with the safety and quality of Chinese imports on unexacting inspections and a bureaucratic morass.

 Washington Post
Jun 26, 2007 Supreme Court to Weigh Limits on Cases Involving Medical Devices

QUOTE: Setting the stage for a confrontation between the states and manufacturers, the Supreme Court said on Monday that it would hear an appeal raising the issue of whether the makers of medical equipment approved by the federal government may be sued under state law by patients injured by those devices.

 New York Times
Jun 15, 2007 Thomas the Tank Engine Toys Recalled Because of Lead Paint

QUOTE: The toy maker RC2 Corporation pulled a number of its Thomas & Friends trains and accessory parts off the shelves yesterday after learning that the red and yellow paint used to decorate more than 1.5 million of the toys contained lead.

 New York Times
Feb 20, 2007 The Consumer Safety Agency, Stalled by Room at the Top

QUOTE: Consumer advocates said letting the CPSC's authority lapse is just the latest chapter in the years-long weakening of the agency. It has dealt with meager budget increases and staff cuts. There is no money, they say, to update product-testing or pursue emerging safety issues...

 Washington Post
Jul 25, 2006 Summer sport: Inflatable raft flies ... into controversy: A brand of tube-kites was recalled this month after two riders were killed and several others injured.

QUOTE: tube-kites, or inflatable flying watercraft, are also flying headlong into controversy, as deaths and injuries mount and the Army Corps of Engineers bans them from federally managed waters...The government action and SportsStuff's decision to recall the product raises questions about what role the US government should play in restricting behaviors that involve some degree of risk.

 Christian Science Monitor

33 Articles and Resources. Go to:  [Next 13]