The Consumer
Product Safety Commission (CPSC) consists of five appointees charged
with “protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death
associated with the use of the thousands of types of consumer products under
the agency’s jurisdiction…such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters,
and household chemicals.” You would think they would be acting in the interests
of consumers, yet
an editorial published in the Washington Times points out
that in some circumstances, this is not the case. Before looking at the current
issue, let’s take a look at some of the things this commission has considered
in the past:
“It once occurred to the consumer commissioners that a toddler could
easily (or not so easily) toddle into a bucket of water and drown. Pondering
that awful if unlikely possibility, the commissioners considered requiring
holes in the bottom of five-gallon buckets sold in the United States. The idea
died when it further occurred to an alert and smarter bureaucrat that the
market for “a bucket that leaks” might be a small one.”
The CPSC, charged
with protecting the public from risks associated with consumer products, is
making some questionable recommendations, most recently concerning phthalates.
But their recommendations are not based on appropriate data. Read more.
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