Our work to fix the frayed product safety net came to fruition this past spring, resulting in more funding and authority for the agency charged with protecting consumers from unsafe products.
In December, the House passed the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act, which would permanently increase funding and staff for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), reduce lead in children’s toys, and establish new testing requirements for products.
We called it a strong first step, but called on Texas’ congressional delegation to add parts of the Senate bill, which gives the CPSC greater enforcement authority, requires public disclosure of important product hazard information, and levies larger fines for companies. We applaud the representatives that voted this bill through.
Then, in March, the Senate’s version of the same bill passed. Both Sens. Cornyn and Hutchison voted in favor of the new legislation.
Grassroots Pressure
When independent inspectors found that a Fisher-Price toy blood pressure cuff contained seven to nine times the legal lead limits, Fisher-Price, which is owned by Mattel, agreed to recall the toy—but only in the state of Illinois!
We quickly alerted our members via e-mail. Thousands responded, asking the company to recall the dangerous toy everywhere it was sold.
They also asked the company to sign on to our corporate safety challenge—a promise to test all toys rigorously and ban dangerous chemicals from products.
So far, Fisher-Price and Mattel haven’t signed on. Yet their stubborn resistance to change provided ammunition for our efforts in Congress, leading to the passage of the bill.
