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.

Read more here:
CPSIA – "Must Read" in PSL

CPSIA – Age Limits under the CPSIA

As the House continues to dicker over how to amend the CPSIA (yes, they will give it a go soon, rumor has it), I thought the website Woot.com neatly illustrates the absurdity of the arbitrary and over-protective age grading rules inspired by Congress and the maniacal CPSIA. [Thanks to loyal reader Ben for this story!] In this case, the subject is the magnet rules spawned by the 2007 Magnetix deaths.

Perhaps you remember that last year the CPSC “in cooperation with” a company called Maxfield and Oberton LLC announced a recall of “Buckyballs”, a magnetic ball toy for age grading issues. What age grading issues, in particular? To quote the CPSC: “The high powered magnets sets were labeled “Ages 13+” and do not meet the mandatory toy standard F963-08 (effective August 17, 2009) which requires that such powerful magnets are not sold for children under 14. Magnets found by young children can be swallowed or aspirated. If more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforations or blockages, which can be fatal.” [Emphasis added]

Woot.com sells this product and I love their spin on this safety “issue”:

“Buckin’ Magnets, How Do They Work? If you’re 14 or older, Buckyballs promise hours of addictive magnetic fun! If you’re 13 or under, they promise fatal intestinal blockages!”

They continue to explain:

“When exactly does a child become an adult? Different societies have answered this question with different milestones . . . . Now the Consumer Product & Safety Commission has settled it once and for all: a child is an adult when they can be trusted not to accidentally swallow tiny but powerful magnets. This past spring, the CPSC told the Buckyballs people that they had to yank their compulsively play-withable little magnetic to- uh, ‘desk decorations’ to re-label them ‘Keep Away From All Children’. It seems the previous label of ‘Ages 13+’ did not comply with consumer guidelines that ‘such powerful magnets are not sold for children under 14′, because even 13-year-olds were liable to swallow them and suffer perforated or blocked intestines. Yep, that year from your 13th birthday to your 14th makes all the difference. ‘Consumers should take the Buckyballs® high powered magnets away from children under 14 immediately,’ quoth the CPSC. Kids swallow the darnedest things!” [Emphasis added]

Indeed.

Of course, this illustrates the U.S. safety mania at its worst and its most damaging. Is this product actually dangerous? If it is, why does the CPSC allow it to remain on the market? Does labeling actually “solve” the problem? If there really is a difference developmentally between a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old on mouthing toys, I think it is incumbent on the CPSC to tell the public what it is. In the CPSC publication, “Which Toys for Which Child“, the agency acknowledges what is generally accepted as true, namely that children over three don’t put objects in their mouth: “Most children in [the 3, 4, 5 age group] can begin using toys with smaller components. If child is still mouthing objects, select toys with without small parts.” Duh. But 13-year-olds? This is regulatory hypocrisy at its worst.

As long as the mania continues, and as long as Congress continues to try to meddle either legislatively or by applying political pressure to the agency, we will continue to see economic victims and economic losses. Jobs will be lost. And the safety zealots will never be able to prove that anyone is safer.

The only thing that will be beyond dispute is that there are fewer companies making fewer products for sale into a smaller market. In other words, the law and the CPSC will have engineered their very own mini-recession.

Nice!

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CPSIA – Age Limits under the CPSIA

CPSIA – Our Worst Nightmare: A Recall Involving Spiders!

Today in a shocking development, Mazda recalled 65,000 cars in North America because of spiders in the gas tank. Talk about hidden hazards! Lenore Skenazy pointed out in a recent article that five Americans die because of spider bites every year. And cars are coated in lead paint, to boot. Obviously, cars are just too dangerous to be on U.S. roads. Thank heavens Mazda took decisive action before tragedy struck. . . .

Needless to say, it is only a matter of time before Rep. Henry Waxman calls for hearings to interrogate Mazda management. Did they check the electronics? No, Mazda blamed the drivers for the spiders. . . . And what if Senator Dick Durbin reads about these spiders in the Chicago Tribune over breakfast? I can see another letter coming. And who will Dick Durbin write? The current Administrator of NHTSA is David Strickland, formerly the senior Senate staffer largely responsible for the Senate’s role for creating our beloved CPSIA. Check out Rep. John Dingell’s “gushing” remarks about the contribution of the Senate to that great legislative achievement. Durbin and Strickland, that “A Team” will get it done for the American public!

Spiders, cars and lead paint. It’s a consumer advocate’s worst nightmare. This requires a LEGISLATIVE SOLUTION, guys!

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CPSIA – Our Worst Nightmare: A Recall Involving Spiders!

CPSIA – ICPHSO Mock Civil Penalty Jury Exercise

There has been only ONE court decision relating to late reporting penalties, and it was a resounding victory for the government. A juice company lost a case in California in federal court. Since there is no little law on the subject, the presenters today assert that there is no way to predict how a future case might be decided.

The panel today:

• Eric Rubel, Arnold & Porter LLP
• Cheryl Falvey, GC of CPSC
• Sean Laane, Arnold & Porter LLP
• Richard Levie, retired Judge and current arbitrator/mediator
• Mary Murphy, Asst GC, Div. of Compliance, CPSC

The panel presentation was designed as a mock trial. Both sides of the case will be presented, and you can clearly how both sides will portray this incident and both are compelling.

First to present was Mary Murphy on behalf of the government. She emphasized the facts of the injury to the child. This is clearly how you and your company will be made to look worst. This is no surprise and is standard fare for a plaintiff in a lawsuit. She likewise related the prior reporting of the risk or incidents (to the company and to the CPSC) that suggested the hazard.

Needless to say, this is the reason that consumer groups want the database. They want to create a body of evidence to coerce product changes ahead of injuries. Of course, any responsible company monitors market data (such as consumer reports) to do just that sort of thing. The database, however, is fodder for lawsuits and facilitates this kind argument. The likely impact is that the cases of plaintiffs will be strengthened and awards will grow.

Shall we take a trip down memory lane and remind ourselves of the principal source of funding for the consumer groups active in children’s product safety? Are you surprised to know that it is trial lawyers and the plaintiffs bar?

Back to the presentation of Ms. Murphy. She’s doing a good job making the manufacturer look bad, almost venal. She links the injury back to a failure to report. This is because of the asserted critical role of the CPSC in keeping America safe. She poses the question “would this injury have occurred but for the failure to report?” She argues that ten reports from consumers (of the hazard, loose beads on a high chair, not injuries) created an obligation to report based on a substantial risk of injury or death. She likewise anticipates that the defense will be that the manufacturer had no duty to report. She says that the late reporting only took place when the manufacturer’s back was “up against the wall”. Again, Murphy emphasizes her story about the motivation or mental state of the company.

More evidence used against the company included multiple written reports by the CPSC to them of consumer complaints. Ms. Murphy is painting a clear picture of a company that is not acting on a known safety issue. She indicates that the company ignored this information based on poor advice, despite internal admissions that “this was an accident waiting to happen”.

You can see that the facts of this hypothetical case opens manufacturers up to bad behavior portrayals. I applaud the effort to make this clear – you need to take this on board. The facts of this case appear extreme and objectionable. Media and political over-reaction to this kind of corporate behavior sent the REST OF US down the river under the CPSIA.

The defense was offered by Sean Laane. He noted the responsible behavior of the company by repeatedly testing the goods using CPSC standards and CPSC-accredited independent labs. Noted that the CPSC tested the product TWICE after reports of incidents from consumers – and the products passed! [Note that any safety system that overly depends on testing will ALWAYS expose a company to risk if it is distracted from or chooses to ignore contrary information from the market. This is a basic flaw in the reasoning of the consumer groups and the folks behind the CPSIA.] He goes on to note that the CPSC can’t have it both ways, since it never concluded that action was required based on the incidents it was aware of. After all, the CPSC had several reports and did nothing. Claims the CPSC takes a “gotcha” approach because although it claims “late reporting”, it was well-aware of the issue long before the injury – and did nothing.

Laane notes the extensive investment of this company in safety. He questions whether there was a reasonable basis to conclude that there was an unreasonable risk of injury or death. Clearly the CPSC didn’t feel it was an unreasonable risk itself! Also notes that you don’t have to tell the CPSC about information the agency already possesses. Notes repeatedly that the CPSC’s actions or inaction are based on their expertise and fact findings, thus confirming the reasonableness of the company’s approach. Notes that companies have no obligation to make products utterly indestructible.

Laane noted that the person inside the company who called the condition “an accident waiting to happen” was not a QC person or responsible manager. Instead, he was a customer service rep, and relayed that message to the QC department for their evaluation. Child who was injured later fully recovered, and the company chose to immediately initiate a Fast Track recall.

An interesting point made by Levie is that the company’s awareness of similar issues in similar products can be held against them. If they knew or SHOULD HAVE KNOWN about other recalls or notorious injury incidents reflects on their later decisions or inaction. [I am glad I don't make baby monitors . . . . This is a good lesson on the reality of the problem of "emerging hazards". Note that you are going to be judged not just on what you know, but also on what they assert you SHOULD have known.]

CF: One of the most persuasive arguments made by defendants is a track record of reporting to the CPSC. This shows a commitment to safety and cooperation with the CPSC, demonstrating trust that the CPSC will not recall product everytime.

Levie agreed that this fact pattern will also be persuasive to a judge.

All market participants need to think about this kind of issue and how they might fare if they face a similar dilemma.

Read more here:
CPSIA – ICPHSO Mock Civil Penalty Jury Exercise

CPSIA – ICPHSO Update on Compliance and Field Operations

Marc Schoem moderated a discussion involving four other heads of department (he is an acting department head, too):

• Dean Woodard, Dir., Defect Investigation Div.
• Mary Toro, Dir., Regulatory Enforcement Div.
• Dennis Blasiua, Eastern District Div., Field Investigations Div.
• Kathleen Lisius, Compliance Investigator, Import Surveillance Div (standing in for the director today).

DW: This division has four teams. Fast Track Recall program does not let you off the hook for reporting violations. It does avoid a “Preliminary Determination”. This is a very “successful” and very “positive” program. Less bureaucracy and less “red tape”. “Saves lives” and “limits your exposure” to whatever issues there may have been.

[RW: It is ALSO one of the most remarkably coercive programs administered by the CPSC. You are very often, if not always, given a short period of time to decide whether to participate. By "short", this could mean HOURS to decide. Hope you are always at the ready!]

MT: Four teams based on hazard. Four team leaders and 16 compliance officers. Different backgrounds on the team, lots of tech know-how and skills. This team does a lot of advising and gives a lot of guidance to industry. Have more than double the previous total of regulations that they have to enforce. Field staff goes out to do inspections. Develop field investigation programs for the year. Now MUST report under Section 15 for a violation of a mandatory standard. [Them's a lot of reports!] All such items also have a certification requirement.

DB – Does hundreds of inspections annually. Surveys, too. Visits to consumer homes and “no one leaves in handcuffs”. [He said this in a joking manner.] Has roughly 100 investigations but gets tens of thousands of complaints annually. [RW: Now all that crap will go into the database. Can we see any issues here?] Emphasizes the politeness of his investigators. [RW: I appreciate this approach. I take him at his word.]

DB: Says we need to monitor the Internet for consumer complaints online. The CPSC is monitoring it so you better. Hmmm. DB says this may warrant investigation or spawn an investigation. More and more will send out investigators or ask for proof of destruction of recalled merchandise. Apparently, the re-export of recalled merchandise is up to Tim Geithner. [Fortunately, he's not too busy . . . .]

KL: Import Surveillance Div: Last year, not surprisingly, set a record of samples taken at port. 91% of the samples were violations, but only two products were recalled. Stopping at the port prevented the recalls. [This is interesting data. Are they clairvoyant or does everything coming into this country violate this godforsaken law in SOME way?] In apparel imports, the “first thing they look for” is drawstrings. Don’t go there. . . .

Q&A: What if you disagree with the conclusions of your compliance officer? What are your due process rights?

MS: You are encouraged to call “up the chain”. We are concerned to be responsive and want to know if you feel something is amiss.

60% of recalls come in under the Fast Track Recall program. In other words, this decision is made to pick up the “benefits” of the FTR program but also muddy the water about the state of the law on “substantial product hazards”.

[RW: This is a total cop-out on the part of the agency and contributes significantly to the confusion on the workings of the law. In addition, the defects in the FTR program make everything worse. Marc Schoem admitted during Q&A that you often have only a DAY to decide whether or not to participate, which is inherently coercive. For most companies, unprepared for a federal agency descending on them with an "offer that you can't refuse" with an eight hour time limit, the pressure can be overwhelming. It is not unusual to get this "fine" offer before all relevant facts are known, and even when basically NO relevant facts are known. One wonders if the Shrek glasses recall was one such event. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?]

Why call everything a “recall”? MS: We like the word “recall” and think it’s most effective to “get the word out”. [See Nancy Nord's blogpost from earlier today. The word also has tremendous under the CPSIA - perhaps Mr. Schoem's favorite word needs to be revisited since things have changed. It is also a tough word when there is litigation going on.]

