Archive for January, 2009
CPSC Stay on Testing and Certification Requirements: What Does it Mean to Manufacturers and Retailers?
As news broke Friday afternoon that the CPSC has granted a one year stay on certain product testing and certification requirements, manufacturers breathed a collective sigh of relief. But what does the stay really mean? How much relief can manufacturers expect? And, what about the retailers, will this stay hurt more than help? Let’s take [...]
Lead, Phthalates and Sellers of Children’s Products – What’s All the Fuss? An Explanatory Overview for Consumers
As of February 10, 2009 it is against the law to manufacture or sell any children’s product over the then-current lead limits. However, phthalate bans apply only to products manufactured on or after February 10, 2009. Products containing the banned phthalates can still be sold if they were manufactured before February 10, 2009.
Safety To-Do #4: Make Your Stairways Safer
Overall, from 2000 to 2005, Americans are estimated to have visited emergency rooms for fall-related injuries more than 39.7 million times, almost 8 million times per year, on average. Cross-referencing that data with statistics from National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) reveals that approximately 14%, or 5.5 million, of those falls are attributed to stairs, more than 1 million per year.
CPSC General Counsel Publishes Clarification on Lead Testing and Certification Requirements
Earlier this week, the CPSC General Counsel published a letter (dated January 15, 2009) regarding lead testing and third-party certification requirements for children’s products. Notably, General Counsel indicated that there could be changes that would allow third-party testing of product components rather than requiring testing of every finished product. In addition, General Counsel clarified that, [...]
Safety To-Do #3: Sign Up for a CPR Training or Refresher Course
Most of us have heard of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and understand that it can save lives. Yet, as with so many safety tasks, we somehow fail to act on that knowledge and arm ourselves with this simple and effective life-saving skill. Without oxygen, the brain will begin to die within four to six minutes. Therefore, [...]
Commission Accepts Staff's Lead Exemption Proposals
All four of the CPSC staff’s proposals on exemptions to the lead limits established by the CPSIA were approved by the Commission and were printed in the Federal Register (FR) today, January 15, 2009. You can find links to the specific FR pages and summaries of the lead-exemption proposals here. Before finalizing their ruling, the [...]
Safety To-Do #2: Make Sure Your Home is Radon-Free
Radon is a clear, odorless, radioactive gas known to cause lung cancer. Though you may not yet be familiar with radon or its devastating effects, the World Health Organization and the US Surgeon General, among others, have issued health advisories to begin educating the public about Radon. In fact, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [...]
CPSC Looks to EU for Rules on Lead in Electronic Devices
In section 101(b)(4) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), Congress acknowledges that it may be technically infeasible for some electronic devices intended for children to comply with the new lead laws. If the CPSC finds that to be the case, it must “issue requirements to eliminate or minimize the potential for [...]
Inaccessibility Rules for Exemption to CPSIA Lead Limits
Section 101(b)(2) of the CPSIA states that component parts of products will not be subject to lead limits if they are inaccessible to children. ‘Inaccessible’ was defined in the Act as “not physically exposed by reason of sealed covering or casing and does not become physically exposed through reasonably foreseeable use and abuse of the [...]
Procedures for Seeking Exemption to Lead Limits
Under Section 101(b) of the CPSIA of 2008, the CPSC may exclude certain products or materials from the children’s product lead ban. Even if a product or material is not on the initial list of potential items to be excluded from the lead ban, interested parties can petition that a particular item be excluded. CPSC [...]
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