The Purpose of the PPPA
Enacted in 1970, the PPPA (available in PDF and Text), requires a number of household substances to be packaged in child-resistant packaging. The packaging required by the PPPA must be designed or constructed to be significantly difficult for children under five years of age to open within a reasonable time, and not difficult for normal adults to use properly. For the sake of the elderly and handicapped who might have difficulty opening such containers, the Act provides that a regulated product available for purchase on store shelves may be packaged in one non-complying size provided it carries a warning that it is not recommended for use in households with children, and provided that the product is also supplied in complying popular size packages. Regulated prescription drugs may be dispensed in non-child-resistant packaging upon the specific request of the prescribing doctor or the patient. The Environmental Protection Agency regulates economic poisons, such as pesticides. Since the regulation has been in effect, there have been remarkable declines in reported deaths from ingestions by children of toxic household products including medications.
Advisory Opinions
Help companies understand the meaning and application of CPSC's laws.
Federal Regulations Associated with the Act
The Federal regulations for the PPPA are found in Title 16 CFR parts 1700 through 1702.
Documents Relating to the PPPA
- Drugs dispensed for household use in clinical trials (pdf)
The PPPA is available above in text and PDF format. PDF (Portable Document Format) requires use of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The PDF version of the PPPA has a clickable hyperlinked table of contents. To activate
this feature, open the document in Acrobat Reader, click 
on the Navigation Pane icon, next to the printer icon. If the table of contents does not appear, click on the "Bookmarks." tab. The statutory citations in red are clickable hyperlinks to the statutory text.
All five statutes are available in a single book, with an index, from the
Office of the Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington,
D.C. 20207