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Water beads are super-absorbent polymer chemical spheres sometimes marketed as toys or for “sensory” play. Unfortunately, children have been known to ingest water beads, which have led to multiple life-threatening obstructions and even death. Despite “non-toxic” labels, recent research demonstrates that water beads can be toxic due to bead-to-bead inconsistencies. In 2023, CPSC announced that evidence demonstrated acrylamide toxicity in some water bead products. In December 2023, Amazon and other retailers announced a commitment to stop selling water beads.

“Disappointingly, water bead products are still easily accessible on the online platform,” said Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety. “Today’s report underlines many of the serious challenges CPSC faces in its mission to protect consumers, especially when third-party sellers ignore CPSC outreach or disappear. In this case, the companies have failed to respond to CPSC’s requests for recalls, placing consumers at risk.”

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) introduced legislation to ban water beads marketed for children last year. Representative Robin Kelly (D-Ill) and Representative Britney Pettersen (D-Colo.) co-sponsored the legislation.  The Ban Water Beads Act would direct the CPSC to enforce such a ban. The New Jersey Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee also advanced legislation last year that prohibit the sale of water beads in New Jersey.  In September 2023, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called on the CPSC to remove water beads from the market, especially water beads sold as toys for children.

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Water Beads: A Serious Safety Risk

Water beads are water-absorbing balls, often brightly colored, and sold as toys or sensory products. Water beads present a serious ingestion risk to children because the product expands significantly and has lead to lifelong injuries and death. In 2023, CPSC announced that evidence demonstrated acrylamide toxicity in some water bead products.

In December 2023, Amazon and other retailers announced a commitment to stop selling water beads. Disappointingly, water bead products are still easily accessible on the online platform.

Today’s warnings confirm that water beads continue to pose a serious health and safety risk to consumers, especially children.

Constraints on CPSC Hurt Consumers, Protect Industry

CPSC is tasked with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury and death from more than 15,000 product categories. Despite the scope and importance of its work, the CPSC’s budge is substantially smaller than any other federal consumer protection agency. Further, because of uncertainty about its budget and the expectation that its already small budget will be cut further, CPSC’s safety efforts are slowing.

Beyond its serious budgetary constraints, CPSC also has unique restrictions in its public disclosure of information. Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act prohibits the CPSC from disclosing information about a consumer product that identifies a manufacturer or private labeler unless the CPSC has taken “reasonable steps” to assure that the information is accurate, the disclosure is fair and reasonably related to effectuating the purposes of the CPSC. As such, the CPSC must provide the manufacturer or private labeler with an opportunity to comment on the accuracy of the information, and the CPSC may not disclose such information for at least 15 days after sending it to the company for comment. The reality, however, is that the process between the CPSC and manufacturers or private labelers often takes many years before the information can be disclosed to the public. In the meantime, the hazardous or dangerous product is allowed to flood the marketplace.

Unfortunately, sometimes companies do not respond to a request for a recall. In a recent speech, CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric described foreign manufacturers utilizing e-commerce websites to sell products then ignoring CPSC outreach or disappearing. Under current leadership, the CPSC has begun to issue substantially more unilateral warnings to the public about hazardous products. CPSC unilateral warnings are an important tool for the CPSC but does not solve the issue of dangerous and hazardous products already in homes.

Liability Challenges

As online shopping becomes more prevalent, the number of third-party sellers on platforms like Amazon has risen considerably. In addition to the serious safety implications described above, injured consumers or their family may be unable to obtain a judgment against a third-party seller. Further complicating matters, courts have reached different conclusions about the liability of online platforms.

What can you do?

• Throw away any water beads in your home and do not purchase water beads! Contact your daycares, schools, or therapy providers to share the dangers of water beads.
• Visit That Water Bead Lady to read more about Ashley Haugen’s advocacy and Kipley’s journey. Use That Water Bead Lady’s educational materials, which include a letter template requesting your school/therapy stop water bead use, a social media messaging guide, and information to share with your health care provider.
• Contact your elected officials. Let them know you support the CPSC and that it should be fully funded!
• Contact your elected officials. Let them know you support a ban on water beads.
• Urge elected officials to support the CPSC in its critical mission to make the marketplace more focused on consumer safety. Encourage elected officials to protect the CPSC from efforts to undermine its authority to keep consumers safe.  Let their elected officials know that consumers deserve timely information about the potential hazards in their homes.
• Urge your elected officials to support the CAP Act, which would raise the statutory caps on CPSC civil penalties to deter future bad behavior, especially form large corporations.
• Report any consumer product incidents to CPSC at SaferProducts.gov.

The post New Warning That Water Beads May Pose Risk of Toxicity to Children appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

• 55 percent of the tip-over fatalities reported to CPSC from 2013 through July 2023 involve children between 1 and 3 years old.  
• 47 percent of the fatalities from 2013 through July 2023 involve a TV.  
• According to the CPSC, among the children fatalities in which race/ethnicity is known, Black non-Hispanic children account for 32 percent of the deaths despite comprising only 14 percent of the U.S. population of children.  
• There has been an increase in tip-over injuries impacting adults 60 years and older, growing from 1,800 emergency department-treated injuries in 2013 to 4,300 emergency department-treated injuries in 2022. 

Pursuant to the bipartisan Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth (STURDY) Act, the CPSC adopted a mandatory standard for clothing storage units, such as dressers. The new rules went into effect on September 1, 2023. Unfortunately, the mandatory requirements only impact clothing storage furniture made after September 1, 2023. Non-compliant clothing storage units made before September 2023 can still be sold in stores and online. Further, the rule only addresses clothing storage units, such as dressers, but does not impact other unstable furniture or TVs. 

On January 11, 2024, CPSC announced a recall of plastic furniture tip resistant kits because the zip-tie in the plastic device can become weak and break over time, posing a fatal risk to children and consumers.  

Furniture and TVs continue to pose a serious hidden hazards in homes across the country. Manufactures must do more to prevent future tragedies, and the CPSC must robustly enforce its safety rules. 

This Super Bowl Sunday, ensure your home is safe and follow the tips below: 

• Check your furniture, TVs, and appliances! Consumers, especially caregivers, are strongly encouraged to anchor their furniture and TVs to the wall. 
• Properly install and wall mount TVs high enough to prevent young children from grabbing it. If wall mounting a TV is not possible, use anti-tipping devices, check the stability of your TV stand/furniture, and anchor all furniture. 
• Do not place TVs on dressers or other furniture that children can climb. 
• Do not place items on top of furniture that children may want to climb to reach, such as toys or TV remote control. 
• Visit the websites for Parents Against Tip-Overs and CPSC’s Anchor It! campaign for more information about unstable furniture, televisions, and appliances. 
• For consumers purchasing new clothing storage furniture, remember that non-compliant furniture manufactured before September 1, 2023, will remain available for purchase. Consumers should ask sellers whether a piece of furniture meets the 2023 version of the ASTM F2057 standard (codified at 16 CFR part 1261). 
• Remind friends and family to anchor their furniture and TVs to prevent tragedy. 
• Share any incidents of furniture tip-overs or tip-over devices failing with CPSC at gov. 

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“Consumers deserve safe products,” said Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety at Consumer Federation of America. “Civil penalties are an important tool to discourage manufacturers from taking risks that hurt or kill consumers. We applaud Senator Welch and Congresswoman Schakowsky for introducing this legislation, which will protect consumers and ensure the Consumer Product Safety Commission can hold companies accountable.”

“One of the CPSC’s more important roles is keeping children safe from dangerous products,” stated Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of Kids In Danger (KID). “Removing the artificial cap on multiple violations will allow CPSC to structure penalties that deter future violations and sends a strong message that children’s safety should be a top concern of all manufacturers.”

