In Wake Of Massive Mattel Toy Recall, Schumer Plans Legislation To Create Import Czar; Lax China And U.S. Inspections Leave Consumers And Children At

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In Wake Of Massive Mattel Toy Recall, Schumer Plans Legislation To Create Import Czar; Lax China And U.S. Inspections Leave Consumers And Children At Risk

In the wake of massive recalls of popular children's toys, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced he will introduce legislation to create an import czar to monitor shipments and coordinate the efforts of agencies charged with consumer safety related to imports. A maze of federal regulations and lax safety measures in many Chinese plants has left consumers in danger of buying unsafe products, and weekly recalls of Chinese goods that have already been sold throughout the country show that the system designed to keep dangerous products off store shelves is failing.

"The fact that every week we have to frantically pull Chinese goods off store shelves shows that our safeguards are failing," Schumer said. "There are more than a half dozen federal agencies responsible for monitoring, testing, and blocking dangerous shipments to the U.S. It appears as though the phone lines between them are down, because there has been a system-wide failure to communicate to protect consumers. We need an import czar to ensure the necessary coordination, and I am drafting legislation to create the post. It is time we brought order to this chaos and protected American consumers from dangerous products."

Agencies charged with monitoring, testing and blocking dangerous or tainted products include the FDA, NHTSA, CPSC, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the United States Trade Representative. Schumer said that this maze of federal oversight prevents the government from effectively stopping dangerous goods from getting through to American consumers. This maze includes cabinet level departments, independent agencies, and administrations within executive agencies, all operating with different regulations, rules, and protocols.

As one step in a plan to beef up federal safety protections, Schumer will introduce legislation creating an import czar to focus on the protection of American consumers from tainted and dangerous imports. The Import Czar would:

· Be installed as part of the Department of Commerce and oversee all matters pertaining to consumer protection of imports including coordinating efforts of the other agencies charged with consumer safety related to imports.

· Issue a first ever public report on existing gaps in federal safeguards on imported products and the agencies will then have to report back within six months on their progress closing the identified gaps.

· Actively monitor the day to day functions of all of agencies responsible for ensuring consumers' safety in regards to imported goods.

In July, President Bush established a joint task force to investigate import safety. However the task force is insufficient to tackle this problem and lacks the power to enact any major changes to the failing system because it is charged with merely providing a report and is made up of the same administrators who are responsible for protecting US consumers now. Schumer's import czar would be a permanent, fully funded post, charged with monitoring the activities of all the agencies responsible for screening and inspecting imports.

Schumer also announced that he is writing to the head of CPSC, the Chinese Ambassador, and the major American toy company CEOs to ask what steps they are taking to prevent more tainted toys from reaching the shelves.

"There is no question that too many Chinese manufacturers and food producers put the bottom line ahead of safety. The CSPC and other agencies regulating the safety of imported goods need to do much more to address this worsening crisis," Schumer said. "We need stricter standards, more thorough inspections and harsher penalties for Chinese companies and American shippers that turn a blind eye to safety."

The CPSC, which is an independent agency, has initiated three major recalls of children's toys in August alone. All of those toys were manufactured in China and sold throughout the U.S. The recalled items include: 967,000 Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, and other children's toys imported by Fisher Price and 253,000 "Sarge" die cast toy cars imported by Mattel that may contain excessive levels of lead; 220 stuffed horses and 1,300 fairy dolls on which plastic button eyes and pom-pom noses easily detach and create a choking hazard; 345,000 Batman and One Piece action figure sets, 1,000,000 Doggie Day Care play sets, 683,000 Barbie and Tanner play sets, and 7,300,000 Polly Pocket play sets with faulty magnets which can fall out and be swallowed.

The latest toy recalls are part of a surge in faulty and hazardous Chinese imports. On June 13, 1.5 million wooden "Thomas the Tank Engine" trains were recalled. On June 19, 19,000 children's necklaces whose clasps were coated in lead paint were recalled. Since January of this year, the CPSC has issued 26 recalls of products, comprising over 8 million units, due to lead hazards, 89 percent of which were manufactured in China with 93 percent of those units sold nationwide.

In July, Schumer also called for:

· New labeling standards - Schumer wrote to the head of the FDA asking him to immediately implement new rules requiring all food, vitamin, and cosmetic companies to list out the origin of all ingredients that come from outside the United States. Four years ago, Congress passed a law requiring food to be labeled for its country-of-origin. But that doesn't extend to individual food ingredients. China has become the leading supplier of many food ingredients, such as apple juice; garlic and garlic powder; sausage casings and cocoa butter. China now supplies 80 percent of the world's vitamin C.

· Overhaul FDA Foreign Food Inspections - Right now, the FDA announces 90% of its inspections on foreign manufacturing facilities weeks in advance. With this advance notice, many facilities can clean up their act in time. In addition, FDA guidance on the inspection of drug manufacturing facilities abroad that said that sample collection is not required during inspections at foreign facilities. Schumer urged the FDA to stop giving Chinese manufacturers prior notice of inspections and to collect sample products when inspecting foreign facilities.

· Mandate Overseas Inspections for Other Agencies - Currently, NHTSA and the CPSC do not require that products entering this country (such as tires in the case of NHTSA or toys in the case of CPSC) to undergo inspections in their point of origin. In addition, the plants that these products are manufactured in are not subject to "spot checks." Because of this, these Chinese plants have no incentive to clean up their act. Schumer urged the NHTSA and the CPSC to mandate overseas inspections for facilities abroad.

· More Rigid Food Safety Requirements - In May, Schumer co-sponsored an amendment proposed bySenator Dick Durbin (D-IL) that establishes an early warning and notification system for contaminated food, creates a system of fines for companies that don't report contaminated food products in a timely matter, and improves the inspections and monitoring of imported food. This amendment passed the Senate by a vote of 94-0.

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