CPSIA – Sean Oberle Notes the Risk in the Database

Sean Oberle of the Product Safety Letter noted in an Op-Ed entitled “Andre Maginot and the CPSIA Database” that while the database has the ability to do good, it also presents the risk of causing serious harm. He’s right, of course. He goes on to note that proponents may be held to account if disaster results. We can only hope. . . .

I think this is helpful and appreciate that Sean made this point. I want to highlight one short section in his essay:

“The metaphor also helps to belie the dismissive reassurances of a few (by no means all) proponents. The issue is not that industry is failing to acknowledge the protections Congress and CPSC put in place. Rather, industry is concerned whether the protections are proper and sufficient. The irony is not lost on me that with the CPSIA database, we’re dealing with a product that has a lot of potential to do harm. The problem is that when you produce a potentially dangerous product – be it a database or a toy – there is only so much that you can do to reassure people before putting it ‘out there.’ At some point, people simply are going to have to trust you.”

There are two important issues here. First, Sean mentions “trust” – and seems to imply that we should give the agency a chance to prove itself. Well, they have already had a chance to prove themselves, and used the opportunity to prove that they don’t deserve to be trusted. The risk that we should bear while we wait to see if the CPSC can be “trusted” could literally be fatal to our businesses. Where does it say that markets are to be administered this way? How can this be defended as “sensible” or a worthy risk to take?

The second issue which Sean brushes up against but doesn’t discuss is how the database erodes corporate due process rights so significantly. We have essentially had our rights stripped, arguably illegally and illicitly. The government is now in the business of publishing slander and we have no way to stop it. Trust is impossible when due process rights have been removed. Appeal is pointless (as our company’s recent experience illustrates), but some semblance of process creates the illusion of individual rights. It’s a joke, of course. Maybe we need to call the Small Business Ombudsman. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

At some point, the zealots will push too far. The damage they wrought won’t be fixable – the dead companies won’t rise again. The cost will be borne by our society, but the perpetrators will just move on to another government job . . . .

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CPSIA – Sean Oberle Notes the Risk in the Database

CPSIA – "Must Read" in PSL

In the March 9th edition of the Product Safety Letter, Eric Stone published an analysis entitled “Is There a Need to “Recall to Repair” the Relationship Between the CPSC Compliance Staff and Business Community?“

My response: Amen, brother!

For those of you who don’t know Eric, he is the former Director of the Legal Division of the CPSC and also former Acting Director of the Recalls and Compliance Division of the Office of Compliance at the CPSC. He is currently a partner at K&L Gates LLP. To say the least, he is an authoritative figure in all matters CPSC.

Please read Eric’s Op-Ed.

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CPSIA – "Must Read" in PSL

CPSIA – "Must Read" in PSL

In the March 9th edition of the Product Safety Letter, Eric Stone published an analysis entitled “Is There a Need to “Recall to Repair” the Relationship Between the CPSC Compliance Staff and Business Community?“

My response: Amen, brother!

For those of you who don’t know Eric, he is the former Director of the Legal Division of the CPSC and also former Acting Director of the Recalls and Compliance Division of the Office of Compliance at the CPSC. He is currently a partner at K&L Gates LLP. To say the least, he is an authoritative figure in all matters CPSC.

Please read Eric’s Op-Ed.

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CPSIA – "Must Read" in PSL

CPSIA – First Update on House CPSIA Meeting

I am going to be feeding updates on yesterday’s Washington meeting over the next few days. There is a fair bit to digest and explain. I want to do justice to the importance of the topic. Please bear with me!

In the meantime, here are some basic documents to read. The meeting was attended by the following people or groups, and some of them presented their positions in writing. If they gave out written remarks, I have linked to the documents below:

American Academy of Pediatrics
Handmade Toy Alliance
American Apparel & Footwear Association
Consumer Federation of America
Consumers Union
Printing Industries of America
Toy Industry Association
Fashion Jewelry and Accessories Trade Association
National Association of Manufacturers
Alliance for Children’s Product Safety (yours truly)
American Chemistry Council
ATV Industry
Retail Industry Leaders Association

The meeting was also attended by staff representing both the Majority (Republicans) and Minority (Democrats) on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as interested parties like staff from the offices of various members of Congress (notably, Rep. Mary Bono-Mack, incoming Chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade).

More later!

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CPSIA – First Update on House CPSIA Meeting

CPSIA – I’m Back!