Just this year, CPSC demonstrated the importance of civil penalties. Generac Power Systems, Inc. agreed to pay $15,800,000 after failing to promptly report a defect in its portable generators that resulted in the amputation and disfigurement of users’ fingers. Further, Peloton agree to pay $19,065,000 for failing to report defects in a treadmill that lead to a child’s death. The CAP Act will allow the CPSC latitude when it considers factors related to civil penalty assessments and ensure that civil penalty amounts reflect the severity of violations and deters future violations.

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Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is an association of nearly 250 non-profit consumer organizations that was established in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy, and education.

Kids In Danger (KID) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children by fighting for product safety. Our mission is to save lives by enhancing transparency and accountability through safer product development, better education, and stronger advocacy for children.

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Furniture and television tip-overs are a significant hidden hazard in American homes. Between 2000 and 2021, there have been at least 592 fatalities linked to tip-over incidents, of which 482 were children. An annual average of 19,400 emergency department-treated injuries were associated with tip-over incidents between 2019 and 2021.

After years of hard work by parent advocates and consumer groups, President Biden signed the Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risk Dressers on Youth (STURDY) Act into law in 2022. The STURDY Act, which only addressed clothing storage units like chests, dressers, and armoires, went into effect on September 1, 2023. However, non-compliant clothing storage units made before September 2023 can still be sold in stores and online.

Unfortunately, most homes in America still contain unstable furniture, despite the STURDY Act’s life-saving changes. Parent advocates, consumer groups, and the CPSC have urged consumers to protect against this deadly, hidden hazard by anchoring all furniture, televisions, and appliances. The recall of New Age’s zip-tie plastic kits presents another safety challenge.

“While PAT has always advocated for properly anchoring all furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves to the wall, it has long been a concern of many parent and consumer advocates that there is currently no mandatory testing standard for furniture anchors,” said Kimberly Amato, Vice Chair Parents Against Tip-Overs, who also currently leads efforts at ASTM to update requirements for anchoring devices. “Properly anchoring your furniture to the wall is vital to prevent tip-overs. This recall makes it clear that the type of anchor you use matters. We applaud this recall and strongly encourage all furniture anchor manufacturers to test their anchors for real-world use to ensure they work as intended.”

“If you have any dressers in your home that came with plastic zip-tie type anchors or any furniture currently using this type of anchor, participate in this recall and replace that faulty anchor,” urged Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of Kids In Danger. “And please, if you have any incidents of tip restraints failing or furniture tipping, report it at SaferProducts.gov. Your action will keep other children safe.”

“While an important safety tool, furniture anchoring is underused and imperfect,” says Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety at Consumer Federation of America.  “It is not a consumer’s burden to make furniture safe and stable. This recall is another reminder that companies selling furniture, televisions, and appliances must do everything in their power to prevent tip-over tragedies.”

Consumers should contact Alliance4Safety toll-free at 855-416-7370 anytime or online at www.alliance4safety.org/new-age-recall or www.alliance4safety.org and click on “New Age Recall Information” for more information.

CFA and KID strongly urge consumers to follow the recommendations below to ensure their home is safe:

• Check your furniture, televisions, and appliances! Consumers, especially caregivers, are strongly encouraged to anchor their furniture and televisions to the wall.
• Visit the websites for Parents Against Tip-Overs and CPSC’s Anchor It! campaign for more information about unstable furniture, televisions, and appliances.
• For consumers purchasing new clothing storage furniture, remember that non-compliant furniture manufactured before September 1, 2023, will remain available for purchase. Consumers should ask sellers whether a piece of furniture meets the 2023 version of the ASTM F2057 standard (codified at 16 CFR part 1261).
• Remind friends and family to anchor their furniture and televisions to prevent tragedy.
• Share any incidents of furniture tip-overs or tip-over devices failing with CPSC at gov.

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Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is an association of nearly 250 non-profit consumer organizations that was established in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy, and education.

Kids In Danger (KID) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children by fighting for product safety. Our mission is to save lives by enhancing transparency and accountability through safer product development, better education, and stronger advocacy for children.

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About nine children 8 years old and younger die every year from window coverings with long, hazardous cords.  From January 2009 through December 2021, the CPSC reported that there were more than 200 incidents involving children, many on custom products with failed safety devices.  For over two decades, parent and consumer organizations persistently worked to eradicate strangulation hazards posed by window coverings because the solution is clear.  Responsible designs would eliminate the strangulation hazard.

In 2018, the window covering industry attempted, for the seventh time, to adopt a voluntary standard for cords on stock window coverings.  The standard did not address all hazardous cords and failed safety devices on custom window coverings.  Despite the serious and ongoing risk to children, manufacturers made an eighth attempt at a voluntary safety standard but refused to make evidence-based changes to custom window coverings that were recommended by safety experts and the CPSC.  Then CPSC stepped in.  In November 2022, the CPSC unanimously finalized a lifesaving window covering rule that eliminated the dangers associated with cords on custom window covering products.

“The heart of the matter for consumers to realize is for decades safety devices and child safety tips failed families who took precautions to keep their children safe,” said Linda Kaiser, founder of Parents for Window Blind Safety.   “The deadly designs of custom products are identical to the corded stock products industry eliminated in 2018.  The percentage of the custom online market is growing larger every year making it more affordable. Every blind that is produced today will remain in American homes for many years to come, perpetuating the hazard.”

Almost immediately after the CPSC finalized its lifesaving custom window covering rule, the Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) filed a lawsuit challenging the CPSC’s vital rule and arguing that it did not substantively advance child safety. In September 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the CPSC’s lifesaving rule and remanded the issue back to the CPSC.

“The voluntary standard process for window coverings has failed children and their families for over two decades,” said Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety at CFA.    “WCMA’s obstructive tactics reflect a broader goal of regulated industries to undermine the authority of federal agencies whose mission it is to protect consumers.  We will continue to fight for safer products in our homes.”

Consumers, especially caregivers of young children, deserve a just marketplace.  The lives of children are more important than a company’s bottom line.  Parent advocates and consumer groups will continue to push for safer, fairer regulations that protect the most vulnerable in our homes.  Parent and consumer advocates call on the CPSC to navigate a path forward in the coming year that will ensure no other family suffers unimaginable tragedy because of failed safety devices on window covering cords.

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Parents for Window Blind Safety is a non-profit 501c3 that educates the public about the strangulation risk factors on window covering products, advocates for safer standards in the industry, and created the first window covering certification program in 2005, which certifies, tests, and promotes window coverings for safety.

Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is an association of nearly 250 non-profit consumer organizations that was established in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy, and education.

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Photo by Matt Brown on Unsplash

A recent court decision is a safety setback for children and families.  Despite decades old knowledge about the serious risk window coverings pose to the lives of children, the industry continues to deploy obstructive tactics.  As a result, unsafe custom window coverings continue to present a serious risk to children.

“The heart of the matter for consumers to realize is for decades safety devices and child safety tips failed families who took precautions to keep their children safe,” said Linda Kaiser, founder of Parents for Window Blind Safety.   “The deadly designs of custom products are identical to the corded stock products industry eliminated in 2018.  The percentage of the custom online market is growing larger every year making it more affordable. Every blind that is produced today will remain in American homes for many years to come, perpetuating the hazard.”

About nine children 8 years old and younger die every year from window coverings with long, hazardous cords.  From January 2009 through December 2021, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported that there were more than 200 incidents involving children, many on custom products with failed safety devices.  For over two decades, parent and consumer organizations persistently worked to eradicate window coverings’ strangulation hazards because the solution is clear: responsible designs.

