On safety issues, we need to put our children first

A change was in order.

After two years of recall announcements that overwhelmed the airwaves and undermined the confidence of parents ¬– from lead-painted toys to lead-laden metal jewelry to dangerous cribs and magnetic toys – a change was in order.

With the support of Congress and consumers, the landmark Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was signed into law in August 2008.  CPSC is more than just the CPSIA, but this child safety law has revitalized our agency.

{mosads}Most of the attention the CPSIA has garnered has been on lead and children’s products. The law does create the most stringent lead limits in the world, but it enhances safety in so many other ways.

The CPSIA mandates that longtime voluntary toy standards be mandatory, calls for durable infant products to fall under mandatory safety standards, makes it illegal to resell a recalled product, increases the maximum limit of a civil penalty to $15 million, limits the amount of phthalates in toys and child care articles, requires product registration cards to accompany juvenile products, requires tracking labels and testing of children’s products.

To implement all of these changes, Congress doubled our budget from years ago, and has helped us grow from 385 employees in 2008 to more than 500 in 2010.  

As the proud chairman of this new and improved CPSC, I want members of Congress to know we are using the funds appropriated to us wisely and putting the interests of consumers at the forefront of our work.

The evidence: a dramatic decline in 2009 of toy recalls and toy recalls involving lead; independent testing of toys with small parts and children’s metal jewelry; stiffer penalties against repeat offenders; the opening of our first foreign office in Beijing; and new standards expected this year for cribs, bassinets, baby walkers, and baby bath seats. 

The result: a paradigm change in manufacturing, importing and retailing of children’s products; and more safeguards in the marketplace aimed at restoring the confidence of parents when shopping for their children.

Now, the commission and I recognize implementation of the CPSIA has not been easy or without its challenges.  Most agencies face difficult decisions when implementing a new law.  But as Congress takes up the matter of possible amendments, CPSC stands ready to work with all interested parties in the pursuit of increased flexibility, while maintaining the CPSIA’s core principles of eliminating risks to children. 

While a great deal of attention has been paid to the CPSIA, CPSC is bigger than just the CPSIA.  The outstanding staff at CPSC has accomplished so much during the past year that deserves to be recognized, including: 

• Initiating federal rulemaking on recreational off-highway vehicles, after it was brought to my attention there were no standards and a dramatic rate of rollovers resulting in deaths and injuries;

• Conducting an industrywide recall of 50 million Roman shades and roll-up blinds with a free repair for everyone; 

• Moving swiftly to get ahead of the emerging issue of cadmium in children’s jewelry;

• Collaborating with Customs and Border Protection to use advanced technology to be more effective at stopping hazardous consumer products at U.S. ports;

• Creating CPSC 2.0, our social media initiative, which is putting lifesaving information before millions of online consumers;

• Joining forces with federal and state partners to address health and safety concerns associated with Chinese drywall in thousands of homes in the south – this has been the most expensive and expansive investigation in CPSC history;

• And carrying out my principle of firm but fair enforcement of product safety laws by inspecting 1,200 public pools and spas for compliance with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act – the results gave us good reason to believe the law is working.

What drives our work at CPSC, of course, is the prevention of tragic deaths and injuries, many of which have left lasting impressions on our 38-year-old agency. From Danny Keysar, who was killed in 1998 when the portable crib he was napping in at a day care center collapsed around his neck and strangled him, to 20-month-old Kenny Sweet, Jr., who died on Thanksgiving Day in 2005 after swallowing small powerful loose magnets that came off of one of his older brother’s toys.  

The empowered CPSC Congress helped create serves as a tribute to the lives of these two boys and other children who were lost in similar tragedies. 

It is a solemn responsibility that drives every employee at CPSC, and we are working harder than ever to meet our mission of protecting consumers from dangerous products.

Tenenbaum is the chairman of  the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission