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Imported products should be as safe as domestic products. And should bear the cost of being that safe.
The Senate approved a bill yesterday to strengthen the Consumer
Product Safety Commission. Its future was unclear because the National Association of Manufacturers and others opposed
making imports more safe. The administration opposed the bill,
too, supporting weaker legislation approved earlier in the House.
A conference committee will sort it out.
Mattel recalled over 20 million imported toys last year. Mattel's chairman Robert A. Eckert, told Congress, in a hearing last September:
“Our standards were ignored and our rules were broken,” [Mattel
chairman Robert A. Eckert] said. “We were let down and we let you
down.”
But Mattel fought this legislation, with NAM and others, tooth and nail. Yes, they're really sorry.
This was reported today:
Both the House and Senate legislation would increase the budget
and staff and would grant the agency the authority to issue rules and
penalize companies even when the commission lacks a quorum. Both
measures would also allow far less lead in toys.
But the Senate measure goes further. It would create a public database
of complaints and would permit the attorneys general to seek court
injunctions if products endanger residents and the federal government
is not acting. It would make mandatory many toy safety standards that
are now voluntary and as part of that change require that toys be
tested in compliance with a comprehensive set of rules.
The Senate bill would also increase the possible maximum penalty for
violations to $20 million, from the current $1.25 million. And it would
make it a crime for a company to sell a product that has been recalled.
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota had a good line:
“We’ve seen toy after toy recalled in this country; 29 million
toys were recalled in 2007 alone,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat
of Minnesota and the author of the bill’s provision for sharp
reductions in lead levels in toys. “We’ve seen a record number of
imports coming in from other countries that don’t have the safety
standards that we do.”
“The current system has been broken by years of neglect, an agency that
hasn’t told the truth about the problems and an administration that has
turned its back on the problems,” Ms. Klobuchar said.
Meanwhile:
Criminal charges were filed on Thursday against four executives at
two American companies who imported toothpaste from China that
contained a poison used in some antifreeze, the city attorney in Los
Angeles said in a statement.
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