I am back in the saddle and wanted to thank our Guest Bloggers for their contributions in my absence. Likewise, I really appreciate the support and creativity of the staff of the Alliance for Children’s Product Safety in their administration of the blog while I was gone.

I find that the passage of time has not brought us any relief. With the newly asserted need to test carpets for lead and recalls of lacrosse gloves for lead-in-ink, the goofiness that had us in its grip when I left still has us in its grip today. I will comment on these and other matters in the coming days. In the meantime, I prepared a blogpost before I left and will post it shortly.

I liked the work of our Guest Bloggers and want to encourage the submission of other guest posts in the future. I would be happy to continue to post the views of market participants on the topic of the CPSIA in the future.

Rick

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CPSIA – I’m Back!

Lenore Skenazy has a Few Things to Say about All Those CPSC Recalls

Lenore Skenazy who writes the Free Range Kids Blog, has an op-ed on Forbes.com about all those CPSC recalls (previously covered on this blog here and here).

She doesn’t mince words.

Money quotes:

“And so it goes in the unbrave new world, where nothing is safe enough. It’s a world brought to us by the once sane, now danger-hallucinating Consumer Product Safety Commission.”

and

“[CPSC] actively engages in fear mongering, perhaps to give it something to do. After it rid the world of leaping lawnmowers and exploding frying pans, it turned its sights on the also-rans of corporate reprehensibility. The tricycle with a protruding screw. The stuffed animal whose button eyeball contains lead paint. And to remain relevant, it acts as if there is really no distinction between a bucking chain saw and a Little Tykes “choking hazard” the size of a salt shaker. And it just keeps getting more irrational.”

Read the entire op-ed: “Students Aren’t Allowed to Touch Real Rocks.”

Posted by the Staff of the Alliance for Children’s Product Safety

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Lenore Skenazy has a Few Things to Say about All Those CPSC Recalls

CPSIA – USA Today Highlights Damage Inflicted by CSPIA

Lead testing can be costly for mom and pop toy shops

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CPSIA – USA Today Highlights Damage Inflicted by CSPIA

CPSIA – Broken Record . . . Does Anyone Care Anymore?

Misallocated safety resources – I have made the point again and again, that the misconceived CPSIA diverts limited resources away from real safety issues and lards them on bureaucratic exercises unlikely to produce safety results. [A pile of safety reports up to the sky does not constitute "results", btw.] This misallocation is not restricted to private companies – it also adversely impacts the CPSC. As they say, there are only so many hours in the day, even with an annual budget of $118 million.

The back-up in work at the CPSC is part of the untold story of the CPSIA. Certainly the zealots do not want to expose the damage done by their favorite law to this proud agency. The fantasy goes like this: if the CPSC isn’t acting, there isn’t anything to act on. Ergo if recalls go down, we must be safer – because the all-knowing CPSC is everywhere, instantly processing data, and recalling everything that is “bad”. If you believe that fairy tale, I have a bridge to sell you, or perhaps some lovely swamp land. This fantasy was on display in the recent hearing on the public database in which absurd promises were made about timely agency review of database postings. The agency’s inability to keep up with the data flow, probably from day one, will turn the database into a national commercial slander bulletin board. Among other things, this is because there aren’t and will never be enough hands on deck to manage the work flow with good quality control and concern for truth.

Some recent evidence of misallocated resources was provided by the General Accounting Office in their April 2010 report to Congressional Committees entitled “ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES: How They Are Used, Crashes, and Sales of Adult-Sized Vehicles for Children’s Use“. Remember, it is almost inevitable that misallocated safety resources will lead to disaster, just as driving while taking your eyes off the road invites tragedy. Tragedy . . . you heard it here first.

The GAO report notes:

“[ATV industry] officials said they are taking actions to prevent the sale of adult-sized ATVs for use by children and Commission staff said they have taken steps to ensure compliance . . . . Since 1998, Commission staff have conducted undercover inspections of ATV dealers, by posing as buyers, to check compliance with the age recommendations. Nevertheless, compliance rates of the ATV dealers that Commission staff checked decreased from 85 percent in 1999 to 63 percent in 2007 . . . . A Commission compliance official said no undercover inspections of dealers had been conducted since early 2008 because Commission staff were focused on preparing to implement the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, but that inspections will be resumed in the future. . . .

