Toymakers try to quash new safety regulations

Published 4:00 am Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Emboldened by a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, manufacturers of toys and other children’s products are making a last-ditch effort to quash new safety regulations that they say are unfair or too onerous.

Among their primary targets is a new public database, operated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and scheduled to go online in three weeks, that would allow the public to search for injury reports on products like cribs and strollers.

The manufacturers are also trying to scale back new regulations, drafted by the commission, that would require third-party testing to determine the safety and lead content of children’s products.

They have found a receptive audience among House Republicans.

Already, Rep. Mike Pompeo, a newly elected Republican from Kansas, has succeeding in passing an amendment to an appropriations bill to strip financing for the consumer products database, arguing that the idea needed to be tweaked to protect manufacturers from bogus complaints and lawsuits.

“I’m an engineer. I love data. But I know what people put online,” Pompeo said at a meeting of the House subcommittee on commerce, manufacturing and trade last week. “I think this is a plaintiff’s bar dream.”

It remains far from certain that House members will succeed in cutting the budget for the consumer database or scaling back consumer product regulations. Democrats retain the majority in the Senate and are determined to block such measures.

Rick Locker, a lawyer who represents many of the toy and children’s product groups, said the industry still supported the main points of the law, like giving the commission more money and limiting the amount of lead.

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