In 2018, the window covering industry attempted, for the seventh time, to adopt a voluntary standard for cords on stock window coverings.  The standard did not address all hazardous cords and failed safety devices on custom window coverings.  Manufacturers made an eighth attempt at a voluntary safety standard.  However, despite the serious and ongoing risk to children, manufacturers refused to make evidence-based changes to custom window coverings recommended by safety experts and the the CPSC.  Then the CPSC stepped in.  In November 2022, CPSC unanimously finalized a lifesaving window covering rule that eliminated the dangers associated with cords on custom window covering products.

Almost immediately, the Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) filed a lawsuit challenging the CPSC’s vital rule and arguing it did not substantively advance child safety.  At the same time, children continue to die from window coverings, including a 2-year-old in July 2023.  WCMA also argued the rule is invalid because the President can remove CPSC commissioners  only for cause.  Consumer Federation of America, Parents for Window Blind Safety, and other consumer groups filed an amicus brief in support of the CPSC and argued the rule reduced the unreasonable risk of injury and death to children.

In September 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the CPSC’s lifesaving rule and remanded the issue back to the CPSC.  The Court had three main takeaways: (1) CPSC erred in how it complied with notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements; (2) CPSC’s cost benefit analysis is flawed because it didn’t rely on the price of custom products; and (3) CPSC chose an arbitrary effective date.  The Court did not consider WCMA’s constitutional challenge regarding CPSC commissioner removal.

What is lost in the Court’s decision, however, is that the CPSC, consumer groups, and parent advocate groups have worked for decades to address the serious risks posed by window coverings.  Yet time and time again, industry failed to adequately protect children and instead put profits first.   Children are still at risk.

“The voluntary standard for window coverings failed children and their families for over two decades,” said Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety at CFA.    “These obstructive tactics reflect a broader goal of regulated industries to undermine the authority of federal agencies whose mission it is to protect consumers.  We will continue to fight for safer products in our homes.”

Consumers, especially caregivers of young children, deserve a just marketplace.  The lives of children are more important than a company’s bottom line.  Parent advocates and consumer groups continue to push for safer, fairer regulations that protect the most vulnerable in our homes.  We call on the CPSC to navigate a path forward that will ensure no other family suffers unimaginable tragedy because of failed safety devices on window covering cords.

To advocate for consumer product safety, individuals and organizations can:

• Visit Parents for Window Blind Safety for more information about this important safety issue.
• Urge elected officials to support the CPSC in its critical mission to make the marketplace more consumer driven. Encourage elected officials to protect the CPSC from efforts to undermine its authority to keep consumers safe.  Let their elected officials know that consumers deserve timely information about the potential hazards in their homes.
• Learn about the various facets of CPSC’s work or contact the CPSC’s Consumer Ombudsman, who is dedicated to helping the public understand how the CPSC works.
• Exercise your rights and participate in agency rulemaking on regulations.
• Search reports and recalls/repairs of unsafe or potentially unsafe consumer products.
• Review CPSC’s safety education materials.
• Review CPSC’s injury statistics and technical reports.
• Learn about the voluntary standards process and get involved. Read this interview with Rachel Weintraub in which she reflects on her extensive experience in consumer advocacy and how that intersects with voluntary standards.  For more information on how to get involved, visit this site for how consumers can participate.

The post Custom Window Coverings Continue to Put Children at Risk appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

The new mandatory requirements are a result of the bipartisan Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth (STURDY) Act, which Congress passed in December 2022.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will enforce the STURDY Act, and CPSC adopted the ASTM F2057-23 standard as a mandatory requirement that will now go into effect on September 1.  The STURDY Act came after many years of advocacy from parent-advocates and consumer groups for safer laws.  At least 234 people have been killed by furniture tip-overs from 2000 to April 2022.  At least three children died from furniture tip-overs this year.

Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and Kids In Danger (KID) warn consumers, however, that the mandatory requirements only impact clothing storage furniture made after September 1, 2023.  Retailers can still sell clothing storage units made before September 1, even though this furniture may not meet the lifesaving safety guidelines the CPSC adopted.  Further, the rule only addresses clothing storage units, such as dressers, but does not impact other unstable furniture or televisions.

“Manufacturers and retailers must do the right thing now and only sell clothing storage units that meet these critical safety standards. Business profits are not more important than children’s lives.  Children should not endure the fatal consequences of further delay,” says Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety at CFA.

“The dangers of unstable furniture have been apparent for years,” stated Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of KID. “Unstable furniture sold during this transition stage will lurk in homes for decades, likely leading to deaths and injuries.  All furniture sold now should meet the tough new standard.”

“Thanks to the collaborative efforts that led to the STURDY Act becoming law, starting today, manufacturers will finally be required to make dressers and other clothing storage furniture that must pass strong safety and stability tests and come with a furniture anchor,” says Kimberly Amato, Vice Chair of Parents Against Tip-Overs (PAT). “We strongly encourage parents to anchor all furniture with drawers, doors, and shelves to the wall as a secondary safety measure and for added protection from tip-over.”

CFA and KID urge consumers and caregivers to mitigate the risk of furniture tip-overs with the following tips:

• When purchasing new clothing storage furniture, ask if the product complies with the new safety requirements (ASTM F2057-23) under the STURDY Act.
• Anchor It! CFA and KID encourage caregivers to anchor all furniture to the wall, including furniture that is already in homes.  The new standard requires new clothing storage furniture to include anchoring kits, and consumers should use the kits to prevent tragedy.
• For more information about the importance of, and how to use anchoring kits, visit anchorit.gov.
• Report any furniture tip-over incidents to the CPSC at gov.

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For the Good of Consumers, Ireland’s Alcohol Health Labeling Law Should Be Respected

Consumer Federation of America Supports Consumer Product Safety Commission Against Unwarranted Attacks

Consumer Groups Urge Congress to Support the PAID Act

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Susan Grant to Retire After 15 Years as CFA’s Privacy Advocate

After 15 years with the Consumer Federation of America, long-time consumer advocate Susan Grant will be retiring as CFA’s Privacy Advocate at the end of June.

“We are so grateful to Susan for her incredible career; chock full of protecting consumers, connecting people and groups, and working diligently to make our lives better and safer,” said Janet Domenitz, CFA’s Board Chair and Executive Director of MASSPIRG.

“Susan has been an invaluable member of the CFA staff for so many years and of late has focused her talents on issues surrounding consumer privacy,” said Susan Weinstock, CFA’s CEO. “She has done a great job of working with CFA member organizations as well as other national organizations in pushing consumer privacy laws and rules at the state and federal levels. Consumers across the country and around the world have benefited from Susan’s pursuit of consumer protections throughout her career. While we will miss her, Susan has earned this well-deserved retirement.”

Grant served as CFA’s Director of Consumer Protection and Privacy from 2008 to 2021 and has served as a Senior Fellow focused on privacy advocacy issues from 2022 to June 2023. Grant launched her advocacy career in 1976 at the Consumer Protection Division of the Northwestern Massachusetts District Attorney’s Office. Prior to joining CFA, Grant also held positions at the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators and National Consumers League.

“After working in a county consumer agency and then at one of CFA’s member organizations, joining the CFA staff was like going to the mothership,” said Grant. “It’s been a great privilege to work for such an influential group and with such smart, dedicated individuals. I’m so pleased that there is a new crop of advocates to carry on CFA’s vital mission.”

