(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – The Children’s Gasoline Burn Prevention Act, authored by Congressman Dennis Moore (Third District -- Kansas) and Senator Claire McCaskill (Missouri), was signed into law on Thursday after receiving unanimous support in Congress. The bill requires that all portable gasoline containers be made with child resistant closures, whether sold empty or full; an effort that would help protect children from accidents involving gasoline containers at home.

Moore and McCaskill championed this legislation after hearing too many tragic stories of preventable injuries, such as the two Leavenworth children who opened and spilled the contents of a gas can, causing the gasoline vapors to be ignited by a hot water heater. One of the children, a four-year-old boy, lost his life and his three-year-old brother was permanently scarred.

“I am proud that our colleagues joined us in unanimously approving this common-sense bill. We can’t protect our children from every scratch or bruise, but we can certainly take steps to protect them from one of the most dangerous substances in any home - gasoline,” Moore said. “For pennies per gas can, we can help save thousands of children from severe burn injuries or death and put parents’ minds at ease.”

According to an American Academy of Pediatrics study of children’s burns related to gasoline storage, “no injury is potentially more disfiguring, disruptive to a child’s life, and more painful to endure than burn injuries.” The medical study authors, who reviewed burn victim cases at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, recommend national safety standards for gasoline canisters.

The new law requires manufacturers to conform to an international standard for child resistant caps and will apply to all gasoline containers manufactured six months after enactment. The Consumer Product Safety Commission will also be required to report to Congress within two years of enactment on industry compliance, enforcement actions taken by the agency and incidents of injuries related to portable gas containers.

“Every parent wants one thing: to keep their kids safe. For decades we’ve had laws to protect kids from dangerous materials, but gas containers have escaped these rules through a loophole, and as a result, thousands of kids have suffered,” said Sen. McCaskill. "This bill finally closes that loophole, giving parents one less thing they will have to worry about.”

Attorney Diane Breneman, who has represented approximately 15 children who have suffered catastrophic burn injuries because gas cans lacked child resistant closures, echoed Moore and McCaskill’s comments: “For all of us who have campaigned for so long and hard to see this change, it comes with a mixture of emotions: we are thrilled that change has finally come, but saddened that it has come too late for so many who have needlessly suffered. We are particularly grateful to Representative Moore who listened when no one else would and has been committed to this cause for the last 8 years. We wouldn’t have achieved this important milestone without his tireless support."