JUSIPER

 
Bush Katrinas the Consumer Product Safety Commission

Posted by Sini

The agency says it doesn't have the money or staffing to stop dangerous merchandise from entering the country. Now it wants to stop Congress from providing the funding.

Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistle-blowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws.

The measure is an effort to buttress an agency that has been under siege because of a raft of tainted and dangerous products manufactured both domestically and abroad. In the last two months alone, more than 13 million toys have been recalled after tests indicated lead levels that sometimes reached almost 200 times the safety limit.

Ms. Nord’s opposition to important elements of the legislation is consistent with the broadly deregulatory approach of the Bush administration over the last seven years. In a variety of areas, from antitrust to trucking and worker safety, officials appointed by President Bush have sought to reduce the role of regulation and government in the marketplace. [...]

Ms. Nord, who before joining the agency had been a lawyer at Eastman Kodak and an official at the United States Chamber of Commerce, criticized the measure in letters sent late last week and on Monday afternoon to the Democratic leaders of the committee. She was critical, for instance, of a provision to ban lead from all toys, saying it was not practical. [...]

[...]

Senator Pryor said Ms. Nord’s objections surprised him.

“It’s hard for me to know if it’s just ideological or she is just expressing the wishes of the administration,” Mr. Pryor said. “Either way it comes to the same conclusion, and that is that they say they want more resources, but they are very reluctant to accept those resources.”

Consumer advocates also said they were stunned by the letter.

“It was remarkable to send a letter like that to a committee, when you’re in dire straits and you need increased funding and you’ve acknowledged that,” said Ellen Bloom, director of federal policy at Consumers Union.

The agency has suffered from a steady decline in its budget and staffing in recent years. Its staff numbers about 420, about half its size in the 1980s. It has only one full-time employee to test toys. And 15 inspectors are assigned to police all imports of consumer products under the agency’s supervision, a marketplace that last year was valued at $614 billion.

Through an agency spokesman, Ms. Nord declined to discuss her opposition to the legislation.

Who knew Republicans were for more lead in children's toys? That's a great campaign issue.

7:22 AM |