| WASHINGTON, DC.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, today unveiled two bills to protect children from unsafe products. The Infant and Toddler Durable Product Safety Act would set mandatory safety standards for infant and toddler products. The Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act would require manufacturers to include recall registration cards with every child durable product, such as high chairs, strollers, and infant swings. U.S. Rep. Schakowsky's statement in the Congressional Record:
Monday, March 26, 2007
Madam Speaker, today I am once again introducing two
bills that would help prevent needless deaths and injuries of young
children: the Infant and Toddler Durable Product Safety Act and the
Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification Act. These bills would
help us protect infant and toddlers from dangerous products, both
before they arrive on the shelves--and after they end up in homes.
The Infant and Toddler Durable Product Safety Act would require
infant and toddler products to receive a federal seal of approval
before they are sold. This bill is long overdue.
Currently, most consumers believe that, because a product is on a
shelf, it is safe. A 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. The majority of the standards
that are in place are ``voluntarily'' set by the very industries
looking to make profits. They are also allowed to police themselves
about whether the standards are enforced.
Let me stress what that means: although there may be voluntary
standards in place, there are no requirements that all potential
hazards are addressed in those standards. For instance, the voluntary
standards for bassinets set by the industry did not have height
requirement for the sides or any test to make sure the baby couldn't
fall out. Only because of the tenacity of advocates like Kids in
Danger, was one finally set. There are also no consequences for the
manufacturer if the standards are not met, and no requirements for
products to be tested to see if the standards are met. This is true
even for baby carriers, cradles, play pens, and high chairs. For the
few products that do have mandatory federal standards, because there
are no testing requirements, the standards are meaningless.
Although the Consumer Products Safety Commission--the CPSC--requires
no testing and manufacturers mayor 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, amputated fingers,
fractured skulls, or a dead child.
Unfortunately, a trip to the emergency room or the morgue is often
the only way to know if a product is unsafe. This is unacceptable.
Parents and caregivers must have assurance that when they buy a
product, it will be safe. Therefore, the Infant and Toddler Durable
Product Safety Act would not only require the CPSC to issue mandatory
safety standards for infant and toddler products, it would require the
testing and certification of these products by an independent third
party before they are allowed to be sold to anyone.
To protect children should unsafe products make it into their homes--
as is currently happening--we also have to make sure that we can get
the hazards out as soon as possible. The Danny Keysar Child Product
Safety Notification Act would help us do that by requiring that all
children's durable products sold have recall registration cards
attached to them and that manufacturers directly contact those who fill
them out should there be a recall.
Although there is a shocking number of recalled products, our current
recall system is failing. Actual notice of a recall is dependent on
news outlets picking up the story and spreading the word. Notification
targeted to owners of the products is rare, and many parents remain
unaware of the dangers even when products are recalled. In fact, many
families still have the dangerous products listed in this report in
their homes because they have not happened to turn on the television at
the right time or read the right newspaper. We need to make sure that
notification is directed at the families that have bought these faulty
products so they don't have to rely on chance to hear the news.
My colleague, Rep. Fred Upton, and I named our bill that would help
solve this problem the Danny Keysar Child Product Safety Notification
Act because his story is a tragic example of the inadequacy of our
current recall practices.
Danny Keysar, the precious 17-month old son of Linda Ginzel and her
husband, Boaz Keysar, died when the Playskool Travel-Lite portable crib
he had been napping in at his babysitter's home collapsed. The rails of
the crib folded into a ``V''-shaped wedge when he stood up, trapping
his neck. He was strangled to death. It was May 12, 1998, five years
after the CPSC had ordered it off the shelves because it was so
dangerous.
Word of its hazard had not reached Danny's parents, the caregiver
with whom he was staying, or a state safety inspector who visited the
home just eight days before Danny's death. Had the Child Product Safety
Notification Act been in effect, there would have been a much greater
chance of saving Danny's life--and the 11 children who have since died
from the TravelLite.
We know that recall registration cards work. My bill is modeled after
the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration's recall
system for car seats. Since NHTSA started requiring car seats to have
registration cards in 1993, the number of families registering
increased by at least tenfold. In fact, 53 percent of parents who
obtained cards mailed in the cards. Recall repair rates have gone up by
56 percent--all for a mere 43-cents per item. This bill will give
families a much greater chance to repair, return, or discard any
dangerous products that have made it into their children's nursery.
It is past due that we give parents the security they deserve and
children the safety they need. I urge my colleagues to support these
two bills.
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