A New Direction for American Families: Safer Food, Safer Toys, Safer Medicine
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Americans should trust that the products they buy are safe for their families. But headlines revealing lead paint in imported toys, daily recalls of faulty products, unsafe food in our grocery stores, and questionable medicines in our cabinets have made parents and consumers anxious. Our government must play a responsible and competent role – partnering with corporate leaders and parents – to better ensure product and food safety. Standards must be established; inspections must be rigorous. If products fail to meet established standards, strict penalties must be enforced.
In July, Congress passed the final Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, H.R. 4040. This landmark, bipartisan legislation takes several key steps to make children and all Americans safer, including essentially eliminating lead from toys and children’s products; prohibiting the use of dangerous phthalates in children’s toys and child care products; and providing the Consumer Product Safety Commission with significantly greater resources and personnel. The bill was signed into law on August 14, 2008.Watch Speaker Pelosi speak in support of the bill>>
This critical legislation is supported by the nation’s consumer groups, including the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union. In its letter to the conferees in support, a coalition of seven key consumer and public interest groups states, “This ground-breaking measure will help ensure that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has the resources and regulatory authority it needs to protect consumers and repair our long-broken product safety net. Thanks to your efforts, our children will be living in a safer world.”
This bill is urgently needed. There were 45 million toys and children’s products recalled in 2007 – including Barbie accessories, Thomas the Tank Engines, toy magnets, and lead-coated jewelry. As a result, the Consumers Union labeled 2007 “The Year of the Recall.” Certain toys and children’s products were found to contain nearly 200 times the legal amount of lead.
Furthermore, the problem is growing worse. This year, the number of recalls of toys and children’s products is actually up 29 percent over the first half of 2007.
Also, over the last several years, at the same time of these record toy recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has been starved for resources. Indeed, the agency lost 15 percent of its workforce between 2004 and 2007. In 2007, even the Commission’s acting director Nancy Nord complained that there was only one “lonely” toy tester at the commission.
This critically important bill will strengthen the ability of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to prevent dangerous toys from getting to market in the first place, get unsafe products off the shelves more quickly, and increase fines and penalties for violating product safety laws.
Finally, the bill also responds to recent reports of potential conflicts of interest at the CPSC, including such provisions as banning industry-sponsored travel by CPSC Commissioners and staff.
The 110th Congress is uncovering the facts with robust oversight and promoting strong measures to ensure protections for American consumers. Such protections and increased consumer awareness will keep our economy strong as well.
Already, the 110th Congress has enacted the most sweeping drug safety legislation in decades. According to Consumers Union, under the law, the FDA “will begin to have the tools and resources to protect the public from unsafe medications.”
The House is also working to pass legislation to dramatically improve our country’s system for ensuring the safety of imported food and drugs, which will:
- Create an effective warning and recall system for contaminated food
- Increase the civil monetary penalties for manufacturers and importers who break the rules
- Establish a more reliable food and drug inspection system with greater research on testing techniques and sampling methods
A New Direction for American Families: Safer Toys, Safer Foods, Safer Medicine>>
Recent Children's Safety Bills Passed by the House>>
Report: Consumers Union - The Year of the Recall>>
Learn more about our record so far in three key areas:
Safer Toys and Products for Children | |
A More Accountable Food Safety System | |
Improving Drug Safety |
TOY AND CHILD PRODUCT SAFETY
After a record number of toy and child product recalls due to lead contamination and other potential hazards, parents are concerned that not enough is being done to keep our children safe from unsafe products. Indeed , over the summer, more than 20 million toys manufactured in China were recalled because of various hazards.
USA Today recently described the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which is charged with regulating children’s toys, as “tragically ineffective.” The agency has lost 15 percent of its workforce since 2004 and employs only 400 people – and just one full-time toy tester. [New York Times, 9/7/07]
The 110th Congress is committed to ensuring that the products our children use are completely safe and reliable. Already this year, as a first step, the House passed the FY 2008 Financial Services Appropriations bill to increase funding for the CPSC and to add 5 percent more employees to the agency. Below are highlights of oversight hearings and other legislation that has passed in recent months.
Oversight & Findings:
- The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection has held a number of hearings addressing the issue of children’s product safety, including on protecting children from lead tainted imports.
- Mattel CEO Bob Eckert told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection that some of the 20.5 million toys recalled by his company this year contained nearly 200 times the legal amount of lead. [CNN, 8/15/07; CNN, 9/20/07]
- When asked by members of the committee about accountability measures and responsibility retailers could expect if they violate federal standards, Nancy Nord, acting chair of the CPSC, responded: “The consequence to them is what has been happening in the marketplace. People don't buy their products, people are very concerned about that and that frankly at the end of the day, economics counts for everything.” [CNN Money, 9/19/07]
- 80 percent of the toys bought in the United States each year are imported from China. [AP, 9/20/07]
- The House Ways and Means Trade and Oversight Subcommittees held a joint hearing on October 4th, on the ability of the U.S. Government regulators to identify and take action to prohibit the import of unsafe food and consumer products.
