Consumer Assembly 2009: CFA's Weintraub talks CPSC, CPSIA

At the Consumer Federation of America's Consumer Assembly 2009, CFA Director of Product Safety Rachel Weintraub urged the Obama administration to appoint new leadership to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and effectively enforce the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

"The most important issue right now is to ensure that there is strong, effective leadership at the helm of the Consumer Product Safety Commission," Weintraub said.

She emphasized that new leadership is vital in order to begin implementation and enforcement of the CPSIA -- which, among other things, mandates lead-testing for certain products intended for children--with "a common sense approach consistent with the law."

Weintraub acknowledged industry concerns about the law, particularly those having to do with the costs of testing products for compliance. However, she decried efforts to have the law revised as attempts to have it "opened, gutted and weakened."

The law as written, according to Weintraub, already addresses "almost every common sense concern," including those related to children's clothing and books. "Textiles that are 100% fabric ... and books printed after 1985 do not contain lead," and do not need to be tested.

Weintraub's comments were echoed by other speakers at the CFA event, including Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who said, "we don't want children poisoned by lead." David Strickland, Democratic senior counsel for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said the law was essential to establish "the safety net that every American assumed was already in place," and also urged the administration to appoint new leadership to the CPSC to "make sure the new law is implemented properly."

Consumers Union has been an active supporter of the CPSIA, which was passed last year with broad bipartisan support. CU joined the CFA and other consumer advocacy groups in addressing a letter to the Obama administration earlier this year expressing the need for effective leadership at the CPSC, along with strong, sensible enforcement of the CPSIA.

"This law is a strong, effective and much-needed solution to the persistent problems plaguing our product safety system," the letter stated, adding that the groups "urge you to move expeditiously to nominate a strong chairperson to the CPSC with product safety expertise who can implement the critical new product safety law and begin to tackle the myriad of issues facing this agency."

Consumer Assembly 2009: Local leaders talk scams

We're live from the Consumer Federation of America's annual Consumer Assembly conference in D.C. The annual conference, according to the organization (which includes Consumers Union among its members), "serves as the consumer movement's principal meeting where issues are debated and new initiatives are presented." Next up: Consumer Protection, with Eric Friedman, Montgomery County, Maryland, Office of Consumer Protection; Pastor Herrera, Los Angeles County, California, Department of Consumer Affairs; Mike Coston, Office of Consumer Affairs, Virginia, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Given the ongoing housing crisis, scams targeting at-risk homeowners are prevalent right now, according to Herrera of Los Angeles. One major tactic used by scammers is to offer to help a homeowner avoid foreclosure. Bogus "foreclosure consultants" tell homeowners that after paying a fee, they'll guarantee to protect them from foreclosure. In reality, the only guarantee is that the consultant will disappear with the fee. Also catching on are property-tax reassessment scams, in which operatives flash faux government IDs and offer to get homeowners' property taxes lowered -- for a mandated fee, of course. (Consumerist has more tips on avoiding foreclosure scams.)