Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act - Conference Report
Floor Speech
CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT--CONFERENCE REPORT -- (Senate - July 31, 2008)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. This legislation makes a number of long overdue changes and improvements in the Consumer Product Safety Commission and their ability to protect children and other consumers. It will impose mandatory toy safety standards, in place of the current voluntary standards; create an online database, which parents and consumers can search for reports of safety problems; provide whistleblower protections to employees of manufacturers, retailers and distributors to promote prompt reporting of any safety hazard; and authorize a much needed funding increase for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ensure that these reforms are carried out.
Most importantly, this legislation bans the use of six phthalates in many children's products and child care articles. It will ban the use of more than .1 percent of three phthalates--DEHP, DBP, or BBP--in toys for children ages 12 and under and childcare articles for children ages 3 and under; and place an interim ban on the use of more than .1 percent of three additional phthalates--DINP, DIDP, and DnOP--in any toy that can be placed in a child's mouth or a child care article for ages 3 or under.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission will convene a Chronic Hazard Advisory Panel, CHAP, to fully examine the science on the effects of phthalates and any phthalate alternative. After this study, they will determine whether the interim ban should remain in place.
I believe they will find that the ban is essential to the protection of children's health.
Let me say, it is about time. The United States is often behind the rest of the world when it comes to chemical policy. The same has been true for phthalates. These chemicals have been restricted in at least 31 nations, including European Union--27 countries--Argentina, Fiji, Japan, Korea, and Mexico.
It took action from three States--California, Washington and Vermont--before we have reached this point.
It took voluntary action from the country's largest toy retailers: Wal-Mart, Toys ``R'' Us, and Target, all of which have announced that they will stop selling products that contain phthalates.
With the passage of this legislation, parents throughout this country will have the same assurances as parents in the E.U., in Argentina, in Japan, and all of these other counties. They will be sure that the toys they give their children do not contain a dangerous plasticizer.
And make no mistake, these chemicals are dangerous. When children chew on toys filled with phthalates, these chemicals leach from the toy, and into their bodies. Phthalates have been linked to a variety of reproductive defects.
The science on phthalates is still evolving. But today, we are acting out of precaution: removing potentially dangerous substances from products until they are shown to be safe.
Our current system for dealing with chemicals requires that regulators show that a chemical is dangerous before it can be removed from the market. We have this backwards: the burden should be placed on the manufacturers to prove to us that the chemicals they want to put in everyday items are safe. Our children should not be guinea pigs for untested chemicals.
The interim ban on three phthalates marks a departure from this longstanding ``use chemicals first, ask questions later'' approach. These chemicals will be permitted back into toys only if they are proven to be safe, the very hallmark of the precautionary principle.
We need to move fully in this direction. It is my belief that chemical additives should not be placed in products that can impact health adversely until they are tested and found to be benign. I look forward to working with my colleagues to see that we exercise the same caution with all chemicals.
This is a sea change in our Nation's chemical policy, and predictably, we faced strong opposition from industry. Many people contributed to this victory here today, and I would like to mention a few.
I would like to thank Chairman INOUYE, Senator STEVENS, and Senator PRYOR for their steadfast support throughout this process.
This would not have been possible without my home State colleagues, Senator BOXER and Congressman WAXMAN. They supported this from the beginning, and their work ensured that the best product possible emerged from conference.
David Strickland, Alec Hoehn-Saric, and the Commerce Committee staff have been invaluable. They worked long nights and weekends to reach an agreement on this provision, and I appreciate it.
Kristin Wikelius and Chris Thompson of my staff, who quickly learned about this issue and worked hard to move this through the legislative process.
Dozens of grassroots groups from across the country supported my amendment and rallied their members to do the same. I will ask to have a list of these groups printed in the Record.
This Coalition was led by the Breast Cancer Fund, based in my home city of San Francisco. Their work, expertise, and support made this happen.
On another matter central to children's health, I am very pleased that this bill includes a provision that I sponsored to require secondhand cribs that are sold and used in the marketplace to have the same product safety standards as new cribs.
This bill will close a loophole in consumer product safety standards, and help reduce injuries and deaths that come from used cribs that have missing or broken parts.
Currently, U.S. consumer product safety standards apply only to new cribs and not to the sale or commercial use of secondhand cribs, which cause most crib-related infant injuries and deaths.
The measure included in the conference report would prohibit commercial users, such as thrift stores and resale furniture stores, to sell, resell or lease unsafe used cribs that are structurally unsound, and prohibits hotels, motels, and daycare centers from using unsafe cribs, and adds secondhand cribs to the list of child and infant products covered by the Consumer Product Safety Act, the law that already applies to new cribs and other children's products.
The safety standards for secondhand cribs will now match the safety standards for new cribs, including crib slats should be no more than 2 3/8 inches apart to prevent infant from slipping through the slats and corner posts should not be higher than 1/16 inches above the end panels of the crib which prevents infant's clothing from becoming tangled on the crib.
