CPSIA – Let’s Count the Reasons to be Outraged by CEH

Perhaps like me, you felt a surge of fear and loathing today over the Center for Environmental Health’s effort hand-in-hand with CA Attorney General Jerry Brown to find products with “high levels of lead”. CEH announced to great fanfare that it had found seven items that violated the law, and Jerry Brown plowed right in behind with a cease and desist order, demanding that these items be removed from shelves immediately. Several of the affected companies denied categorically that there were violations of law. I assume that Proposition 65 lawsuits are being prepared, and suitable penalties will rain down from the heavens in due course (you know, in three years) to properly punish the “scofflaws”. Nice work, CEH.

CEH justifies its actions to destroy the children’s product industry with misleading facts about lead. Here’s how they describe the dreaded danger they are “protecting us” against:

“Lead is a stunningly toxic metal. A long list of problems has been linked to lead exposure: lowered intelligence, behavior problems, cancer, strokes, high blood pressure, kidney problems, anemia, cavities, and delayed puberty. While exposure to lead paint in old houses remains the most significant source of children’s lead exposure, about 30 percent of children with high blood lead levels are exposed to other sources of lead, including toys and other children’s products.”

They go on to list a parade of horribles, such as “University of Cincinnati researchers found that arrest rates of young adults (both for violent crimes and all arrests) were linked to the blood lead levels of these adults when they were children. Higher childhood lead exposure was associated with higher arrest rates.”

The interesting thing about these assertions about lead is that they are TRUE . . . and they are also IRRELEVANT in this case. There is absolutely no way to prove or even assert in any reasonable fashion that the products cited here could EVER poison children in this way or are responsible for ANY of the cited lead horrors. The CEH is just using plain vanilla scare tactics – did it work on you? Unfortunately, some newspapers bought it, hook line and sinker.

I hardly know where to start. Here are a few reasons to be flippin’ mad about this stunt:

I. The Seven Items Present Little or No Risk. Consider this list of “frightening” product defects:

a. Disney Tinkerbell Water Lily necklace – Connector on pixie dust charm contains 22,000 parts per million lead. [I believe this connector is perhaps 3 mm in diameter.]

b. Barbie Bike Flair Accessory Kit – Pink star fabric contains 6196 parts per million lead. [This is an item used on a bicycle.]

c. Dora the Explorer Activity Tote – Orange fabric on back of tote contains 2348 parts per million lead. [I believe his fabric is not detachable and cannot be chewed.]

d. [This one's my favorite] TKS girl’s sandals – Orange insole contains 3957 parts per million lead. [To access this lead, you must lick or chew on the INSOLE of a pair of sandals. Yum!]

e. Kids poncho – Yellow fabric contains 677 parts per million lead. [Gotta chew on your poncho.]

f. [This is a close second] Faded Glory girl’s shoes – Sole contains 1331 parts per million lead. [It's like my old joke about licking the soles of your shoes after walking to school. Happens all the time . . . .]

g. Cherokee boys belt – Surface of belt contains 4270 parts per million lead. [I have no idea what the problem is here. Still, belt chewing is exceptionally rare and not foreseeable in my opinion.]

I hope you haven’t begun rioting in the streets over these tragic “violations of law”. Let’s recap – this rogue’s gallery includes a CONNECTOR, the fabric of a decorative star on a bike accessory, backing on a tote, the INSOLE OF A SHOE, the SOLE OF A SHOE, a poncho and a belt.

Let me be blunt – how brain-damaged must someone be to actually believe these things are dangerous?

II. Cassandra Here, Have I Mentioned My Concern about State AGs? Ahem, I believe I have noted my strong concerns about State AG enforcement of the CPSIA in the past (note, especially my April 4 post about Mr. Brown). In fact, I made a big point of this issue in my unread letters sent to the Congressional conferees in July 2008 . . . to no avail. Obviously, I was way off in my thinking. Worrywart . . . .