For the Good of Consumers, Ireland’s Alcohol Health Labeling Law Should Be Respected

By: Thomas Gremillion, Director of Food Policy

What do international trade agreements have to do with consumer protections? Increasingly, the answer seems to be “too much.”

Recently, the United States joined Mexico and the Dominican Republic in challenging Ireland’s regulation of alcoholic beverage labeling in the World Trade Organization. The new Irish law would require alcoholic beverage labels to disclose calories, the amount in grams of alcohol per serving and per container, and various health warning statements including, most importantly: “There is a direct link between alcohol and fatal cancers.”

For United States trade officials, these labeling rules are an “unlawful trade barrier.” For consumer and public health advocates, they are a template for how to design labels to prevent inadvertent overconsumption and raise awareness of alcohol’s role as the third most important modifiable risk factor for cancer deaths in the U.S.

How did we get here? Trade agreements were once mostly focused on lowering tariffs, or duties, on imports. For decades now, however, “free trade” has come to mean trade that is free from regulatory barriers to imports and foreign investors. No country’s democratic process is immune to the resulting pressure. In the United States, consumers lost the right to country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on beef and pork products after Mexico and Canada challenged the rules in the World Trade Organization. The countries argued that keeping track of what meat came from what animals would be so expensive that the giant meatpacking companies would simply stop buying pigs and cows from across the border. Therefore, the law was an unlawful trade barrier. The WTO’s Appellate Body agreed. After it authorized sanctions, Congress quietly repealed the law.

Ireland’s alcohol labeling law could meet a similar fate, but not if CFA can help it. Last year, CFA asked EU regulators to approve the law despite objections from industry and major alcohol exporters like Italy. More recently, CFA and its allies wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to ask U.S. officials not to interfere in the implementation of sound public health policies abroad, policies that should have been adopted in the United States a long time ago.

Indeed, in 2003, CFA and its allies petitioned federal regulators to require basic information on alcohol labels such as the amount of alcohol in fluid ounces per suggested serving, the number of calories, and ingredients. To this day, labeling requirements remain unchanged, although last spring, in response to a lawsuit filed by CFA and other petitioners, the Treasury Department agreed to issue proposed rules requiring standardized alcohol content, calorie, and allergen disclosures. CFA has yet to receive a response to another petition seeking to update the health warning statement on alcoholic beverages for the first time since 1988.

As with Ireland’s proposed law, a new health warning statement on alcohol in the U.S. should alert consumers to the fact that alcohol causes cancer. More than any other element of Ireland’s law, this cancer warning requirement most bothers the industry, but it is sorely needed. Researchers with the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) estimate that alcohol may account for as many as 7,300 breast cancer deaths annually—some 15% of all such deaths. Yet just 24.6% of women surveyed in the U.S. think that “drinking alcoholic beverages increases a woman’s chances of getting breast cancer.”

Such a gap between the harms associated with a product, and the awareness of those harms, provides fertile ground for educational policies to improve public health. Ireland is poised to take advantage. Let’s hope U.S. trade officials get out of the way!

Consumer Federation of America Supports Consumer Product Safety Commission Against Unwarranted Attacks

By: Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety

Attacks from regulated industries and some lawmakers are threatening the important work of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).  The attacks against the CPSC are consistent with other efforts to weaken the federal agencies that protect consumers and workers.  CFA, with its long history of fighting for consumer protections, supports the CPSC and its critical safety mission.

Established in 1972, the CPSC’s sole mission is to “save lives and keep families safe by reducing the unreasonable risk of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products.”  So, while the CPCS is a small agency, its jurisdiction includes 15,000 types of consumer products.  To accomplish its critical work, CPSC issues and enforces mandatory standards, bans dangerous products for which no feasible standard is possible, obtains recalls of dangerous products, researches product hazards, develops voluntary standards with other groups including businesses, and educates consumers.

The CPSC’s work is important to the safety of all consumers and, in the five decades since its creation, the CPSC has reduced death and injuries from many products.  However, its focus on children’s safety is one of the most significant features of the CPSC’s work.  For example, from 1973 to 2019, crib fatalities decreased by nearly 80%, in part because of the CPSC’s important work.  The CPSC’s mandatory safety standard for cribs went into effect in 2011.  Similarly, from 1972 to 2020, pediatric poisoning for all children decreased 80% and for children under 5, decreased 83%.  This year the CPSC finalized a rule for clothing storage units (CSUs) that will protect children from tip-over-related deaths and injuries. From January 2000 through April 2022, CPSC was aware of 234 total fatalities resulting from CSUs, including 199 child fatalities.

The CPSC has also been active in announcing the recalls of dangerous products.  For example, in January 2023 the CPSC reannounced Fisher-Price’s recall of 4.7 million Rock n’ Play sleepers because the product has been linked to approximately 100 infant deaths.  In June 2023, the CPSC reissued a statement urging consumers to stop using certain recalled Boppy newborn loungers that have been linked to multiple infant deaths.  The Commission has continued to seek information from Meta about the issue of dangerous recalled consumer products, such as the Rock n’ Play sleeper and Boppy newborn lounger, sold on Facebook Marketplace.

CFA strongly believes that consumers deserve a marketplace that is just and transparent. To this end, the CPSC’s work is critical to the health and safety of American consumers.  CFA supports the CPSC’s vital mission and its important work against efforts to undermine its authority.  To support the CPSC in its mission to protect consumers from dangerous products, individuals and organizations should:

• Urge their elected officials to support the CPSC in its critical mission to make the marketplace more consumer driven. Encourage their elected officials to protect the CPSC from efforts to undermine its authority to keep consumers safe.  Let their elected officials know that consumers deserve timely information about the potential hazards in their homes.
• Exercise their rights and participate in agency rulemaking on regulations.
• Report complaints about harm or potential harm from unsafe consumer products at gov. This website can also be used to determine whether anyone has already reported injuries associated with a particular consumer product.
• Search reports and recalls/repairs of unsafe or potentially unsafe consumer products.
• Review CPSC’s safety education materials.
• Review CPSC’s injury statistics and technical reports.
• Learn about the various facets of CPSC’s work or contact the CPSC’s Consumer Ombudsman, who is dedicated to helping the public understand how the CPSC works.
• Learn more about the work of groups that have successfully advocated for safer consumer products, such as Kids in Danger (KID), Parents for Window Blind Safety, and Parents Against Tip-Overs.

The attacks on the CPSC reflect the broader goal of regulated industries and some lawmakers to undermine the authority of federal agencies whose mission it is to protect consumers. As CFA continues to advocate for a marketplace that is just and transparent, trust that we will continue to defend this critical consumer protection agency.

Consumer Groups Urge Congress to Support the PAID Act

Earlier this month Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Mark Takano (CA-39) reintroduced the Prohibit Auto Insurance Discrimination (PAID) Act, which would ensure insurance companies use only driving-related factors when determining car insurance rates and eligibility. Nineteen consumer groups, including the Consumer Federation of America, sent a letter urging other members of Congress to support and pass this critical legislation.

Nearly every state in the country mandates the purchase of auto insurance. Currently, auto insurance companies can use these discriminatory socio-economic factors to determine a driver’s insurance rate and eligibility:

1. credit score, credit-based insurance score, or consumer report,
2. education level,
3. job or occupation, as well as their employment status,
4. home ownership status,
5. gender and marital status,
6. prior insurance coverage and previous insurers, and
7. home ZIP code or census tract.

“Many consumers are charged hundreds or even thousands of dollars more based on these variables, even though they aren’t related to driving,” said Michael DeLong, CFA’s Research and Advocacy Associate. “Your auto insurance premium should be based on your driving behavior, not your credit score or your job or whether you graduated from college.”

