Opening Statement Senator Richard Durbin CPSC Field Hearing FSGG Appropriations Subcommittee

Statement

OPENING STATEMENT SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN CPSC FIELD HEARING FSGG APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

I want to start off by thanking Congressman Bobby Rush for Co-Chairing todays hearing
with me.

I would also like to thank our witnesses for being here with such short notice.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan;
Acting Chairman of the CPSC Nancy Nord; and
All of our outside experts for giving testimony.
I called todays hearing because I have concerns about consumer product safety and the
ability of our regulatory agencies to protect consumers from unscrupulous actors.

I am alarmed by reports that magnetic toys we will discuss today caused a childs death
and more than a dozen cases of life-threatening injuries AND yet for a variety of reasons
consumers were not adequately protected from this danger.

Our exposure to these issues was recently heightened by the pet food recall we all heard
about in March and April this year.

In the pet food case, the combination of a weak regulatory system, an under-funded
federal agency, and tainted products made by irresponsible Chinese manufacturers led to
the sickness and death of many household pets and a massive recall of pet food and
human food products.

In early May, I was reminded of the lessons learned from the pet food recall when I read
the Chicago Tribune series on the recall of Magnetix products.

In this recall, the Consumer Product Safety Commission worked to recall the very
popular childrens toy Magnetix but was confronted with an uncooperative firm. Like in
the pet food recall, the product being recalled was produced by a Chinese manufacturer.
In fact, according to the CPSC, nearly two-thirds of all products recalled are imports and
two-thirds of those are made in China.

Over the past week, we have seen a parallel story emerge in the recall of another popular
childrens toy 1.5 million units of Thomas the Train cars that contain lead paint and
were also made in China.

The news is part of a larger picture we've observed in recent months poisonous Chinese
toothpaste made with diethylene glycol, a common ingredient in antifreeze, pet and
animal feed made with toxic melamine, and now shoddily produced magnetic toys and
wooden train cars coated in lead paint.

In the case of Magnetix, the plastic casings that encapsulated powerful, rare earth
magnets were not properly made.

When these pieces broke, tiny magnets fell out. The CPSC and the firm, Rose Art
Industries, received reports of these magnets falling out and of the possible health risks
associated with ingesting them.

When more than one of these magnets is ingested, and we know how young children are
prone to putting toys in their mouths, they would attach through stomach and intestinal
linings, causing serious injury and even death.

More than a dozen serious surgeries associated with this risk were reported and one
family even lost a child a 20-month old boy named Kenneth Sweet who ingested the
magnets and died a tragic death.

Unfortunately, these injuries and deaths could have been prevented by a series of steps
that never occurred. They never occurred because of the evasive actions of an
uncooperative firm and the limitations on the CPSC's authority to protect consumers.
This is the main reason for today s hearing. I hope this hearing will allow various experts
to discuss today's toy and consumer product industries, how increasing quantities of
imports affect consumer safety, and how to better equip CPSC to protect consumers from
similar dangers.

From the moment this risk was perceived, the CPSC and the relevant firm should have
acted quickly to remove these products from store shelves and alert consumers of their
risk to children.

Unfortunately, this didn't happen and I'd like to know why it didn't and what we can do
to be better prepared in the future.

There are three areas that I'd like to focus on in particular during today's hearing.
First, timing. The CPSC first learned of the health risked posed by these magnets on May
12, 2005 when a 5-year old child underwent intestinal surgery for ingesting magnets.
However, it wasn't until March 31, 2006 that the first recall of Magnetix was announced
and wasn't until May of 2007 that a full, clear recall was established by Rose Art/Mega
Brands and the CPSC.

I want to understand why we witnessed that lag time and what the recalling firm and the
regulatory agency could have done in a more timely fashion to protect children.
Could CPSC have issued a subpoena sooner, could the firm have been held responsible
earlier, what regulatory authorities did CPSC lack that could have expedited this case? Is
it clear what penalties a company faces when it delays in these matters? Should penalties
be increased?

It's my thought that companies that unnecessarily delay reporting and endanger human
health should face penalties. The current penalties are so minimal right now that Rose
Art/Mega Brands was able to flaunt multiple deadlines without worry of penalty.
Second, I'm concerned by the string of media reports that detail lax Chinese standards as
a source of risk for American families. In the Magnetix case and for Thomas the Toy
Engines, irresponsible manufacturers in China have put American families at risk.
The Made in China label has become a warning label.

I want to know what we can do in terms of establishing robust international standards,
either through testing organizations like ASTM or through Memoranda of Understanding
to establish clear guidelines, penalties, and systems for information exchange.
Third, why should our regulatory agency the CPSC not have the authorities it needs
to deal with uncooperative firms?

I want to know what changes in authority or funding are necessary to allow this agency to
fully do its job to protect Americans from dangerous products.

There are a lot of questions to ask and I want answers. These are the reasons why we're
here today.

I thank the witnesses for being here and I look forward to hearing your testimony.

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