Ms. Nancy A. Nord and the US Product Safety Commission is asking Congress to NOT fund an increased budget or add staff. They can't keep up with imported Chinese toys and the lead problem, but they don't need additional resources that have been offered! Can you believe it?
The New York Times is running an article about it today. You'll find it here http://www.nytimes.com/...
The issue is that we are not being protected and they don't really want to protect us! There was a story on CNN this AM about a sealant product for ceramic tile and it causes lung damage and is still on the shelves!! Sheesh!
I was bowled over to read Ms Nord saying that, "She was critical, for instance, of a provision to ban lead from all toys, saying it was not practical. She said that the proposal to raise the potential penalty to $100 million 'may have the undesired consequence of firms, as a precautionary measure, flooding the agency with virtually every consumer complaint and incident.' Her concern, she said, was that the increase in complaints would so overwhelm the commission that, 'true safety issues would go unrecognized in the process." (This from the Times story; link above.)
My G_ _! Lead is NOT a true safety issue!! Who does she think she's kidding? I guess she doesn't have kids OR knows that she can protect them from such poisoning with inside informtion. But what of the thousands of kids whose families are ignorant of the risks!!?? Oh, I read from the USPSC site that she DOES have one daughter....probably grown, but who knows...
Looks like the USPSC motto is "Saving Lives and Keeping Families Safe." What a joke!