President signs bill to make gas cans safer

President Bush recently signed into law the Children’s Gasoline Burn Prevention Act, a law that requires all portable gasoline containers sold after January 16, 2009 to have child-resistant closures. As we previously noted, this law closes a loophole that exempted gas cans from requirements that containers for dangerous household materials—including flammable liquids— be child resistant.

Now, gasoline containers will have to meet ASTM-International F 2517  (Standard Specification for Determination of Child Resistance of Portable Fuel Containers for Consumer Use). Some manufacturers already comply voluntarily with the standard.

Although Consumers Union supported the development of the standard, we also want consumers to recognize that it’s not foolproof. The standard requires only 80 percent effectiveness, which still puts some particularly determined or intuitive young children at risk.  So it’s still necessary to take precautions with stored gasoline cans. CU and the the Consumer Product Safety Commission offer the following tips.

• Whether or not your gasoline can has a child-resistant closure, keep gasoline, kerosene and other fuels well out of the reach of children.
• Place gasoline containers in a well ventilated, cool area.
• Never store gasoline or other fuels inside the house, in a basement, or near a fuel-burning appliance, open flames, pilot lights, stoves, heaters, electric mowers or any other sources of ignition.
• Never smoke near gasoline.
• Never store gasoline in the trunk of a vehicle.

Please note that even some gas cans that meet the standard may not be the best choice. In our tests of spill-resistant gas cans (see photo above) our testers found some child-resistant features so cumbersome that adults may be tempted to bypass them altogether. “Those that use removable disks to prevent the flow of gasoline were especially annoying,” says John Galeotafiore, CU’s Associate Director of Home Improvement.

Comments

[Georgia]

So funny that now gas cans are being made safer when we cannot afford to put anything in them...... lol