Senator asks Obama to change leadership at CPSC

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida sent a letter to the White House yesterday asking to president to change the leadership of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

After writing that he'd already discussed the matter with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Nelson's letter identifies his main issue with the CPSC's current approach:

I believe we have a serious problem with the CPSC. More specifically, the agency is doing too little, too late to help residents of Florida and other states who are reporting serious health and safety problems associated with living in homes built with tainted drywall imported from China.

The CPSC has the power to ban future imports or issua a recall on defective or hazardous products. But the commission hasn't take any action.

As the Consumer Reports Safety Blog has reported, the federal government is now ramping up a multi-agency investigation of drywall imported from China that is suspected of releasing sulfur gases believed to be causing corrosion and health problems.

A spokesman for the CPSC told Consumer Reports the agency has been looking into possible defects surrounding drywall imported from China for the last two months and has now initiated a formal compliance investigation.

“The agency is on the ground in Florida in a fact-finding mode,” said CPSC spokesman Joe Martyak. “Our goal is to determine if, and to what extent, there is any safety risk involved with imported Chinese drywall.”

Sen. Nelson, however, wrote that the CPSC's problems go beyond the recent drywall issue:

And this is no the first time the commission has failed to act quickly to protect consumers from dangerous products. When confronted with the issue of Chinese-made toys found to contain extreme levels of lead, it took far too long to act.

For the past three years, the commission has been under the leadership and direction of acting Chairwoman Nancy Nord, who has come under bipartisan criticsm for, among other things, being too cozy with manufacturers. Given her record, it's my belief new leadership is required.

Mr. President, I'm asking you to call on Ms. Nord to resign. I believe that the CPSC needs leaders who will stand up and protect the rights of consumers. It is my hope that you will take action to remove her from office for "neglect of duty" pursuant to Section 4(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, as amended (15 U.S.C. 2053 (a)), prior to the expiration of her term in 2012.

Nord was nominated for the CPSC by President George W. Bush and began her term in 2005. The other sitting commissioner is Thomas Moore, who was first tapped by President Bill Clinton in 1995. The third commissioner's seat has been vacant since 2006 when Hal Stratton resigned.

CPSC: 14 companies will pay $1 million over drawstrings in kids' clothes

UPDATED: Fourteen companies will pay $1,055,000 in civil penalties to settle allegations that they failed to report that "children’s hooded sweatshirts or jackets they sold had drawstrings at the hood and/or neck," the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today.

In 1996, the CPSC staff issued guidelines recommending the removal of hood and neck drawstrings from all children’s upper outerwear sized 2T to 12, and limiting the ends of waist/bottom drawstrings to 3 inches from the garment. Although the standard is voluntary, the CPSC has been enforcing the no-drawstring agreement as if it were a mandatory federal rule and has been issuing fines to companies that do not observe it.

The CPSC alleged that the companies had violated federal law by not reporting that their sweatshirts or jackets had drawstrings. The products were eventually recalled, the CPSC said, but "in agreeing to settle the matters, the firms deny CPSC’s allegations that they knowingly violated the law."

CPSC has ordered the following firms to pay civil penalties to the U.S. Treasury:

• The TJX Companies Inc., d/b/a T.J. Maxx, of Framingham, Mass.
• Marshalls of MA Inc., of Framingham, Mass.
• Concord Buying Group Inc., d/b/a A.J. Wright, of Framingham, Mass.
• Bob’s Stores Corp., of Meriden, Conn.
• Kidz World Inc., d/b/a High Energy USA, of New York City, N.Y.
• The Bon-Ton Stores Inc., of York, Pa.
• Coolibar Inc., of St. Louis Park, Minn.
• Brents-Riordan Co. LLC, of Shreveport, La.
• Forman Mills Inc., of Pennsauken, N.J.
• Urgent Gear Inc., of Los Angeles, Calif.
• Seventy Two Inc., of La Puenta, Calif.
• Orioxi International Corp., of Brea, Calif.
• Outfitter Trading Co. LLC, of Littleton, Colo.
• Retco Inc., of Breckenridge, Colo.

Businesses rally against CPSIA

The Consumer Reports Safety Blog reports that, at a rally in Washington, D.C., yesterday, members of the business community, including “industry lobbyists and representatives of large companies and of trade organizations,” protested against the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Speakers included Toy Industry Association President Carter Keithley, who claimed that there are no health impacts from lead in toys. Read the full story here.

Nord joins push for new leadership at CPSC

Groups urging President Obama to appoint new leadership to the Consumer Product Safety Commission -- including Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports -- have a surprising new ally: the CPSC's current acting head, Nancy Nord. In a letter to the president, Commissioner Nord, a Bush appointee, urged the White House to "name a nominee to chair" the agency. "The addition of a third vote, hopefully, will streamline the process of lengthy staff discussions and negotiations currently required to reach the unanimity needed to advance the agency's safety mission," Nord wrote. Her concerns echo those of activists and legislators, who have pushed for the administration to bring on new leadership. Last week, Rep. John Dingell (D., MI), sent a letter to the president urging him to appoint a new head of the agency "as expeditiously as possible."

