Friday, August 3, 2007

Is the Consumer Product Safety Commission overwhelmed?

From the Washington Post:

Mattel's announcement that it was recalling 1.5 million toys could force a reexamination of how the $22 billion toy industry is overseen by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which largely relies on companies to report problems themselves, consumer groups, analysts and lawmakers said yesterday.

Like the 1.5 million Thomas and Friends trains and accessories recalled by RC2 Corp. in June, the Chinese-manufactured toys in this recall contained too much lead, Mattel said....

Safety problems with other Chinese products, such as seafood and tires, have raised questions about the U.S. government's ability to oversee imports.

"The Consumer Product Safety Commission does not have the resources to catch this type of problem," Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee's consumer affairs subcommittee, said in an interview. "We're seeing this over and over. This is an agency that is withering on the vine."


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