New regs for Thursday: Toys, felons, sheep and goats

Toys: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is backing down from a controversial regulation for toys.

The CPSC issued a direct final rule in July “determining that unfinished and untreated trunk wood does not contain heavy elements that would exceed the limits specified in the commission’s toy standard.”

But the agency said it is withdrawing the rule, because of “significant adverse comments” from the public.

The agency is withdrawing the rule immediately.

Felons: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is moving to disqualify felons who are on the run from receiving government subsidies for food.

Fleeing felons would not be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service announced Wednesday.

“The intent of the law is to prohibit individuals who are intentionally fleeing to avoid prosecution or imprisonment from receiving SNAP benefits and to aid law enforcement officials actively seeking to apprehend those fleeing,” the agency wrote.

The rule goes into effect in 60 days.

Sheep and goats: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing new scrapie rules for sheep and goats.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is proposing to “amend the scrapie regulations by changing the risk groups and categories established for individual animals and for flocks, increasing the use of genetic testing as a means of assigning risk levels to animals, reducing movement restrictions for animals found to be genetically less susceptible or resistant to scrapie, and simplifying, reducing, or removing certain recordkeeping requirements.”

The public has 60 days to comment.