FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 8/14/2008
CONTACT: Pedro Morillas (916) 448-4516 x112
President Signs Landmark Consumer Product Safety Act
Bill Provides Important New Protections for Children and Consumers
CALPIRG applauds the enactment of the landmark Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act of 2008 which provides the toughest lead standards in the world for children’s products. The Act also strengthens the oversight of toys and children’s products by the Consumer Product Safety Commission – oversight which had withered on the vine in recent years.
“I want to thank Congressman Waxman and Speaker Pelosi for completing a strong Product Safety Modernization Act and for their strong leadership in helping California consumers,” said CALPIRG Legislative Advocate Pedro Morillas. "The bill is a huge victory for America's littlest consumers."
Last year, California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) alerted shoppers to hidden toy hazards and released “Trouble in Toyland,” the group’s 22nd annual toy safety survey. The report stated that while progress had been made over the last two decades, researchers still found lead-laden and dangerous toys on store shelves. Also in 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled millions of popular toys, including Barbie and Polly Pockets, for poorly designed magnets that fell out. Other toy hazards reported in the CALPIRG annual survey included toys containing phthalates and other toxic chemicals, excessively loud toys, and strangulation hazards. Consumer groups also dubbed 2007 the “Year of the Recall.”
This year, dangerous toy and product recalls occurred at an even swifter rate. Among these, the CPSC has recalled more than one million more magnet toys based on the 2007 CALPIRG survey. According to a report released by CALPIRG and partners in the product safety coalition in July, recalls have increased by 22% in 2008.
The bill is a historic step forward in product safety. In addition to its massive increase in CPSC resources and funding, and its increase in civil penalty and recall authorities, the new law will:
• make industry's voluntary toy standard mandatory, which means that magnets and many other hazards will be subject to the new law's centerpiece third party testing requirement.
• ban six toxic phthalates in children's products. Three are banned permanently. Three would then be subject to a CPSC scientific review, but are banned until it is completed. If the ban is removed, states would regain authority to ban them.
• grant private-sector employees whistleblower protections, which means more hazards will be reported to the CPSC.
• require establishment of a public CPSC database of potential hazards.
• require that choking hazards be disclosed in Internet advertising.
In addition, the law’s new third party testing requirement does not include an additional new layer of preemption that the toy industry had demanded for months, which would have stifled state attorney general enforcement of a critical new untested product safety reform.
“Toxic chemicals like lead and phthalates have no business in our children’s toys,” said CALPIRG’s Morillas. "Representatives like Senators Feinstein and Boxer deserve tremendous credit for getting a strong bill over the finish line and signed into law."
The addition of a ban on the toxic chemical phthalates is also a groundbreaking step. Thanks to the efforts of Assemblymember Fiona Ma, California paved the way for the federal government to implement this added consumer protection.
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CALPIRG takes on powerful interests on behalf of its members, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being.