According to The Wall Street Journal, the White House responded by saying, "we are moving ahead in an aggressive fashion on a whole array of issues. When it comes to staffing, we are remarkably ahead of where previous administrations were at this point." The administration did not directly respond to Nord's comments.

The agency has been without a head since July 2006, when previous chair Hal Stratton resigned. In 2007, President Bush attempted to appoint a manufacturing industry lobbyist, Michael Baroody, to run the product safety agency. Baroody later withdrew his name from consideration, and Bush did not nominate any other candidates for the position.

The need for a new CPSC head has become more critical in recent months, as the agency has attempted to deal with the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). In a letter to the President in February, Consumers Union and other groups urged the White House to address the "climate of confusion" by appointing "effective leadership at the CPSC," to "implement the critical new product safety law and begin to tackle the myriad of issues facing this agency." Nord’s letter seems to echo these concerns, saying that new leadership is required to “implement the much needed update of our statutes, thus increasing the protection of American families.”

Booksellers find CPSIA implementation solutions

Publishers Weekly has a roundup of the ways booksellers have begun to implement the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, and points out that "things have calmed down significantly," since key portions of the law involving lead content in products meant for children went into effect on February 10th. Most booksellers, according to PW, have begun to follow CPSC guidelines that exempt children's books printed after 1985 from testing for lead. This has allowed them to keep such books on their shelves.

Many have also begun moving older children's books to their "collectibles" sections, which allows them to continue selling them without testing them for lead content. One sticking point for some booksellers has been "book-plus" products, which often include toys or other non-book products. Some stores have stopped selling them altogether, and have stopped accepting used book-plus products from donors.

The potential risk of lead in older children's books was highlighted by a test conducted by an environmental consultant and blogger, who found that a 1947 printing of a Mother Goose book contained 2,400 parts-per-million of lead, well above the 600 ppm limit currently required under the CPSIA.

PW points out that the CPSC has offered "conflicting advice" and that booksellers remain "confused" about the best way to implement the law. Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, agrees. In a letter to President Obama earlier this year, CU and other consumer groups that support the CPSIA, urged the president to address the "climate of confusion" by appointing "effective leadership at the CPSC," to "implement the critical new product safety law and begin to tackle the myriad of issues facing this agency."

CPSC warning: 90% of accidental poisonings happen to kids at home

As part of National Poison Prevention Week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is reminding Americans to protect their families at home because that where the vast majority of accidental poisonings of children occur.

Household products kill about 30 kids by unintentional poisoning each year and bring more than 2 million calls to poison control centers, the CPSC says. About 80,000 children end up in the emergency room because of these poisonings.

More than 90% of these calls involve poisonings in the home, the CPSC reports.

"Awareness and action are the keys to preventing unintentional poisonings," CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord said in a statement. "Children act fast. So do poisons. That's why we urge parents, grandparents and caregivers to have layers of poison prevention protection in the home."

The CPSC offers three basic steps to protect children:

• Keep medicines and household chemicals in their original, child-resistant containers.
• Store the potentially hazardous substances up and out of a child’s sight and reach.
• Keep the National toll-free poison control center telephone number, 800-222-1222, handy in case of a poison emergency.

CPSC issues recall for 800,000 bears given away by State Farm

About 800,000 "Good Neigh Bears" handed out by the insurance company State Farm need to be rounded up, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today.

The plastic eyes on the bears can come off and pose a choking hazard to young children, according to the CPSC.

State Farm received report of a child putting a bear's eye in her mouth, but there have been no reported injuries.

The bears should be taken away from young children and discard them, State Farm advises.

The bears, which were given out as part of sponsored events from September 2005 to March 2007, are brown and wear a white and red State Farm shirt.

Another 27,000 similar bears are being recalled in Canada.

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."

CPSC establishes rules for exempting products from lead law

After an uproar from small businesses and manufacturers, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued rules for exempting products from a law that aims to protect children from lead contamination.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act provides specific limits for lead in chidren's products, but toy and ATV manufacturers have complained about it being too strict.

The CPSC published its rules for granting exemptions for products which exceed the lead limits but can be proven not to endanger kids.

Here's how:

(b) Section 101(b)(1) of the CPSIA provides that the Commission may  exclude a specific product or material from the lead limits established for children's products under the CPSIA if the Commission, after notice and a hearing, determines on the basis of the best-available, objective, peer-reviewed, scientific evidence that lead in such product or material will neither:
(1) Result in the absorption of any lead into the human body, taking into account normal and reasonably foreseeable use and abuse of such product by a child, including swallowing, mouthing, breaking, or other children's activities, and the aging of the product; nor
(2) Have any other adverse impact on public health or safety.

Read the full rules from the CPSC or in the Federal Register.