Every year, more than 11,300 children require hospital treatment from crib-related injuries and over 30 children die from injuries sustained in cribs.
Most of these injuries and deaths occur in secondhand cribs that have dangerous features.
The language included in this conference report is similar to proposals that Representative ELLEN TAUSCHER and I have worked on for many years.
I am very pleased that this legislation will help give parents the peace of mind that secondhand cribs are just as safe as brandnew cribs.
The phthalate ban, the expansion of crib safety protections, and the entire Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act are hard-fought victories for children and all of those concerned with their safety.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this conference report, and I urge the President to sign this into law the moment it lands on his desk. We have waited years to take action against chemicals like phthalates, and we should not wait any longer.
I ask unanimous consent that the list of groups supporting my amendment be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
May 27, 2008.
Hon. DANIEL K. INOUYE,
Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington DC.
Hon. TED STEVENS,
Vice Chairman, Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington DC.
Hon. JOHN DINGELL,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC.
Hon. JOE BARTON,
Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC.
DEAR CHAIRMAN INOUYE, VICE CHAIRMAN STEVENS, CHAIRMAN DINGELL, AND RANKING MEMBER BARTON: The undersigned organizations wish to express strong support for including Senator Feinstein's amendment in the final version of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act (CPSCA). Senator Feinstein's amendment would prohibit the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of certain children's products and child care articles that contain phthalates. By eliminating unnecessary exposure to phthalates in children's products, the United States would join the European Union and 14 separate countries in requiring the safest toys for its children.
Over the last several decades, children have faced an increasingly challenging time just making it through what should be normal stages of growth and development. Of particular concern are chemicals found to have negative health impacts that are in products children use every day. Of primary interest to the undersigned is the use of phthalates, present in a variety of children's products including soft plastic toys and teethers, which have been linked to developmental problems, such as premature breast development in girls, male genital defects, and reduced sperm quality.
Alternatives to phthalates already exist and are on the market. Some major manufacturers have already taken the responsible path toward eliminating these hazards from their products and major retail outlets such as Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us are requiring that the products on their shelves be phthalate-free. Yet, there currently are no laws in the U.S. prohibiting the use of these chemicals, and no way for parents to know whether the products they buy will help--or hinder--their child's development.
States have already started taking action on this issue. California and Washington already prohibit the use of phthalates in children's products and almost a dozen states have introduced similar measures. It is time for the federal government to ensure that children in all 50 states receive protection from unsafe chemical exposures in the toys they chew on and play with everyday. Several states have also taken the lead on protecting the health of their citizens from unsafe chemical exposures in other consumer products. The undersigned organizations are especially appreciative of Senator Feinstein's inclusion of a ``savings clause'' in her amendment that would prevent the federal preemption of state efforts to enact stricter toy protections and regulate phthalates more strictly in other product categories.
The undersigned organizations strongly urge the CPSC Conference Committee to include the Feinstein Amendment prohibiting the use of phthalates in children's toys and childcare articles in the reconciled version of the House/Senate Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act.
Sincerely,
AAIDD (American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities).
Alaska Community Action on Toxics.
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.
AWHONN (Association of Women's Health, Obstetric & Neonatal Nurses).
Breast Cancer Action.
Breast Cancer Fund.
Center for Environmental Health.
Center for Health, Environment and Justice.
Citizens for a Healthy Bay
Clean New York.
Clean Water Action Alliance of Massachusetts.
Coalition for Clean Air.
Commonweal.
Consumer Federation of America.
Consumers Union.
CREHM (Chicago Consortium for Reproductive Environmental Health in Minority Communities).
EarthJustice.
Endometriosis Association.
Environment California.
Environmental Health Fund.
Environmental Working Group.
Greenpeace.
Health Education and Resources.
Healthy Building Network.
Healthy Child Healthy World.
Healthy Children Organizing Project.
Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition.
Illinois PIRG.
INCIID (InterNational Council on Infertility Information Dissemination, Inc.).
INND (Institute of Neurotoxicology & Neurological Disorders).
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
Institute for Children's Environmental Health.
Kids in Danger.
Learning Disabilities Association of America.
Maternal and Child Health Access.
Minnesota PIRG.
MOMS (Making Our Milk Safe).
MomsRising.
Natural Resources Defense Council.
Olympic Environmental Council.
Oregon Center for Environmental Health.
Oregon Environmental Council.
Physicians for Social Responsibility- San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.
Planned Parenthood Golden Gate.
Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte.
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.
PODER (People Organized in Defense of Earth & her Resources).
Project IRENE.
Public Citizen's Congress Watch.
RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.
Safe Food and Fertilizer.
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective.
Sources for Sustainable Communities.
The American Fertility Association.
The Annie Appleseed Project.
US PIRG.
Washington Toxics Coalition.
WashPIRG.
WHEN (Women's Health & Environmental Network).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source