If the PAID Act becomes law, it would “further require all underwriting rules and rate filings by auto insurers to be made publicly available,” and would “require insurers to submit regular information to the Federal Trade Commission to demonstrate that their marketing, underwriting, rating, claims handling, and fraud investigations, and any models or algorithms used in these programs, do not have a disparate impact on consumers based on their race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or gender identity or expression.”

The organizations wrote that if passed, the PAID Act “should also serve as a model for state legislators and regulators who are serious about reducing unfair discrimination in auto insurance markets.”

“The PAID Act would strike a blow for consumers by greatly reducing auto insurance premiums and ensuring that the process is fair and transparent.” said DeLong. “We urge Congress to put consumers first and pass this bill.”

Florida Student Privacy Bill Bans Educational Apps from Selling Data

By: R.J. Cross, Director of Don’t Sell My Data Campaign, PIRG; and Bess Pierre, Intern, Don’t Sell My Data Campaign

Earlier this month, the Florida state legislature passed a new student privacy bill – the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act  – in an effort to bolster student data privacy protections at school.

How does the Florida student privacy bill protect kids? 

Many sites and apps students use for school include secretive technology that harvests student data and sells it to third parties. A 2022 study by Human Rights Watch found that 90% of educational apps do just this – turning a tool for learning into a tool for exploiting minors’ information for commercial gain, usually unbeknownst to students, teachers, and parents alike.

Florida’s bill bans educational platforms from gathering any more information from students than is reasonably necessary to deliver the primary service of being a learning tool. It also bans companies from using student data for any non-educational purposes. This means student data cannot be sold to third parties or used for targeted advertising.

Requiring companies to only gather the data that’s necessary to deliver the service a consumer is expecting to get, and using it for only that purpose, is a principle broadly known as data minimization. Data minimization is a good approach to data privacy. It’s encouraging to see Florida implement it in this law.

How effective is the new Florida student privacy bill?

The bill is a good step towards protecting kids online. There are some open questions left – like how well enforcement will work, and what companies and products the bill will apply to. The Florida Department of Legal Affairs is currently the only enforcer, which is less ideal than if consumers were able to sue offending companies themselves. The bill also only applies to platforms specifically designed for  K-12 education, leaving out a lot of other websites, apps and online tools students interact with on a daily basis.

Still, the bill is a big step forward for student privacy, while Congress considers its next steps.

What happens next? 

The bill goes into effect on July 1, 2023, and the State Board of Education may adopt rules to improve the law’s implementation at a later date.

Meanwhile, however, companies outside the EdTech space will largely continue to be able to collect, sell and use all of our data however they want. It’s essential for all companies to minimize collection for all consumers, not just children. Businesses should also take responsibility for respecting consumer privacy even before policymakers pass strong regulations.

The post CFAnews Update – June 28, 2023 appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

Established in 1972, the CPSC’s sole mission is to “save lives and keep families safe by reducing the unreasonable risk of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products.”  So, while the CPCS is a small agency, its jurisdiction includes 15,000 types of consumer products.  To accomplish its critical work, CPSC issues and enforces mandatory standards, bans dangerous products for which no feasible standard is possible, obtains recalls of dangerous products, researches product hazards, develops voluntary standards with other groups including businesses, and educates consumers.

The CPSC’s work is important to the safety of all consumers and, in the five decades since its creation, the CPSC has reduced death and injuries from many products.  However, its focus on children’s safety is one of the most significant features of the CPSC’s work.  For example, from 1973 to 2019, crib fatalities decreased by nearly 80%, in part because of the CPSC’s important work.  The CPSC’s mandatory safety standard for cribs went into effect in 2011.  Similarly, from 1972 to 2020, pediatric poisoning for all children decreased 80% and for children under 5, decreased 83%.  This year the CPSC finalized a rule for clothing storage units (CSUs) that will protect children from tip-over-related deaths and injuries. From January 2000 through April 2022, CPSC was aware of 234 total fatalities resulting from CSUs, including 199 child fatalities.

The CPSC has also been active in announcing the recalls of dangerous products.  For example, in January 2023 the CPSC reannounced Fisher-Price’s recall of 4.7 million Rock n’ Play sleepers because the product has been linked to approximately 100 infant deaths.  In June 2023, the CPSC reissued a statement urging consumers to stop using certain recalled Boppy newborn loungers that have been linked to multiple infant deaths.  The Commission has continued to seek information from Meta about the issue of dangerous recalled consumer products, such as the Rock n’ Play sleeper and Boppy newborn lounger, sold on Facebook Marketplace.

CFA strongly believes that consumers deserve a marketplace that is just and transparent. To this end, the CPSC’s work is critical to the health and safety of American consumers.  CFA supports the CPSC’s vital mission and its important work against efforts to undermine its authority.  To support the CPSC in its mission to protect consumers from dangerous products, individuals and organizations should:

• Urge their elected officials to support the CPSC in its critical mission to make the marketplace more consumer driven. Encourage their elected officials to protect the CPSC from efforts to undermine its authority to keep consumers safe.  Let their elected officials know that consumers deserve timely information about the potential hazards in their homes.
• Exercise their rights and participate in agency rulemaking on regulations.
• Report complaints about harm or potential harm from unsafe consumer products at gov. This website can also be used to determine whether anyone has already reported injuries associated with a particular consumer product.
• Search reports and recalls/repairs of unsafe or potentially unsafe consumer products.
• Review CPSC’s safety education materials.
• Review CPSC’s injury statistics and technical reports.
• Learn about the various facets of CPSC’s work or contact the CPSC’s Consumer Ombudsman, who is dedicated to helping the public understand how the CPSC works.
• Learn more about the work of groups that have successfully advocated for safer consumer products, such as Kids in Danger (KID), Parents for Window Blind Safety, and Parents Against Tip-Overs.

The attacks on the CPSC reflect the broader goal of regulated industries and some lawmakers to undermine the authority of federal agencies whose mission it is to protect consumers. As CFA continues to advocate for a marketplace that is just and transparent, trust that we will continue to defend this critical consumer protection agency.

The post Consumer Federation of America Supports Consumer Product Safety Commission Against Unwarranted Attacks appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

The post Consumer and Medical Organizations Urge Financial Support for the CPSC appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

CFA leads a coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to reducing deaths and injuries caused by OHVs. CFA’s OHV Safety Coalition tracks news reports and compiles OHV fatalities in real time. As of May 2023, the OHV Safety Coalition has identified 126 OHV fatalities this year, finding that a disproportionate amount of the fatalities are children under the age of 16.  ATV riders account for the highest number of fatalities in both the CPSC newly released data and the OHV Safety Coalition data.

“The recently released CPSC data, in addition to the work of CFA’s OHV Safety Coalition, demonstrates the urgent need for the CPSC, manufacturers, retailers, and other key stakeholders to do more to prevent these serious, sometimes fatal, incidents,” said Courtney Griffin, CFA’s Director of Consumer Product Safety. “It is imperative that we do everything we can to protect our most vulnerable.”

The post Statement of Consumer Federation of America on CPSC’s 2022 Report of Deaths and Injuries Involving Off-Highway Vehicles With More Than Two Wheels appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

The post Consumer Organizations Support the CPSC’s Proposed Guidance for Estimating Value per Statistical Life (VSL) appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

The post Recommendations to the CPSC Agenda and Priorities for Fiscal Years 24 and 25 appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

The Revolving Door: How a Florida Insurance Commissioner is Going on a Lucrative Career as an Insurance Lobbyist — Likely at the Expense of Consumers

Rock n’ Play Recall Demonstrates How Secrecy Provision of Law Hides Product Dangers from Consumers

Group Letter to Chairman Gensler Spotlights Climate Risks in Private Markets

In the Face of FDA Inaction on Harmful Food Dyes, California Offers Hope of Protecting Consumers

By: Thomas Gremillion, Director of Food Policy

For far too many parents, navigating the food system feels like traversing a minefield. CFA is working to address one source of this anxiety: artificial dyes.