How outrageous is Mr. Brown’s enforcement action? Well, he worked in concert with CEH apparently without talking to the CPSC. CEH practically brags about this (“In collaboration with the California Attorney General the Center for Environmental Health has spent the last six weeks monitoring compliance with the new law. . . . In October and November 2009 we purchased about 250 children’s products from major retailers in the Bay Area and San Diego. . . . We provided information about all of the violations to the California attorney general for enforcement action.”). The CPSC seems to be irrelevant to CEH and Mr. Brown.

Ahem, CPSC – what do you think about being rendered irrelevant by a grandstanding State AG and an even more disruptive consumer group? Welcome to my world. Ms. Tenenbaum, in your continuing efforts to cultivate a positive relationship with the State AGs, you may wish to reflect on the behavior of Mr. Brown and his apparent commitment to you and your efforts to calm the markets and implement the new law. Yes, commitment, that’s a nice word for it, don’t you think?

Here’s a word to ponder: “preemption”.

III. Publicity-Hungry Consumer Groups Have Proven Their Own Corruption. Stirring up this kind of public shame and panic may be good for raising contributions to CEH, but it is nothing more than a shameful demonstration of anti-social behavior. REAL JOBS and REAL LIVELIHOODS are impacted by CEH grandstanding and NO possible public good was accomplished by the latest losses inflicted by the new toy safety laws. Even CEH concedes things are much better these days (on CBS News, Executive Director Michael Green noted “It is definitely a safer Christmas than it was two years ago.”). Thanks, Mike, you have really reassured the American consumer!

CEH’s grandstanding over ridiculous assertions of danger is irresponsible and in light of Green’s concession of the safety of the marketplace, morally corrupt. Consider that in a six-week effort to find something “bad”, the CEH schemers examined 250 products, and all they could find is a connector to a charm, the sole of a shoe and the INSOLE of a shoe. Wow, what a smoking gun! However, with a hepped-up State AG perhaps preparing a gubernatorial bid, even these pathetic findings are the perfect makings for a publicity event.

As if these acts of desperation, self-interest or moral degradation were not enough, both CEH and State AG Brown then attempt to convince the public that these products actually constitute a danger. “‘Private testing uncovered a number of products designed for children that contain dangerous and illegal levels of lead,’ Brown said in a prepared statement. ‘These products must be removed from store shelves at once to protect our kids from toxic lead exposure.’” In the quote above, CEH contends that the presence of lead in products like this can be connected to “lowered intelligence, behavior problems, cancer, strokes, high blood pressure, kidney problems, anemia, cavities, and delayed puberty”. Oooh, sounds AWFUL – now prove it! CEH and their merry band of anti-commerce loonies can only assert these harms – NO data exists that can link lead in these manifestations to ANY physical harm. But what’s a good consumer group publicity event without unaccountable fear mongering?

Any sane adult or experienced parent knows that all this is baloney. This sad state of affairs confirms that the consumer groups do NOT deserve a leading role in setting the rules of the road in safety. They gave up the moral high ground when they decided to sell fear rather than advocate for safety.

Final Words: I was recently sent a blogpost link written by a consumer group about my testimony at the CPSC on November 10 about the CPSIA public database. Of course, since I am apparently a force from the Heart of Darkness (as you know), the consumer group blogpost scorned my testimony and painted the usual conspiracy theories that the wingnuts tend to favor. What was particularly notable about this post was the following note at the bottom of the page: “Comments are closed.”

Get it? The consumer groups like having the last word. They like spreading the news that best suits their interests but don’t want to answer to anyone else. [We have seen this before.] The consumer groups depend on the kindness of strangers – they need your contributions to pay their salaries. What better way to do this than sell their souls for some headlines? If you are the ones paying into their coffers with the thinking that they are looking out for you, I think you should carefully ponder the “good work” of Mike Green and his gang this week. Is this good for America? Is anyone safer now or better off? Or . . . are CEH and the other aligned consumer groups a bigger part of the problem than previously recognized?

After this stunt, I certainly hope no one will stick a microphone in Mike Green’s face again.

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CPSIA – Let’s Count the Reasons to be Outraged by CEH