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 saw it as a strong first step, but called on Geogia’s 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 thank Reps. Barrow, Bishop, Broun, Deal, Gingrey, Johnson, Kingston, Lewis, Linder, Marshall, Price, Scott and Westmoreland, who voted for the bill. Then, in March, the Senate’s version of the same bill passed.

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 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 has provided more ammunition for our efforts in Congress.