Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act

Floor Speech

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - December 19, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MARKEY. Madam Speaker, I commend Chairman Dingell and Subcommittee Chairman Rush for their intensive efforts to produce bipartisan legislation to overhaul a beleaguered agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC. As a tsunami of toxic toys flooded into our country and onto store shelves earlier this year, it became clear that the CPSC was unequipped to perform its vital mission--protecting the public from significant risks of serious injury or death from toys and other consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Chairman Dingell and Chairman Rush moved swiftly to respond to this crisis of confidence in the CPSC, holding important hearings that exposed major weaknesses at the agency, including an under-resourced and demoralized staff, a lead standard that enabled unsafe lead content in children's products, weak leadership provided by Acting Chairman Nancy Nord and other problems that made the CPSC the ``Can't Protect the Safety of Children'' agency. I congratulate my distinguished colleagues for their work.

When the Energy and Commerce Committee considered this legislation yesterday, I voted for it. H.R. 4040 mandates many important improvements at the CPSC and includes much-needed increases in resources for the Commission. Specifically, the bill:

Bans lead beyond a minute amount in products intended for children under 12.

Requires mandatory safety standards for nursery products, such as cribs and high chairs.

Mandates that the CPSC examine the current voluntary safety standards for toys, starting with dangerous magnets, and if found to be inadequate, requires mandatory standards to be adopted.

Significantly increases CPSC resources to hire additional staff and for laboratory renovations, including $20 million to modernize the testing lab. The bill allots $80 million for FY2009, $90 million for FY2010 and $100 million for FY2011.

Prohibits the export of products that violate U.S. consumer product safety rules, are subject to mandatory or voluntary recalls, are designated an imminent hazard to public health and safety, or are designated as a banned hazardous substance. Similarly, the bill makes the domestic sale of such products a prohibited act.

Bans CPSC commissioners and staff from accepting trips paid for by an organization regulated by the CPSC.

While this legislation contains urgently needed reforms, I hope that additional enhancements can be made as the bill moves through the legislative process. During committee consideration, I offered two amendments that I believe would have further strengthened this legislation. My first amendment would have created a ``Public Right To Know'' at the CPSC. In 2000 and again in 2003, the CPSC documented cases of children suffering intestinal injuries after swallowing small but powerful magnets that had fallen out of toys. The public didn't know, and the CPSC did nothing. By mid-2005, after more reports of safety concerns associated with the magnets and two reports of life-threatening injuries, the public still didn't know, and the CPSC still did nothing. On Thanksgiving Day 2005, Kenny Sweet died after swallowing magnets that had fallen out of Magnetix toys. And it was only then that the CPSC finally started to pay attention--but it wasn't until the following March and an additional 4 children were hospitalized with injuries that CPSC reached an agreement with the manufacturer to issue a partial recall, and the public finally got an inkling of what was going on.

The fundamental problem, even with the positive changes made by Section 206 of this bill--Publicly Available Information on Incidents Involving Injury or Death--is that right now, the only product information one can find on the CPSC Web site is information about products that CPSC has been both able to investigate and get manufacturers' approval to release, or information that does not identify which specific products are causing problems and is therefore of no real use to consumers.

My amendment was very simple. It required the CPSC to create a publicly searchable database that would allow consumers to access specific reports CPSC obtains from doctors, hospitals or other individuals of serious injury or death, or risk of serious injury or death that may be due to a faulty or unsafe product. In addition, manufacturers were required to send similar allegations they receive to the CPSC for publication in the database. The language also required CPSC to include a disclaimer that states that each report is provided for informational purposes only and that the commission has not investigated the report and cannot vouch for its accuracy, so that no one would confuse a single report from a consumer with a formal recall by the CPSC.

My amendment was developed to empower the public by enabling mothers and fathers to find out whether a product they might buy for their child might pose a risk--without waiting the months or years it could take for CPSC to take action. Although the committee did not approve this amendment, I hope that such protections can be added as this legislation moves forward.

My second amendment would have restored the CPSC's authority to investigate accidents occurring on rides located at amusement parks. While CPSC has the authority to investigate rides that are transported to carnivals and county fairs--and 15,000 other categories of consumer products that can endanger consumers--there is no Federal regulation of rides located at amusement parks.

A recent Washington Post report contained an extensive, front page investigation of the dangerous consequences of this regulatory black hole. It is entitled ``On Thrill Rides, Safety Is Optional--No Federal Oversight of Theme Parks.'' I recommend this important article to my colleagues.

My amendment was developed to put an end to a special interest loophole that prevents Federal consumer safety experts from investigating serious and sometimes fatal accidents even when they believe action is merited. As a result of this loophole, children and other ride enthusiasts are put at risk of serious injury and even death due to the absence of any Federal regulation. States are left to monitor the safety of these rides, and 23 States do not even permit State authorities to investigate accidents that occur at fixed-site amusement park rides within the State.

Some argued that State regulation is sufficient. I disagree. I received a letter from a former senior executive in the amusement park industry who also served as a board member for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, IAAPA--the amusement park industry's trade association. This individual was closely involved in the effort in 1981 to carve out the loophole for fixed-site rides that my amendment would have closed. In his letter, he wrote: ``Insurance programs mandated by States or maintained by the operating amusement park companies are often touted as assuring ride safety but many of these programs have gaping holes rendering the programs essentially meaningless. Some State licensing or inspection programs were created to serve not the public, but the industry, providing an illusory aura of safety. I now believe that I was wrong 25 years ago and that the industry should be regulated.''

As this industry insider has now admitted to himself, the time has come to stop using the good intentions and vigorous safety efforts of a few--be they an active State, a particularly attentive company, or even a past board member of the industry's trade association--to cover up the negligence, unsafe practices, and manufacturing defects that are routinely maiming and killing children and adults on rides. Thousands of people are injured every year on these rides, and people die on them every year.

My amendment did not mandate the creation of a new fleet of CPSC amusement park inspectors who would be required to fan out across the country to check every amusement park ride. My amendment merely permitted the CPSC--whenever it believed that the public safety would be served--to investigate accidents at amusement parks, share information with operators of rides across State lines, compile statistics that help inform consumers about safety risks and take similar actions to protect the public. Under current law, the hands of CPSC inspectors are tied when it comes to rides at amusement parks, which are off limits to Federal safety regulators. My amendment simply would have freed these inspectors to investigate these rides, when CPSC believes it is warranted. There are now about 90 safety inspectors, some of whom currently investigate accidents at carnival rides--these inspectors and others to be added under this bill--should be permitted to check the safety and investigate accidents at amusement parks.

I am pleased that Chairman Rush committed to holding a hearing on this important issue, and I hope that we will soon close the roller coaster loophole, which continues to put children at risk when they board rides at amusement parks around our country.

As this bill proceeds, I also hope that there will be advancements in several other areas, including raising the cap on civil penalties for safety violations, improving pre-market testing of toys and other consumer products, and eliminating industry's ability to prevent disclosure to the public of significant safety risks by tying the commission up in Federal court.

Madam Speaker, I again commend Chairman Dingell and Chairman Rush for their work on this important bill, and I look forward to working with them in the future on the important consumer protection issues facing our country.

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