Read more here:
CPSIA – ICPHSO Update on Compliance and Field Operations

CPSIA – Congress and CPSC in the Clouds . . . .

I have heard from an old friend today, a resale shop owner. The store owner is as frustrated as anyone by the CPSIA and has some interesting observations. The store owner’s point is that it is utterly impractical for store personnel to be up-to-date on recalls or to manage recall issues on a day-to-day basis. Think recalled baby monitors with “remedies” like a new warning label. Think also of the national chain of resale shops that told us that many of their MANAGERS are paid $8 per hour. Can you get a sense of the brilliance of Congress’ master plan yet?

The store owner sent me a picture worth a thousand words:

The store owner: “The photo I’ve attached is of my six-inch binder of printouts for every recall on children’s items since the early 90′s. The papers on the floor are the new recalls since September 2010. I printed those last week, so I need to go back and print the newer ones. I take this binder to all my events and strive to search it thoroughly to keep recalled items out of our events. I’m going shopping today to pick up a second six-inch binder as I’m obviously going to need it.” [Emphasis added]

Sounds very practical. I am sure Scott Wolfson and Sean Oberle have some useful tips for this store owner on how to manage all this data. It is worth NOTING that rifling through 20 years of CPSC recalls is not the store owner’s main business – their business is selling gently-used merchandise – but it probably seems like it nowadays.

The store owner is also a victim of unscrupulous “gaming” by a competitor who seeks to capitalize on fear and the ambitions of local politicians to put pressure on him/her. The store owner: “I’m no longer comfortable posting publicly about CPSIA since a local children’s resale full-time store owner has told several of her shoppers that she’s planning to call the [local] Attorney General to come investigate my next seasonal consignment event to be sure I’m in compliance with CPSIA. Since I don’t have XRF vision, there is no way to prove I’m in compliance with the instructions to not resell anything over the lead limits, despite the fact that I’m not required to test. I still don’t have a clue what do to about phthalates, but I’ve banned all bath books, bath toys, & teething toys from our events anyway.” [Emphasis added]

There’s a stimulus plan for you. . . .

Did you catch the store owner referring to any topic relating to safety, such as injuries or concern for the health of children? Nope. It isn’t the concern of the competing store owner or the local Attorney General, either. This is about officious bureaucracy, paperwork for paperwork’s sake, all to satisfy a neurotic anxiety without a basis in FACT.

I used to ask “Where are the victims?” The zealots in the last three years have been able to produce exactly ZERO injured children from lead or phthalates in children’s products. So I guess I have to nominate my friend the store owner – a prototypical victim of this law.

Job well done, Congress and CPSC!

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CPSIA – Congress and CPSC in the Clouds . . . .

CPSIA – Watch Out, Resale Shops! The CPSC is Watching . . . .

An alert reader pointed out today that the 1.7 million “recalled” baby monitors (the ones that need a new sticker) can’t be sold at resale shops anymore. After all, they have been recalled so they are verboten now. Presumably they can only be sold accompanied by their anti-recall kit of the fancy new label restating the obvious, new instructions telling parents to come inside during rain storms and the clips (gotta have them clips!). As a practical matter, this will be impossible for resale shops to manage, so I hope resale shops everywhere are pulling these baby monitors to keep America safe.

In fact, the “hazard” that these devices present is common among all baby monitors so I certainly hope those shops stop selling all that merchandise immediately. Alert! Alert! No more baby monitors! And the hazard is found in everything with a cord that might be used near a crib – so you better stop selling humidifiers, lights, radios and the like. As the G-Men used to say, “Stop or I’ll shoot!”

Don’t forget, the CPSC has the U.S. Attorney ready and willing to put you out of business to protect . . . the . . . children. What would we do without those guys to keep us so darned safe?

And there will be penalties a-plenty, too, count on it. Jail time for selling a baby monitor? Well, we’ll have to see about that.

If you live the clean life and stop selling anything remotely connected to children, these issues won’t be a problem for you. Something to think about . . . .

I meant for the stores. Certainly not for Congress.

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CPSIA – Watch Out, Resale Shops! The CPSC is Watching . . . .

CPSIA – Wingnut or Dingbat, You Make the Call!

Hey, it’s her words – is Deborah Blum a “wingnut” or a “dingbat”? In her blogpost from earlier today, Ms. Blum takes Inez Tenenbaum to task for her sins in not clamping down HARDER on American businesses stupid enough to continue selling children’s products. Ms. Blum is apparently a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin.

