Trenton, NJ—NJPIRG, a leading New Jersey consumer group that
has published annual toy safety surveys for over twenty years today applauded
U.S. Senate passage of comprehensive legislation to give the CPSC the money and
authority it needs to protect the public from dangerous products.
“The Senate soundly defeated several special interest
weakening amendments requested by the manufacturers of the toys and products
that made 2007 the year of the recall,” said Rebekah Scotland,
spokesperson for NJPIRG. “There is broad support for final passage of safety
legislation that protects the public, not special interests.”
The bi-partisan Senate CPSC Reform Act, S. 2663, sponsored
by Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Ted Stevens (R-AK), Susan
Collins (R-ME), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and others, now heads to a conference
committee to reconcile differences with the companion legislation, HR 4040
(Reps. Bobby Rush (D-IL), John Dingell (D-MI), Joe Barton (R-TX) and others)
passed by the House in December.
Among the highlights of the Senate bill:
- It increases the CPSC budget over 7 years from
last year’s $64 million to $155 million in 2015 and gives state attorneys
general broad authority to enforce the federal law.
- It establishes a public right-to-know database
of complaints and injury reports at the CPSC.
- It gives the CPSC broader jurisdiction over toys
not currently regulated, including the dangerous small magnets that have killed
one little boy and sent dozens of others to emergency surgery.
- It bans toxic lead in children’s products except
at trace levels.
- It protects product safety whistleblowers from
retaliation.
“While several of these provisions make the Senate bill more
comprehensive than the House bill, which we called a good first step when it
passed, we intend to make sure that the final law signed by the President
includes the best elements of each bill, including the House’s better
definition of children’s product as intended for children under 12, not 7 years
of age, as the Senate would require,” added Scotland.
Among the organizations joining NJPIRG in support of the
Senate bill are Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, the American
Academy of Pediatrics, Public
Citizen and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“If we are going to protect children and the public from the
growing number of shoddy, imported toys coming onto our shores and into our
stores each year, we need a bigger, better CPSC backstopped by 50 state
attorneys general,” Scotland concluded. “It’s time for Congress and the
President to finish the job of tightening our toy safety net.”
-30-
