Rep. Moore: We Need to Keep Our Kids Safe All Year Round with Consumer Product and Toy Safety
Press Release
For Immediate Release
October 31, 2007 Contact: Deirdre Murphy
(202) 225-4572
Rep. Moore: We Need to Keep Our Kids Safe All Year Round with Consumer Product and Toy Safety
On Halloween, Rep. Moore Calls For Bush Administration to Stop Running Scared and Start Protecting Children
Moore Supports Key Measures to Keep Kids Safe
(Washington, DC) As Halloween kicks off the holiday season and 2007 becomes the year of the recall,' Congresswoman Gwen Moore urged action on key consumer safety measures.
Over 20 million toys were recalled to date this year, and over 30 million pounds of ground beef were recalled due to E. coli contamination. Overall, 427 products were recalled this year.
"I know it's Halloween, but the scary thing is that while millions of average Americans know that we need better protection against dangerous products, the Bush Administration is running away," Rep. Moore said. "President Bush's chief consumer products appointee, Nancy Nord, opposes beefing up safety and security for the toys our children play with and the food they eat."
Congresswoman Moore supports new child product safety legislation that would increase the Consumer Product Safety Commission's power to carry out its mission of protecting consumers. This bill includes banning lead from children's products and paint, requiring mandatory testing of children's products, enhancing the Commission's recall authority, and banning unsafe and untested imported children's products. Rep. Moore also supports critical legislation to improve the safety of imported food.
"We must protect our children and take action to ensure that parents have confidence when buying food and toys," Congresswoman Gwen Moore said. "I look forward to ensuring that the toys our kids play with and the products we buy are safe."
Rep. Moore has also supported the following bills on consumer safety:
H.R. 1699 - Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act: To direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require manufacturers of durable infant and toddler products to provide consumer product registration forms to parents. This would ensure that, in the event of the recall of a product (like a defective high chair or play pen), all parents who bought the product can be notified immediately. This passed the House in October.
H.R. 814 - Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act: To require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue regulations mandating child-resistant caps on all portable gasoline containers. This passed the House in October.
H.R. 2474 - To provide a better incentive for companies to promptly report safety problems with their products by increasing the maximum civil penalty for violations under the Consumer Product Safety Act from $1.82 million to $10 million. This passed the House in October.
H.R. 2108 - Human and Pet Food Safety Act of 2007: Would create an early warning system to help identify possible food contaminants earlier and penalize companies that don't report possible contamination. The bill would establish uniform federal inspection standards and better labeling for pet food. Also, this bill would ensure that any future recalls are conducted quickly by giving the FDA the power to order mandatory recalls of tainted food. This bill is pending in the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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