House Approves Hooley's Proposal for Toy Safety Certification in Comprehensive Bill to Overhaul the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

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House Approves Hooley's Proposal for Toy Safety Certification in Comprehensive Bill to Overhaul the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Today, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley's (OR-05) plan to certify the safety of toys was approved by the U. S. House of Representatives by a vote of 407-0 as they approved an overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), enhancing its abilities to ensure consumer products are safe. Hooley, a member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, has been a leading advocate in Congress to increase the regulatory authority and funding of the CPSC to detect and prevent dangerous products and toys from making it to market.

"From tainted imported toys to dangerous household items, the American market is being flooded with imported products that are safety threats," said Hooley. "Nearly 30 million children's toys have been recalled this year, evidence that we need to strengthen our testing and inspection procedures to verify that toys from all countries are safe for our children."

The Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act (H.R. 4040) establishes an outline for improving and reforming the nation's consumer product safety system with provisions that include increased funds and staffing for the CPSC, a nationwide ban on products containing lead beyond specified minute amounts, testing and certification for children's products, and mandatory tracking labels for children's products.

The bill includes several important provisions that Hooley helped craft in the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee:

* Toy Safety Certification: Building from Hooley's Children's Products Safety Act (H.R. 3499), the bill includes a provision to require that all imported and domestic children's products and toys be certified as compliant with existing safety standards established by the CPSC. The provision will ban the introduction of products that aren't certified, a move that will help minimize the number of dangerous items sold in American stores.

"My goal is to certify toys are safe before they hit American shelves," said Hooley. "We need to stop dangerous children's toys from entering the US market."

* Lead Testing: Hooley worked to change the way lead paint is tested, and her provision was included in the overhaul bill. Lead paint in children's toys and products is currently tested by measuring lead densities. H.R. 4040 would reduce the acceptable lead content level from 0.06% to .009%. It also includes Hooley's language that would test the surface area lead content and sets that limit at 0.009 milligrams per centimeter squared.

"Young children have a tendency to put toys in their mouth, making them more susceptible to lead on the surface of toys," said Hooley. "I want to make sure that all surfaces of toys don't contain toxic amounts of lead."

* CPSC Travel Ban: Hooley has led the call for a travel ban that would prevent CPSC officials from receiving travel sponsored by any company the agency is charged with regulating or monitoring; the ban was included in the bill. Hooley pushed for that provision after the Washington Post reported on November 12, 2007 that CPSC Chair Nord and her predecessor had accepted dozens of trips paid for by toy makers and other industries they oversee.

"The CPSC should not be traveling at the dime of the very industries they are regulating," added Hooley. "The CPSC should follow rules adopted by other federal agencies regarding travel to minimize any potential conflict of interest."

The comprehensive product safety legislation would ban all children's products containing lead beyond a trace amount, eventually moving to 100 parts per million of total lead and providing authority to the CPSC to go lower if technically feasible. H.R. 4040 also would enhance the regulatory authority of the CPSC and increase funding to hire new staff and modernize its testing labs.

"As the number of imports has skyrocketed, the ability of federal agencies to respond has shrunk," added Hooley. "The CPSC relies on a handful of people to test hundreds of millions of consumer products. That's unrealistic."

Hooley has spearheaded a number of other consumer safety proposals, including her bill to ban the use of toxic amounts of phthalates in children's products and toys (H.R. 4030), which is expected to be considered by the House separately next year. Following a Commerce Subcommittee hearing on November 6, 2007 with CPSC Chairman Nancy Nord, Hooley introduced a congressional "No Confidence" resolution urging President Bush to appoint a new head of the agency charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products.

The comprehensive Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act (H.R. 4040) now heads to the U. S. Senate for action.

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