As an aside, I must say I had the mildest twinge of sympathy for Ms. Tenenbaum after I read Blum’s blogpost. This is not my usual emotion when thinking about the CPSC Chairman, but heck, there’s no winning for her, is there? I don’t want her job.

Ms. Blum’s contention is so asinine that it hardly bears repeating except that apparently Twitter is alive with tweets and re-tweets of her blogpost. Her thesis is that Ms. Tenenbaum tolerates excessive amounts of lead in children’s products and explains it thus:

“So I’ve come up with a nice little conspiracy theory. You and your business partners are tired of low-income consumers. They can only afford dirt-cheap crap from China, their purchases don’t add up enough to float the balance sheets. So, of course, you aren’t protecting them with tougher regulations. Of course, American corporations aren’t investing in safer products. Slowly but surely, one piece of jewelry, one pair of plastic boots at a time, you’re getting rid of everyone who doesn’t matter enough to be kept safe. Sure it sounds crazy. But is it any crazier than importing poisoned goods for almost ten years without looking for alternatives or better safety systems? I don’t think so. So who’s the wingnut now?” [Emphasis added]

Hey, Ms. Blum, I can answer that one – YOU are the wingnut.

Pot calling the kettle black, I think Ms. Blum shows why some blogs must be “discounted”. She makes about every possible reactive error in assessing the lead “problem” in children’s products:

• She confuses CPSC lead recalls (according to her, 289 since 2001 – “more than 30 recalls every single year”) with lead injuries. Hysteria over the POSSIBILITY of injury without bothering to assess the PROBABILITY of injury is how we got into this mess in the first place. I am sorry Ms. Blum is so easily rattled but isn’t the data on injuries relevant? I have documented one reported death and three unverified injuries from lead in this period of time. Should we turn our lives upside down to reduce that risk further? This only amplifies my call for a National Xanax Fund.
• She reasons from headlines but shows little mastery of the actual facts. She cites the recall of McDonald’s Shrek glasses (“McDonald’s recalled more than 12 million “Shrek 3″ glasses contaminated with the toxic metal cadmium (and also a little lead)”) but fails to note that the CSPC has acknowledged in WRITING that the glasses were safe. She also cites the AP’s recent report of lead and cadmium in enamel baked on certain glasses, but fails to note that the AP also admitted that the health risk was low or that the presence of these heavy metals is LEGAL in enamels of this type. Congress did that, and how could we EVER doubt Congress?!
• Ms. Blum repeats the junk science notion that if lead is bad in some cases, it MUST be bad in all cases. She absurdly compares lead in enamel with lead in drinking water, and then asks why there aren’t standards to protect adults from the dangers of lead in enamels. Ms. Blum, can I see your turnip truck?
• Ms. Blum plays the China card, a jingoistic line of reasoning used by blamestormers. We make many of our products in China, and I consider this kind of finger pointing a contemporary form of racism. I have a lot of experience with Chinese sources, and have good reason to trust our trading partners. Ms. Blum regrettably has no idea what she is talking about when she blames “China”, as though we all buy from the government of China. We do business with other privately-owned companies, not “China”. It may make the world seem less complex to equate “cheap” with “poor quality” or “dangerous”. It is not accurate, however.

If the Deborah Blums of the world get the upper hand in this regulatory mess, they will solve the lead problem, I am sure. It won’t be a solution you will like, nor will it be effective. Lead was here before Deborah Blum roamed the Earth and will here after she’s gone – it’s an ELEMENT, after all. No law can banish it, and no economy can survive if lead must be eliminated in all forms from all products, even in unharmful trace amounts.

She will succeed, however, in killing off all companies that make children’s products. That will solve the “problem” she is apparently obsessed with, but will create other, more serious ones.

Let’s hope we don’t continue to slide down this slippery slope led by people who can’t decide if they are wingnuts or dingbats. It’s a tough call, I’ll admit. She might be both.

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CPSIA – Wingnut or Dingbat, You Make the Call!

CPSIA – WARNING: Spine Alert!

761 days have passed since ANY Democrat in Congress did ANYTHING to help us on the CPSIA. There are only 50 days left until Election Day.

Imagine pushing back on a regulatory agency. Imagine protesting demands for a knee-jerk recall of an item without a demonstrated (as opposed to asserted) substantial product hazard. Imagine someone standing up to the CPSC. Imagine . . . .

