Consumer Protection News

Madison, WI—WISPIRG, a leading Wisconsin consumer group that has published annual toy safety surveys for over twenty years today applauded U.S. Senate passage of comprehensive legislation to “give the CPSC the money and authority” it needs to protect the public from dangerous products. WISPIRG applauds Senators Kohl and Feingold for supporting this important consumer protection.

“The Senate soundly defeated several special interest weakening amendments requested by the manufacturers of the toys and products that made 2007 the year of the recall,” said Bruce Speight, Public Interest Advocate for WISPIRG. “There is broad support for final passage of safety legislation that protects the public, not special interests.”

The bi-partisan Senate CPSC Reform Act, S. 2663, sponsored by Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Ted Stevens (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and others, now heads to a conference committee to reconcile differences with the companion legislation, HR 4040 (Reps. Bobby Rush (D-IL), John Dingell (D-MI), Joe Barton (R-TX) and others, passed by the House in December.

Among the highlights of the Senate bill:

• It increases the CPSC budget over 7 years from last year’s $64 million to $155 million in 2015 and gives state attorneys general broad authority to enforce the federal law.

• It establishes a public right-to-know database of complaints and injury reports at the CPSC.

• It gives the CPSC broader jurisdiction over toys not currently regulated, including the dangerous small magnets that have killed one little boy and sent dozens of others to emergency surgery.

• It bans toxic lead in children’s products except at trace levels.

• It protects product safety whistleblowers from retaliation.

“While several of these provisions make the Senate bill more comprehensive than the House bill, which we called a good first step when it passed, we intend to make sure that the final law signed by the President includes the best elements of each bill, including the House’s better definition of children’s product as intended for children under 12, not 7 years of age, as the Senate would require,” added Speight.

During debate on the Senate floor, a number of weakening amendments were offered, including an amendment by Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) to simply substitute the narrower, industry-supported House bill and one by Senator Jon Cornyn (R-TX) to weaken authority of state attorneys general. Both amendments were defeated.

Among the organizations joining WISPIRG in support of the Senate bill are Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Public Citizen and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“If we are going to protect children and the public from the growing number of shoddy, imported toys coming onto our shores and into our stores each year, we need a bigger, better CPSC backstopped by 50 state attorneys general,” Speight concluded. “It’s time for Congress and the President to finish the job of tightening our toy safety net.”

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WISPIRG is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization. For 22 years, WISPIRG and other state PIRGs have produced an annual “Trouble In Toyland” report that has resulted in over 120 recalls and other corrective actions. www.wispirg.org.