The Purpose of the FHSA
The Federal Hazardous Substances Act (available in PDF), requires that certain hazardous household products ("hazardous substances") bear cautionary labeling to alert consumers to the potential hazards that those products present and to inform them of the measures they need to protect themselves from those hazards. Any product that is toxic, corrosive, flammable or combustible, an irritant, a strong sensitizer, or that generates pressure through decomposition, heat, or other means requires labeling, if the product may cause substantial personal injury or substantial illness during or as a proximate result of any customary or reasonable foreseeable handling or use, including reasonable foreseeable ingestion by children.
The FHSA gives the Commission authority to ban by regulation a hazardous substance if it determines that the product is so hazardous that the cautionary labeling required by the act is inadequate to protect the public. Any toy or other article that is intended for use by children and that contains a hazardous substance is also banned under the FHSA if a child can gain access to the substance. In addition, the act gives the Commission authority to ban by regulation any toy, or other article intended for use by children which presents a mechanical, electrical or thermal hazard. The Commission has issued regulations under this provision relating to specific products such as electrically operated toys, cribs, rattles, pacifiers, bicycles, and children's bunk beds.
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Federal Regulations Associated with the Act
The Federal regulations for the FHSA are found in Title 16 CFR parts 1500 through 1512.
The FHSA is available above in text and PDF format. PDF (Portable Document Format) requires use of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The PDF version of the FHSA 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