For decades, researchers have suspected that several artificial dyes contribute to hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder in children. These suspicions were recently confirmed by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. After comprehensively and systematically reviewing the evidence, the agency concluded in 2021 that several dyes “cause or exacerbate neurobehavioral problems in some children.” Specifically, the agency’s report fingers the color additives FD&C Blue No. 1, FD&C Blue No. 2, FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red No. 3, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5, and FD&C Yellow No. 6.

Last year, CFA joined consumer advocacy partners in petitioning the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to require a warning label on dye-containing foods and supplements to alert consumers about the adverse effects these dyes have on children’s neurobehavior. Earlier this month, I testified with other petitioner representatives, and experts including toxicologists, epidemiologists, and pediatricians, at a public hearing that CDPH held on the group’s petition. We sought to counter industry trade groups’ and paid consultants’ arguments against acting on the science.

One common argument was that these dyes are safe because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved them, and FDA is the expert. However, FDA’s approval of these dyes happened in the 80s or even earlier, before the dawn of the personal computer, never mind the genetic analysis technologies that have shed light on why food dyes appear to cause hyperactivity in some children, and even appear to have as large an effect on children’s behavior as lead does on children’s IQ.

Industry has argued that FDA’s ongoing market surveillance should suffice to ensure public protections against these food dyes remain up-to-date. However, FDA’s market surveillance of the harms caused by these dyes has let consumers down, in part because FDA is underfunded and under resourced. The entire FDA Office of Food Additives Safety—responsible for regulating more than 10,000 chemicals in food and a multi-billion-dollar industry—has just over 100 full-time technical staff. And it does not currently have a director.

According to a 2013 study of over 4,000 chemicals purposely added to food such as flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners, less than 22% had sufficient data to estimate how much is safe to eat, and less than 7% were tested for developmental or reproductive effects. FDA may not even know that a chemical is in the food supply, thanks to the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) process, under which food companies have been allowed to determine themselves that over a thousand food chemicals are Generally Recognized as Safe.

Unfortunately, FDA is not going to stand up for consumers on food dyes, but California can. And one big reason for doing so is to establish a level playing field for companies that want to do the right thing. A few years ago, several large companies including General Mills, Kellogg, and Mars made bold pledges to remove artificial colors from their products, but most of them have not followed through. And no wonder! If a company’s competitors can save money and otherwise take advantage of using these chemicals, it’s hard to make the business case for change.

In Europe, public health authorities have required a warning label on most dyed foods for 15 years. The experience of many leading U.S. companies “across the pond” shows that reformulating foods to remove dyes is feasible and economical. If we arm American consumers with accurate information about food dye harms, we can be confident that it will move the market on this issue just as it has in Europe. Consumers have a right to make educated choices about what foods they purchase and consume. If the FDA can’t stand up to protect consumers, particularly young children, from harmful food dyes, then individual state public health departments should. California, CFA urges you to lead by example and put consumers first.

The Revolving Door: How a Florida Insurance Commissioner is Going on to a Lucrative Career as an Insurance Lobbyist — Likely at the Expense of Consumers

By: Michael DeLong, Insurance Research Advocate

The fifty-one state Insurance Departments are responsible for regulating insurance, protecting consumers, and making sure that insurance rates are not excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory. Some commissioners are determined to help consumers. Others, less so. Some regulators seem to treat their time in government as a slow-moving job interview for a high-paying positions within the insurance industry. They exit their Department of Insurance through the “revolving door” that connects the agency with the industry, taking lucrative jobs as lobbyists or “government affairs” executives in the insurance sector after they leave their public post.

As the doors are revolving, we also see former industry staff moving into the public agencies as well. The problem is not just limited to the Commissioners—top-level insurance department staff also pass through too often, and it can result in an unhealthy relationship between the insurance industry and the departments that are supposed to oversee them. Not surprisingly, the revolving door can undermine consumer protection and enforcement of the laws. If an Insurance Commissioner plans to get a job at an insurance company after they leave office, they may avoid taking actions that would upset that company. Regulators may even take actions or make decisions enabling them to cash in later, when they join insurance companies that they have regulated. Insurance companies, in turn, hire former Commissioners and regulators to gain personal access to government officials, to seek favorable legislation and regulations, and to get inside information on what Insurance Departments are doing.

A recent poster child of this phenomenon is former Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier, who abruptly resigned late last year to join an insurance lobbying firm.  For fourteen years, Altmaier worked in the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR), and from 2016 to 2022 he was Florida’s Insurance Commissioner, a period marked by hostility to consumer advocates and consumer protection, and, as his last year concluded, the extraordinary lapse in regulatory oversight of insurers that were low-balling and defrauding policyholders dealing with Hurricane Ian claims.

In late 2022, Altmaier urged the Florida legislature to pass sweeping law changes, claiming that they would stabilize Florida’s troubled property insurance market. The Florida legislature held a short special legislative session in 2022 and enacted these reforms, which created a new layer of reinsurance funded by the state, banned one-way attorneys’ fees in insurance claims litigation, and made it harder for policyholders to bring litigation against insurers.

In a December 2022 letter to Governor Ron DeSantis, Altmaier praised these new laws and wrote that “we have worked with the Florida Legislature to meet historic challenges with historic reforms.” But some observers were more skeptical, doubting that the reform would reduce property insurance costs. In a Twitter post, Florida House Democratic spokesman Jackson Peel asked, “What do you think will be announced first: The next insurance company leaves Florida’s collapsing market or his new high paying job in the insurance industry?”

The answer was the latter, with a slight twist: Altmaier obtained a high paying job at a lobbying firm, as a lobbyist, excuse me, “advocate,”  for the insurance industry. His new is quite explicit about the value of the revolving door: “I leverage over a decade of experience to help insurance and insurance-adjacent entities navigate the complex world of regulation and regulatory policy.”

In that same letter mentioned earlier, Altmaier submitted his resignation, which took effect on December 28^th, 2022—only a couple of weeks later. Why did he depart so quickly? Because on January 1^st, 2023, a new anti-lobbying law took effect. Before then, former Florida agency heads (including former Insurance Commissioners) would be banned from lobbying for two years, and this law extended that lobbying ban to six years. By resigning before the law became operational, Altmaier could avoid this extended ban.

And in March 2023, Altmaier announced that he had a plum new job: he would be joining the Southern Group, the top-earning lobbying firm in Florida. Florida Politics reported that Altmaier “will be utilizing his network of contacts to build a national insurance advisory practice.” Insurance Journal reported that the former Commissioner “will be ‘an extraordinary effective advocate’ at a time that insurance companies need those skills the most.” With no sense of irony or impropriety, the Southern Group’s website announces that “Today, the sharp lines between government, business, and constituencies have blurred.”

In his new job, Altmaier is taking advantage of another loophole in Florida’s anti-lobbying law. The law bans Florida agency heads from lobbying their former agencies—but not from lobbying Florida legislators. Altmaier’s salary is not listed. But we suspect that his new position is quite a bit more lucrative than his old position as Florida Insurance Commissioner.

