Consumer Product Safety Chief’s Travel Under Scrutiny

RAY SUAREZ:

Now, protecting consumers from faulty products. Jeffrey Brown has that.

JEFFREY BROWN:

The spate of product recalls in recent months — many on items made in China — has increased scrutiny on the agency charged with protecting consumers, the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

This week, a Senate panel approved measures to give the commission more resources and new power. The House is working on similar legislation. But the commission is saying "Thanks, but no thanks," rejecting many of the new proposals.

In a separate development, the Washington Post reported today that industries regulated by the commission have paid for travel — nearly 30 trips in all — by current Commission Chair Nancy Nord and her predecessor, Hal Stratton.

We explore all this now, beginning with Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat from Colorado, and vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Well, Congresswoman DeGette, first, define the problem that you see at the commission.

REP. DIANA DEGETTE (D), Colorado: Well, the problem with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, they were formed in the 1970s. They had 800 employees and a robust budget.

And in the years since then, our economy has changed drastically, so we have toys coming in from China, many, many more imports. And many of those imports, like children's toys, are contaminated with lead.

At the same time, the Consumer Product Safety Commission's number of employees has dropped almost by 50 percent. And in real dollars, their budget has shrunk, too. For example, even though toy recalls mostly due to lead increased dramatically in the last five years, the CPSC has only one toy inspector for the entire agency.

And so many of us, Senator Pryor, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and myself, have introduced legislation both beefing up the powers of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and also giving them more funding, the funding they desperately need, given the shifting market.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Are you suggesting that it is a question of resources, or is there also the implication that the will is not there?

REP. DIANA DEGETTE:

Well, clearly in the statements of Chairman Nord this last couple of weeks, we are deeply disturbed by the fact that she has said that she doesn't think her agency needs any more resources.

You've got more products coming in from overseas. You've got a huge spike in recalls, which is very concerning, because, of course, only a fraction of those people who bought the products will return them. And you have the head of the agency saying, "Oh, well, this is no big deal, and we don't want the money." So a number of us, starting with Speaker Pelosi, have called for her resignation.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Do you believe generally that products are less safe today? And if so, why? What's the culprit?

REP. DIANA DEGETTE:

Well, I think that there is a greater risk — for example, lead in children's toys — than there may have been, because of shifts in the market. In the 1970s, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission was formed, most of the toys were produced domestically. Now they're coming in from China and other places in the world, and they have unacceptably high lead levels. Just this last week, we had a recall for Halloween vampire teeth, which children were using.

This is one thing the parents of America really think that the federal government should be keeping their children safe from these contaminated products. I think a large culprit is the nature of the markets and where we're getting our products from and, also, the fact that we have, certainly in the last five or six years, really reduced our diligence in overseeing the manufacturers and what they're doing.