Because Commission staff had not conducted any undercover inspections of dealers since 2008 and because the number of new entrants in the marketplace that had not been checked (as of February 2010, 37 companies had ATV action plans authorizing them to sell ATVs in the United States, compared with 8 companies in 2008), we conducted undercover operations of selected dealers to check whether dealers were willing to sell adult-sized ATVs for use by children under the age of 16. . . . The dealers who were willing to sell adult-sized ATVs for use by children included retailers that sold ATVs made by the traditional manufacturers and new market entrants as well as those that sold a single brand and a variety of brands. In some cases, sales staff subtly and in other cases blatantly admitted that they should not be selling adult-sized ATVs for use by a 13-year-old, but would do so anyway. In addition, one dealer we visited was selling ATVs manufactured by a company without an ATV action plan.” [Emphasis added]

I quote from this report not to indict ATV’rs. Some bad apples will be in every barrel, so almost any market sweep will turn up something. In this case, however, the GAO confirms that the CPSC has been in a two year nap induced by the CPSIA. And the nap isn’t over, either.

This problem explains why, in a recent conversation, a CPSC staffer referred to the agency as the Children’s Product Safety Commission (that’s not its name!). Something has been diverted or polluted in its mission by the CPSIA.

I feel we are sliding down this slippery slope to the doom of the critical market for children’s products. After two years of whining, I must sound like a broken record. That said, the CPSIA implementing rules aren’t survivable and with full implementation now just months away, there’s almost no time left to do anything about it. I have not yet explained in this space the so-called 15 Month Rule to be discussed this week in Thursday morning’s Commission meeting. When the time comes, you will get a strong sense of what a railroad job this entire process has been. The priority has been irretrievably shifted to paper pushing. The strictures imposed by the testing zealots will snuff out many businesses – or send us all underground.

Consumers will suffer and so will your business. We will see more collapses and will see markets go under-served. You were warned.

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CPSIA – Broken Record . . . Does Anyone Care Anymore?

CPSIA – ICPHSO Stay Tuned

From a CPSC Media Alert:

“CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum will be giving a major address on the state of product safety, including a strong message to industry about meeting their responsibilities to consumers when it comes to recalls. Tenenbaum will also detail her consumer agenda for 2010, unveil a new Web site being launched and talk about crib safety.”

This will take place at lunch today.

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CPSIA – ICPHSO Stay Tuned

CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week January 7

The Alliance for Children’s Product Safety’s “CPSIA Casualty of the Week” highlights how the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) is disrupting the U.S. marketplace in order to draw attention to the problems faced by small businesses, public institutions, consumers and others trying to comply with senseless and often contradictory provisions of the law. These provisions do nothing to improve product safety, but are driving small businesses out of the market.

Congress and the CPSC need to address the problems with CPSIA implementation to help small businesses by restoring “common sense” to our nation’s product safety laws.

CPSIA Casualty of the Week for January 11, 2010

NEW SAFETY LAW CLEANING OUT “THE KIDS CLOSET”

Kitty Boyce worked for 18 years to build her resale shop, The Kids Closet, located in Rochester, IL, into a well-known resale shop. With its colorful signage, brightly decorated interior and whimsical whale logo, The Kids Closet built its reputation on offering customers quality second-hand children’s products at great values.

Shortly after being voted the “Number One Place to Shop Resale” by the Illinois Times, Kitty announced that because of CPSIA she was converting her store to sell predominately teen and adult clothing, home accessories and furniture, and changing its name to Remarkable Resale. The loss of revenue in her shop due to the changes in inventory forced her to lay off several employees.

“CPSIA has been devastating for us,” said Kitty. “We just decided to get rid of all the toys and furniture. It’s just not worth the risk.”

While the Consumer Product Safety Commission has temporarily stayed requirements for testing and certifying products, all resale shops still must comply with the new lead and phthalate standards. Realistically, resale shops cannot be 100 percent certain that the used items meet the new requirements.

Due to the over-reaching law, Kitty Boyce’s dedicated attempts to provide children and families with reasonably priced, gently used baby equipment, furniture and toys have been shut down. For Kitty and others, the risk of enforcement action by state attorneys general or private groups is too great. The result is that during one of the worst economies in decades, resale shops around the country are avoiding selling winter clothing for kids and other children’s products.

This winter, ask Congress how denying a perfectly safe used winter coat to a child whose parents can’t afford to buy a new one is protecting that child’s health.

For more information about Kitty Boyce, visit http://www.thekidscloset.net/closet.htm

For additional information on the Alliance for Children’s Product Safety and CPSIA, and to view previous “Casualties of the Week, visit http://www.AmendTheCPSIA.com/.

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CPSIA – CPSIA Casualty of the Week January 7

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