Safety Last?

[richlevy]

Once again we have regulatory heads who hate big government. Normally, I would applaud that idea, except when it interferes with the job. Consumers need to have confidence in what they purchase. An effective agency is actually good for business. This laissez-faire approach seems all well and good until a couple of thousand kids get poisoned.

There are a lot of things individual citizens can do for themselves, but testing for contaminated goods isn't one of them.

Three guesses where she ends up when she leaves the CPSC.


From here

Bigger Budget? No, Responds Safety Agency

By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 — The nation’s top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation intended to strengthen the agency, which polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools.
On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.
Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistle-blowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws.
The measure is an effort to buttress an agency that has been under siege because of a raft of tainted and dangerous products manufactured both domestically and abroad. In the last two months alone, more than 13 million toys have been recalled after tests indicated lead levels that sometimes reached almost 200 times the safety limit.
Ms. Nord’s opposition to important elements of the legislation is consistent with the broadly deregulatory approach of the Bush administration over the last seven years. In a variety of areas, from antitrust to trucking and worker safety, officials appointed by President Bush have sought to reduce the role of regulation and government in the marketplace.

From here.

Industries Paid for CPSC Chief's Trips

Industry Organizations Paid for Regulators' Trips, Newspaper Report Says

Nov. 2, 2007 —

The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and her predecessor have taken numerous trips paid for by the industries the commission regulates, the Washington Post reported Friday.
Based on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the report stated that acting CPSC Chairwoman Nancy Nord and her predecessor Hal Stratton "have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate."
A government official has confirmed the accuracy of the Washington Post's report to ABC News.
Those trips, totaling nearly 30 since 2002, cost almost $60,000 for airfare, lodging and meals, the report said. The trips were both domestic and international.
On the Senate floor Friday, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, decried the CPSC's actions, saying the newspaper report "revealed that in addition to fighting agency improvements, chairwoman Nord has enjoyed trips across the country and around the world paid for by the very toy companies she is responsible for regulating& and that is outrageous."
Nord and the CPSC have come under fire following frequent and sweeping recalls of Chinese-manufactured toys which contained potentially toxic levels of lead.
This week, congressional Democrats have been calling for Nord's resignation in the wake of the recalls and after statements by Nord indicating that she is not in favor of expanding the CPSC.
Stratton's trips included an 11-day excursion to Hong Kong and China paid for by the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory -- an $11,000 tab.
Nord also reportedly attended a New Orleans meeting on trends in product litigation, paid for by the Defense Research Institute (DRI). Travel expenses for the February trip exceeded $2,000.

[bluecuracao]

Great, yet another "heck of a job" done by a Bush appointee.