- Last year, the United States imported $1.9 trillion of goods. [Lewis post]
- 86 percent of toys played with by American children were produced in China. [Lewis post]
Recent Legislation Passed by the House:
- Increase civil penalties the Consumer Product Safety Commission can levy, H.R. 2747 – Passed 10/9/07
- Mandate product registration for nursery items, H.R. 1699 – Passed 10/9/07
- Require a uniform safety cap for gasoline containers, HR 814 – Passed 10/9/07
- Increase the safety of swimming pools and spas, HR 1721 – Passed 10/9/07
FOOD SAFETY
We are a wealthy nation with access to an abundant food supply. But recalls this past year ranging from bagged spinach and peanut butter to contaminated wheat flour from China have brought a measure of fear to the kitchen table. Less than 1 percent of our food imports are inspected currently—ten times less than in the 1970s—and an even smaller percentage undergoes actual testing.
The 110th Congress is committed to bringing accountability and responsibility back to the food safety system. On August 2nd, as a first step, the House passed the FY 2008 Agriculture Appropriations bill, which included increased funding for FDA food safety programs, added inspectors, prevented the importation of poultry from China and implemented mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirements for meat. Below are highlights of oversight hearings and other legislation that has passed in recent months.
Oversight & Findings:
- The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held three hearings focused on food safety for people and pets.
- Dr. David Kessler, dean of University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, testified about our “broken” food safety system. Dr. Kessler testified: “We have no structure for preventing food-borne illness in this country. The reality is that there is currently no mandate, no leadership, no resources, nor scientific research base for prevention of food safety problems.” [Testimony, 5/2/07]
- FDA inspections of food have decreased by 90 percent – from 50,000 in 1972 to just 5,000 in 2006.
- Between 1996 and 2006, the amount of US imports of agricultural and seafood products from all countries imported increased by 42 percent.
- Chinese imports have increased more rapidly than the global average – the volume of imports of Chinese agricultural and seafood products imported between 1996 and 2006 increased by 346 percent.
- 15 percent of all food consumed in the U.S. is now imported – 84 percent of all fish and seafood consumed is imported from another country.
- The House Agriculture Appropriations Oversight Subcommittee has held two hearings on food safety issues this year.
- At an Agriculture Appropriations Oversight Subcommittee hearing, “former FDA officials blamed the agency's middle and upper management for its unwillingness to change. Benjamin England, a former regulatory counsel and 17-year veteran at the FDA, said the agency failed to act on more than 100 proposals for change, and he described the current food-import system as outdated, inadequate and wasteful.” [WSJ, 9/26/07]
- The House Homeland Security Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing on July 24th to investigate the federal government’s efforts to protect the food supply chain.
- FY 2008 Agriculture Appropriations bill: Included funding to strengthen food safety and food labeling, HR 3161 – Passed 8/2/07
DRUG SAFETY
The United States leads the world in health care innovation and development. But recent setbacks in drug safety have left American consumers with less confidence in the medications they take themselves and provide their families. Just this month, 14 different types of infant cold medication (for children under 2 years old) were pulled off the shelves due to concerns about whether they were effective and because growing evidence that some children were suffering from serious side effects including hallucinations, seizures and heart and breathing problems.
Americans should have access to reliable, safe prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines. Fourteen nonprofit health care and patient advocacy groups recently lauded the Congressional passage of the FDA Reauthorization/Improving Drug Safety Act of 2007 as “an essential and significant first step toward restoring the safety of U.S. patients and consumers and reestablishing the FDA’s authority, commitment and credibility to protect the public health.” Below are highlights of oversight hearings and legislation that has passed in recent months.
Oversight & Findings:
- The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on Avandia, a diabetes drug taken by about one million Americans.
- Dr. John B. Buse, a medical researcher, testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that a top officer with SmithKlineBeecham, now GlaxoSmithKline, called him a “liar” and threatened him with a lawsuit after Dr. Buse questioned the safety of the diabetes drug Avandia and pointed to evidence of increased risk of heart attack and chest pain. [NYT, 6/7/07]
- The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee has held several hearings focusing on prescription drug and medical device safety issues, including on pediatric medicines.
- Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 – Creates a new FDA program to monitor the safety of drugs after they are on the market and other drug safety measures. (HR 3580 – Signed into law 9/27/07