Okay, it didn’t happen here. But Elfe Juvenile Products did zing the CPSC in its letter resisting a mimic recall of strollers by Health Canada. It even took them to task for a crib recall – wow! Without coming out and using pejorative terms, only implying them, Elfe accused Health Canada of “blindly” following the CPSC and conceding the authority of the U.S. agency. That can’t be a compliment . . . .

“’My review of the applicable Canadian legislation does not reveal any mandate given to Health Canada to blindly accept decisions made by an administrative agency in a foreign jurisdiction. To do so, would, of course, be an unacceptable submission to the sovereignty of another country,’ Ivan Bern, Elfe’s general counsel, wrote to Health Canada on Jan. 19.”

Ouch. The next day our highly reactive agency announced a recall of 1.5 million strollers for laceration hazards and fingertip amputations.

Have you ever scratched your head and asked why the stroller and crib folks aren’t pushing back? Well, confronting a federal agency that has already sic’ced the U.S. Attorney on some of its hapless victims (notably, Daiso) and rabid State Attorneys General like Illinois’ Lisa Madigan is to tempt a deluge of litigation all over the country, merited or not. And they are certainly not above manipulating the press for the kind of hysterical headlnes certain to kill your business. Look at baby slings. Bankruptcy is your likely fate if you try to defend yourself. Never litigate with someone who has a printing press, as they say.

Well, one of them finally spoke up. The day after the U.S. stroller recall, Health Canada posted a recall for the Elfe-distributed stroller for the same hazard. “‘In our opinion, there is no ‘trend’ to be discerned, unless it is that of 1,499,993 consumers acting responsibly, and possible seven instances where the goal of perfection in human behaviour was demonstrated to be unattainable,’ Elfe’s general counsel told Health Canada.” Not that it mattered what they thought – Health Canada proceeded with a recall immediately anyhow.

To add to the strangeness of this interaction, Elfe was also a distributor of Simplicity cribs at the time. Those cribs started crib mania at the CPSC and also created a craze over “responsible parties” after Simplicity was driven into bankruptcy. The CPSC busily talked down Simplicity cribs, labeling them “dangerous”. No statistical analysis of the use of these cribs was released to my knowledge, just an injury count over many years. [I raised three children with dropside cribs without incident. I was also raised in a dropside crib to my knowledge. Although some people think I was dropped on my head as a child, that's not the crib's fault.]

Consider what happened next in Canada: “Following these statements, Elfe, the former distributor of Simplicity products in Canada, provided different advice to Canadian parents, telling them to make sure the crib was assembled properly. And ‘if the drop-side is installed upside down or not securely attached,’ Elfe recommended parents reinstall the drop-side the proper way with new hardware, to be provided free of charge by the company. A few days later, Health Canada posted Elfe’s voluntary recall on its website, saying the department had assessed Elfe’s metal retrofit kit and determined that it did not adequately correct the hazard posed by the drop-side crib. The newly released private correspondence reveals Elfe didn’t think this course of action was needed, accusing Health Canada again ‘deferring to the CPSC’s unilateral actions’ in the face of negative press.” [Emphasis added]

Frankly, this is the closest the press has come to reporting the truth about the CPSC and the mania spawned by the CPSIA. The CPSC is feeding public perceptions of danger where the agency formerly took the view that consumers bore some responsibility to use their equipment properly and to maintain it in good condition. Nowadays, these issues are twisted into asserted “substantial product hazards” and are accompanied by a government-sponsored negative publicity campaign (think of all the Good Morning America appearances you have seen Tenenbaum make). The agency almost blatantly dares companies to push back – with Lisa Madigan, Jerry Brown and other State Attorney General thugs waiting to pounce. The toxic commercial environment in the U.S. is not enough to satiate them – they must cross borders to spread ill will and poisonous markets to other countries.

There is no way to argue with this kind of tyranny. Their assertions are considered “findings”. The political nature of such “findings” is rarely outed. Even when the company itself initiates a recall, the agency implicitly claims it as its own (like a skin on the wall) and announces it as one of its consumer “triumphs”. These recalls exist on the CPSC website as precedent undistinguished from other recalls – influencing the decision-making of other companies and eroding the confidence of consumers. With the CPSC imprimatur, recalls are taken as signs of further corporate bad behavior.

Hats off to Elfe for at least trying to push back. I wish they had more company. The only way to end this kind of regulatory tyranny is to expose it and to resist corporate slander at the hands of a rogue agency.

Read more here:
CPSIA – WARNING: Spine Alert!

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