SCHAKOWSKY SAYS TROUBLE IN TOYLAND REPORT WILL SAVE KIDS' LIVES; VOWS TO FIGHT FOR A STRONGER CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION THAT KEEPS DANGEROUS TOYS OFF THE MARKET
NOVEMBER 22, 2005
SCHAKOWSKY SAYS TROUBLE IN TOYLAND REPORT WILL SAVE KIDS' LIVES
VOWS TO FIGHT FOR A STRONGER CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION THAT KEEPS DANGEROUS TOYS OFF THE MARKET
CHICAGO, IL - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, ranking member on the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, today joined advocates for the release of Illinois PIRG's "Trouble in Toyland" report. The report highlights hazardous toys being sold on the market and offers safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children.
Representative Schakowsky's statement is below:
This report will save lives. Families, who turn to it during this holiday season, will be armed with a critical tool as they shop for toys for their loved-ones. Thanks to PIRG's previous 19 reports, more than 120 corrective actions have been taken by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or the CPSC, and toy manufacturers.
While this is a great service, it is also shameful that it takes a report by a watchdog group to force the government to protect our children. Unsafe and deadly toys should never make it into our homes and into our children's hands in the first place.
Unfortunately, the CPSC protects corporate profits more than consumer safety. The CPSC approaches product safety with caution and delay - wait for a disaster before warning consumers.
The yo-yo ball captures the culture of the CPSC. Yo-yo balls are dangerous toys that remain on the market across most of the United States, even though the government has indisputable evidence that it must be banned. Here are the facts:
The CSPC has received over 400 injury reports, including some where kids were almost strangled to death;
yo-yo balls have been banned in some European countries;
the state of Illinois have banned them;
major retailers have agreed to stop selling them; and
CPSC Chairman Stratton has taken the toy away from children in his family.
The CPSC has issued only a warning stating that yo-yo balls present a "low but potential risk of strangulation," but have refused to ban the toy. That inept action fails to inform parents about the dangers of this potentially deadly toy.
Most people think that if a product is on the shelf, then it must be safe. They believe the government is looking out for them and their children. In fact, a 1999 Coalition for Consumer Rights' survey in Illinois found that 75-percent of adults believe that the government oversees pre-market testing for children's products; 79-percent believe that manufacturers are required to test the safety of those products before they are sold.
For most products, neither is true. In fact, there are no mandatory safety standards for the majority of the children's products being sold today. Congress passed legislation in 1981 that prohibits the CPSC from establishing mandatory standards in most cases. The bulk of standards that are in place are "voluntarily" set by the very industries looking to make profits - and they are also expected to police themselves. Additionally, there are no requirements that the industry-set standards address all potential hazards, no requirement that products be tested in the field or tested to ensure the standards are met before being sold, and no consequences for the manufacturer if the standards are not met.
This is true even for baby carriers, cradles, play pens, high chairs, and other items bought specifically for use by infants and children. Although the CPSC requires no testing and manufacturers may or may not perform their own tests, do not be mistaken, children's products are tested. They are tested in our own homes, with our children and grandchildren as test dummies. The cost of those tests can be a panicked child, bruised fingers, a near-strangulation, fractured skulls, or a dead child.
Unintended injuries are the leading cause of death for children under the age of four. As a leading expert on child product safety, Marla Felcher's research reveals, many of these deaths are because of unsafe products. And, as the title of her book says, "It's No Accident."
It's time to reclaim our rights as consumers to be protected from hazardous and harmful products. As the top Democrat on the Consumer Protection Subcommittee, I pushed for a hearing on unsafe products and whether current safety standards for children's products were enough. We finally held that hearing last October and it confirmed what all of us have been saying all along: Products will not be as safe as they should be until the CPSC becomes an agency with the authority, funding, and mandate that puts the interests of consumers ahead of corporate profits. That is one of my top priorities and I have been working with my colleagues and consumers groups on "recalling" the bad laws that restrain the CPSC from putting safety first.
This holiday season, parents have a tool, PIRG's "Trouble in Toyland," to help protect their children. But the real present we can give all consumers the next holiday season is the guarantee that the products they buy are safe and secure.