Today, the Senate passed the final conference report of
H.R. 4040- the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Maryland PIRG State Director, Johanna Neumann had the following
statement.
“We applaud the Senate for acting to
get toxic chemicals like lead and phthalates out of our children’s toys. This
bill is a huge victory for America's littlest consumers in the
face of ExxonMobil and the chemical industry’s efforts to gut it. The conferees
and their staff deserve tremendous credit for bringing this over the finish
line.”
BACKGROUND:
The bill is a historic step forward in product safety.
In addition to its massive increase in CPSC resources and funding, and its
increase in civil penalty and recall authorities, the new law will:
- make industry's
voluntary toy standard mandatory, which means that magnets and many other
hazards will be subject to the new law's centerpiece third party testing
requirement;
- ban six toxic
phthalates in children's products. Three are banned permanently. Three would
then be subject to a CPSC scientific review, but are banned until it is
completed. If the ban is removed, states would regain authority to ban
them.
- grant private-sector
employees whistleblower protections, which means more hazards will be reported
to the CPSC.
- require
establishment of a public CPSC database of potential
hazards.
- require that choking
hazards be disclosed in Internet advertising.
- The bill’s new third
party testing requirement does not include an additional new layer of preemption
that the toy industry had demanded for months, which would have stifled state
attorney general enforcement of a critical new untested product safety
reform.