To summarize: former Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier, in charge of regulating insurance and safeguarding consumers, abruptly resigned from his job, where he was hostile to consumers and cozy with the insurance industry. And not even three months later, he joined Florida’s largest lobbying firm to advocate for insurance companies by using his former contacts and knowledge. This case is a perfect example of the revolving door, where some insurance regulators move seamlessly from public service to very profitable lobbying and influence-peddling.

We invite Florida’s new Insurance Commissioner, Michael Yaworsky, to chart a different path and pledge not to work for the insurance industry when his time at the agency ends.

Rock n’ Play Recall Demonstrates How Secrecy Provision of Law Hides Product Dangers from Consumers

By: Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety

The Consumer Product Safety Commission continues to find recalled Rock n’ Play sleepers listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace, despite representations from Meta, Facebook Marketplace’s owner, that it would take steps to prevent the re-sell of recalled products on its platform.  In his second letter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, CPSC Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric once again urged Meta to do more to stop the illegal sale of recalled consumer products.

In another letter to Mattel and its subsidiary Fisher-Price, Hoehn-Saric also urged the company to take additional steps to protect babies from the hazards posed by recalled Rock n’ Play infant sleepers.  Hoehn-Saric called on the company to announce the recall again and do more to remove Rock n’ Play sleepers from the resell market and homes. According to the CPSC, the average listed price of a Rock n’ Play sleeper on the secondary market is $25, more than what some consumers will receive if they act on the recall.

The CPSC issued a recall on Rock n’ Play sleepers in April 2019 and again in January 2023 because of poor results.  The sleeper has been linked to the deaths of almost 100 infants, with at least 8 occurring after Fisher-Price recalled the product. In a letter to members of Congress in March 2023, Fisher-Price stated that it has “completed more than 465,000 cumulative corrections related to recalled Rock n’ Play sleepers, including product in manufacturer inventory, retailer inventory, and with consumers.”  This amounts to less than 10% of the 4.7 million recalled Rock n’ Play sleepers.

In addition to highlighting how easy it is to purchase dangerous recalled products, the Rock n’ Play saga also demonstrates how dangerous products flood the market because of the unique restrictions that govern the CPSC’s public disclosure of information.  Section 6(b), 15 U.S.C. § 2055(b), a provision of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), prohibits the CPSC from disclosing information about a consumer product that identifies a manufacturer or private labeler unless the CPSC has taken “reasonable steps” to assure that the information is accurate, the disclosure is fair and reasonably related to effectuating the purposes of the CPSC.  As such, the CPSC must provide the manufacturer or private labeler with an opportunity to comment on the accuracy of the information, and the CPSC may not disclose such information for at least 15 days after sending it to the company for comment.  The reality, however, is that the process between the CPSC and manufacturers or private labelers often takes many years before the information can be disclosed to the public.

In the case of the Rock n’ Play, it remained on the market for a decade despite infant deaths tied to the product.  The CPSC issued an alert in May 2018 regarding “infant deaths associated with inclined sleep products,” but did not identify specific products in a way that was helpful for most caregivers.  However, it was an accidental disclosure of information that prompted the events leading to the Rock n’ Play’s recall.  While reviewing data it requested from the CPSC, Consumer Reports found several infant fatalities linked to the Rock n’ Play and similar products.  Under section 6(b) that data should have been redacted but the agency had made a mistake and released the information to Consumer Reports.  By the April 2019 recall, approximately 4.7 million Rock n’ Play sleepers had flooded the market.

Recently the CPSC issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update the regulation interpreting section 6(b).  The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking did not in any way repeal or significantly alter the main restrictions of section 6(b), but the proposed changes would streamline and modernize the regulation interpreting the statute.  CFA submitted public comments supporting the minor changes, but stated that repeal of section 6(b) is necessary to promote consumer safety and transparency.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) reintroduced the Sunshine in Product Safety Act in March 2023. In a related press release, Senator Blumenthal said: “This measure removes the regulatory straight jacket that deprives consumers of vital product safety information. Current regulatory requirements give companies the right to veto vital CPSC warnings and deny the truth to consumers. By repealing Section 6(b), our measure would free the CPSC to swiftly warn the public about hazardous products and require companies to put people ahead of profits.”

In the same press release Congresswoman Schakowsky said, “Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from telling the public about potentially dangerous products without the company’s permission. Simply put, it protects companies over consumers. This cannot stand.” 

Blumenthal and Schakowsky previously introduced the Sunshine in Product Safety Act in April 2021 after reports that Peloton obstructed the CPSC’s investigation following injuries and a child’s death.

CFA strongly supports the Sunshine in Product Safety Act, stating in the bill’s press release: “It is time for Congress to stop allowing companies to put the lives of consumers, especially our most vulnerable, in danger.  We applaud Senator Blumenthal and Congresswoman Schakowsky for valuing transparency and the lives of consumers by introducing the Sunshine in Product Safety Act. It is past time to repeal the gag order that is Section 6(b) and allow the Consumer Product Safety Commission to do its life-saving work to the best of its ability.”

Caregivers have an expectation that the products they purchase, especially products for babies and children, are safe.  Yet the CPSC cannot share critical, sometimes life-saving information.  CFA and other product safety advocates support the Sunshine in Product Safety Act for this reason.  It is important that we let our elected officials know that companies should not be able to hide or delay critical safety information.  Consumers deserve timely information about the potential hazards in their homes and babies deserve to sleep in safe products. It is imperative that Congress passes the Sunshine in Product Safety Act to protect consumers.

Group Letter to Chairman Gensler Spotlights Climate Risks in Private Markets

By: Dylan Bruce, Financial Services Counsel

On April 4, a diverse group of organizations, including investor protection and shareholder advocates, climate advocates, and businesses, wrote to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler to highlight how private markets contribute to and exacerbate climate-related risks for investors and our financial system and what the Commission must do to meet these growing risks.

Specifically, the letter discusses the troubling and emerging trend of public companies shifting carbon-intensive, “dirty” assets from their balance sheets into private markets, a practice known as “brown spinning.” These transactions, which can effectively remove high emitting assets out of publicly available disclosures and into the shadows of private markets, are increasingly being employed in emissions-intensive industries, often to meet seemingly altruistic climate goals. Regrettably, the net effect is that the climate impacting assets and activities continue unabated while the associated climate-related risks for investors and markets become worse and more difficult to assess. As the letter states, “The ability of private companies to stay dark and of public companies to shift dirty assets into the dark could mean that the overall levels of emissions and climate impacting activities could remain the same, or perhaps even grow. If private markets become a de facto risk repository for the dirtiest assets, then despite the Commission’s best efforts to facilitate relevant climate-related information, investors would remain in the dark about these risks, unable to price these risks effectively or ascertain their true exposure to these risks.”

To address this issue, the letter urges the Commission to take decisive action to limit companies’ ability to hide climate-related risks in private markets and to promote the health and vitality of public markets generally. This can be done in part by reining in the excessive growth of private markets. Accordingly, the SEC should move forward with several regulatory proposals that are currently on the Agency’s agenda, including updating the Accredited Investor definition, making modest changes to the Regulation D framework, and making long overdue changes to Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act. The letter observes that “these updates would stem the growth of private markets and encourage companies to go public, where they would be subject to public disclosure requirements, including disclosure of their climate- and other Environmental, Social, and Governance-related risks.”

Unless the structural problems that allow companies to effectively hide dirty assets in private markets are addressed, “the Commission’s efforts to improve climate disclosures [for public issuers] will, at best, be a partial success, leaving a wide swath of investors and our markets vulnerable to the profound risks of climate change, and compounding the unhealthy imbalance between public and private markets that exists today.”

The post CFAnews Update – April 27, 2023 appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

In another letter to Mattel and its subsidiary Fisher-Price, Hoehn-Saric also urged the company to take additional steps to protect babies from the hazards posed by recalled Rock n’ Play infant sleepers.  Hoehn-Saric called on the company to announce the recall again and do more to remove Rock n’ Play sleepers from the resell market and homes. According to the CPSC, the average listed price of a Rock n’ Play sleeper on the secondary market is $25, more than what some consumers will receive if they act on the recall.

The CPSC issued a recall on Rock n’ Play sleepers in April 2019 and again in January 2023 because of poor results.  The sleeper has been linked to the deaths of almost 100 infants, with at least 8 occurring after Fisher-Price recalled the product. In a letter to members of Congress in March 2023, Fisher-Price stated that it has “completed more than 465,000 cumulative corrections related to recalled Rock n’ Play sleepers, including product in manufacturer inventory, retailer inventor, and with consumers.”  This amounts to less than 10% of the 4.7 million recalled Rock n’ Player sleepers.

In addition to highlighting how easy it is to purchase dangerous recalled products, the Rock n’ Play saga also demonstrates how dangerous products flood the market because of the unique restrictions that govern the CPSC’s public disclosure of information.  Section 6(b), 15 U.S.C. § 2055(b), a provision of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), prohibits the CPSC from disclosing information about a consumer product that identifies a manufacturer or private labeler unless the CPSC has taken “reasonable steps” to assure that the information is accurate, the disclosure is fair and reasonably related to effectuating the purposes of the CPSC.  As such, the CPSC must provide the manufacturer or private labeler with an opportunity to comment on the accuracy of the information, and the CPSC may not disclose such information for at least 15 days after sending it to the company for comment.  The reality, however, is that the process between the CPSC and manufacturers or private labelers often takes many years before the information can be disclosed to the public.

In the case of the Rock n’ Play, it remained on the market for a decade despite infant deaths tied to the product.  The CPSC issued an alert in May 2018 regarding “infant deaths associated with inclined sleep products,” but did not identify specific products in a way that was helpful for most caregivers.  However, it was an accidental disclosure of information that prompted the events leading to the Rock n’ Play’s recall.  While reviewing data it requested from the CPSC, Consumer Reports found several infant fatalities linked to the Rock n’ Play and similar products.  Under section 6(b) that data should have been redacted but the agency had made a mistake and released the information to Consumer Reports.  By the April 2019 recall, approximately 4.7 million Rock n’ Play sleepers had flooded the market.

Recently the CPSC issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update the regulation interpreting section 6(b).  The Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking did not in any way repeal or significantly alter the main restrictions of section 6(b), but the proposed changes would streamline and modernize the regulation interpreting the statute.  CFA submitted public comments supporting the minor changes but stated that repeal of section 6(b) is necessary to promote consumer safety and transparency.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09) reintroduced the Sunshine in Product Safety Act in March 2023.  “This measure removes the regulatory straight jacket that deprives consumers of vital product safety information,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal stated in the press release. “Current regulatory requirements give companies the right to veto vital CPSC warnings and deny the truth to consumers. By repealing Section 6(b), our measure would free the CPSC to swiftly warn the public about hazardous products and require companies to put people ahead of profits.”

“Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from telling the public about potentially dangerous products without the company’s permission. Simply put, it protects companies over consumers. This cannot stand,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky in the press release.  Blumenthal and Schakowsky previously introduced the Sunshine in Product Safety Act in April 2021 after reports that Peloton obstructed the CPSC’s investigation following injuries and a child’s death.

CFA strongly supports the Sunshine in Product Safety Act, stating in the bill’s press release: “It is time for Congress to stop allowing companies to put the lives of consumers, especially our most vulnerable, in danger.  We applaud Senator Blumenthal and Congresswoman Schakowsky for valuing transparency and the lives of consumers by introducing the Sunshine in Product Safety Act. It is past time to repeal the gag order that is Section 6(b) and allow the Consumer Product Safety Commission to do its life-saving work to the best of its ability.”

Caregivers have an expectation that the products they purchase, especially products for babies and children, are safe.  Yet the CPSC cannot share critical, sometimes life-saving information.  CFA and other product safety advocates support the Sunshine in Product Safety Act for this reason.  It is important that we let our elected officials know that companies should not be able to hide or delay critical safety information.  Consumers deserve timely information about the potential hazards in their homes and babies deserve to sleep in safe products. It is imperative that Congress passes the Sunshine in Product Safety Act to protect consumers.

The post Rock n’ Play Recall Demonstrates How Secrecy Provision of Law Hides Product Dangers from Consumers appeared first on Consumer Federation of America.

“For too long, too many children have died from the preventable hazard of unstable furniture, especially dressers,” stated Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of Kids In Danger. “This new mandatory standard, developed through collaboration of all stakeholders and led by the grit and determination of parents who have already lost children, made this happen and we are eager to see the new stable furniture for sale and in our homes.”

“No family should have to experience the injury or death of a child because of furniture tip-overs. This long overdue mandatory standard addresses preventable, real world risks. It will save lives and protect children from furniture tip-overs,” said Courtney Griffin, Director of Consumer Product Safety at Consumer Federation of America.

In the U.S., on average, six children are sent to the emergency department each day from a furniture tip-over incident, and on average, one child dies every two weeks from a furniture or TV tip-over. Previously, the only safety standard addressing the issue of tip-overs was a voluntary industry standard that was not robust enough to prevent tip-overs. KID and CFA have been working with advocates such as Parents Against Tip-overs (PAT) for over a decade to get CPSC and Congress to create a strong mandatory standard to prevent furniture tip-overs, and also through the ASTM process to strengthen the previous voluntary standard.

“Parents Against Tip-overs (PAT) is thrilled with the CPSC’s approval of the much improved stability standard ASTM F2057-23 as the mandatory rule, per the direction of The STURDY Act,” stated Brett Horn, Chairman of PAT. “A strong mandatory standard has been the individual and shared goal of all PAT parents for 20 years. Our kids’ deaths are the ‘data’ justifying the need for change, our parents’ testimonies were the catalyst for the CPSC’s rule, our push for compromise was instrumental in the life saving improvements to the voluntary standard, and our passion for a solution was the driving force behind the passage of the STURDY Act. Our hope is the result will be the protection of children from the horrible accidents which took our children’s lives.” Read PAT’s full statement here.

After collaboration among all stakeholders to strengthen that standard, ASTM International published its updated furniture safety standard in February, and includes objective, repeatable, reproducible, and measurable series of tests that simulate real-world use. The new standard:

• includes testing that simulates the weight of children up to 60 pounds,
• accounts for impacts on clothing storage unit stability that may result from multiple drawers open and placement on carpeted surfaces,
• accounts for impacts on dresser stability that may result from drawers with items in them,
• accounts for impacts on clothing storage unit stability that may result from dynamic force,
• requires testing of all clothing storage units including those 27 inches and above in height, and
• mandates warning and labeling requirements are precise, well placed, and informative.

Although the voluntary standard on which this rule is based was published in February 2023, this new mandatory rule will be effective 120 days after its publication in the Federal Register. This new rule will supersede a previous CPSC rule set to take effect on May 24, 2023.

While today’s advancement is positive for the future safety of children, it applies to dressers and clothing storage furniture sold after the effective date. Unstable TVs and other furniture are not covered by this standard. Unstable furniture remains in many homes. KID and CFA strongly urge consumers to anchor their furniture to prevent tip-overs. Learn how to anchor furniture and TVs at the CPSC’s Anchorit.gov site. Any furniture tip-over incidents should be reported to the CPSC at SaferProducts.gov.

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