[Senate Hearing 117-721]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                        S. Hrg. 117-721

    HIDDEN HOLIDAY HAZARDS: PRODUCT SAFETY DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

 SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION, PRODUCT SAFETY, AND DATA SECURITY

                                 OF THE

                         COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
                      SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION
                               __________

                           NOVEMBER 30, 2021
                               __________

    Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation


                  [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


                Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov

                               __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                    
53-127 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2023                
                


       SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                   MARIA CANTWELL, Washington, Chair
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota             ROGER WICKER, Mississippi, Ranking
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut      JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii                 ROY BLUNT, Missouri
EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts         TED CRUZ, Texas
GARY PETERS, Michigan                DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             JERRY MORAN, Kansas
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois            DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
JON TESTER, Montana                  MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              TODD YOUNG, Indiana
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  MIKE LEE, Utah
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado          SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West 
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia                 Virginia
                                     RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                     CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
                    David Strickland, Staff Director
                 Melissa Porter, Deputy Staff Director
       George Greenwell, Policy Coordinator and Security Manager
                 John Keast, Republican Staff Director
            Crystal Tully, Republican Deputy Staff Director
                      Steven Wall, General Counsel

                                 ------                                

         SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION, PRODUCT SAFETY, 
                           AND DATA SECURITY

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut,     MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee, 
    Chair                                Ranking
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota             JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii                 ROY BLUNT, Missouri
EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts         JERRY MORAN, Kansas
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             MIKE LEE, Utah
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            TODD YOUNG, Indiana

                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page
Hearing held on November 30, 2021................................     1
Statement of Senator Blumenthal..................................     1
Statement of Senator Blackburn...................................     3
Statement of Senator Cantwell....................................    86
Statement of Senator Lujan.......................................    93
Statement of Senator Markey......................................    95

                               Witnesses

Trista Hamsmith, Mother, Parent Advocate, and Founder, Reese's 
  Purpose........................................................     5
    Prepared statement...........................................     8
Hannah Rhodes, Consumer Watchdog Associate, U.S. Public Interest 
  Research Group.................................................    12
    Prepared statement...........................................    14
Ben Hoffman, MD, FAAP, CPST-I, Chair, AAP Council on Injury, 
  Violence and Poison Prevention Executive Committee, on Behalf 
  of the American Academy of Pediatrics..........................    51
    Prepared statement...........................................    52
Joan Lawrence, Senior Vice President, Standards and Regulatory 
  Affairs, The Toy Association...................................    55
    Prepared statement...........................................    57

                                Appendix

Letter dated December 14, 2021 to Hon. Richard Blumenthal and 
  Hon. Marsha Blackburn from Peter A. Feldman, Commissioner, 
  United States Consumer Product Safety Commission...............   101
Response to written question submitted to Hannah Rhodes by:
    Hon. Amy Klobuchar...........................................   107
    Hon. Ben Ray Lujan...........................................   107
Response to written question submitted to Dr. Ben Hoffman by:
    Hon. Amy Klobuchar...........................................   107
Response to written question submitted to Joan Lawrence by:
    Hon. Richard Blumenthal......................................   108
    Hon. Amy Klobuchar...........................................   109
    Hon. Ben Ray Lujan...........................................   109

 
    HIDDEN HOLIDAY HAZARDS: PRODUCT SAFETY DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON

                              ----------                              


                       TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2021

                               U.S. Senate,
      Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product 
                         Safety, and Data Security,
        Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:09 a.m., in 
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard 
Blumenthal, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Blumenthal [presiding], Cantwell, Markey, 
Lujan, and Blackburn.

         OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, 
                 U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT

    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you to my colleagues for joining 
us this morning and most especially to Senator Blackburn, who 
has been a tremendous ally in this work and a partner. We have 
worked in a very collegial way on a number of hearings so far, 
including this one on Hidden Holiday Hazards.
    And we have really an extraordinarily distinguished and 
able panel joining us this morning, beginning with Trista 
Hamsmith, who will tell us her personal story of tragedy that 
she has turned into a positive. And I really want to thank you, 
Trista, for being here today, in the memory of your daughter 
Reese. And as we will announce today--Senator Blackburn and I--
we are introducing a bill that, in fact, will seek to protect 
against exactly the kind of tragedy that you experienced. And I 
want to welcome you and I understand your mom is here, as well. 
Thank you for joining us today.
    This issue is an extraordinarily serious one. And I want to 
thank the United States Public Interest Research Group for the 
constant work that you have done over so many years. I have 
worked in cooperation with the Connecticut PIR now, for 
probably 25 years or more every year, to publicize the dangers 
that come from toys. And the report that you do every year, 
``Trouble in Toyland'', is really a model of public service and 
public education. And yet, year after year, we find, again and 
again, that these tragedies are repeated, unfortunately, and so 
grievously for the families affected.
    The holidays ought to be a time of really unsurpassed joy 
and celebration. But all too often, they culminate in trips to 
emergency rooms, because of dangers that result from toys and 
decor that is involved in the holidays. And we all, if we think 
about it, have some experience with these kinds of mishaps, 
accidents, whatever they may be called. They are principally 
the result of either carelessness or bad manufacturing or lack 
of standards in those toys that children use. And they are 
joyful about receiving them, until those tragedies result.
    We are going to talk today about some of the most common 
culprits. If we were to rename this hearing, it might be called 
``Swallowing Bad Stuff''. Swallowing bad stuff--it results in 
choking or digestive failure or poisoning. What we know is that 
the repeated culprits are magnets, button cell batteries, small 
parts in ordinary toys, balloons. And we are going to go 
through them in this hearing, but I have examples. For example, 
the button cell batteries that are found in these kinds of 
lights come out easily, can be swallowed--they are very small--
by an 18-month-old child, as happened in your case, Trista, 
with Reese, or by pets or older people.
    These button cell batteries are a--button cell batteries 
are a menace and every year--literally, every year thousands 
cause emergency room visits. In 2020 alone, there were 3500 
reported button battery ingestions. That number is likely an 
undercount. The estimate is that only about 11 percent of these 
kinds of ingestions are actually reported. In Connecticut, 
since 2016, there have been 70 reported battery ingestions, 24 
of them resulted in hospital admissions.
    And very alarmingly, button batteries have become more 
common and between March and September 2020 alone--March and 
September 2020, there were an increase of 93 percent in 
injuries among children, resulting from them. We are going to 
explore a little bit about what the reasons might have been. 
Perhaps they were, in fact, the fact that the pandemic caused 
people to be at home with toys; they were used more often. We 
can speculate, but the main point is, these kinds of injuries 
are preventable and that is the reason that we have 
introduced--Senator Blackburn and I are introducing Reese's 
Law, in honor of Reese Hamsmith and her loss of life. I think 
it is going to inspire us to do more and do it better.
    The other major culprit, magnets, which obviously can be 
pulled apart, can be swallowed. They are small, easily 
ingested, but they have a magnetic force that can pull together 
different sections of the digestive tract, blocking, 
perforating, damaging intestines, stomachs, especially in the 
smallest of children. And each of these little magnets can be 
pulled apart, can be found on the floor, can be ingested, and 
they have resulted, also, in thousands, over the last 10 years, 
of injuries and trips to the emergency room.
    In total--here is the statistic that I hope folks will 
remember, 150,000 toy related injuries were reported in 2020 
alone, and nine deaths. One hundred fifty thousand injuries 
resulting from toys, like the ones that I have shown, and nine 
deaths. And some of them result from counterfeit, where lesser 
materials or poor workmanship were involved. Counterfeiters 
can, with relative ease, sell knock off toys, or other goods, 
at a cheap price to unwitting holiday shoppers.
    Counterfeit toys may be dangerous because of their use of 
cheap materials and lack of compliance with product safety 
standards. But they also may fail to display accurate warning 
labels, which could mislead or confuse consumers.
    And I want to mention, in the category of choking, 
balloons, which are, once again, very innocent looking and, in 
fact, are wonderful playthings, as long as they remain 
inflated. If they are broken, the bits and pieces, or 
uninflated balloons can be swallowed by children. And again, 
one of the most common causes of choking and asphyxiation are 
balloons, which are left on the floor where small children, 
crawling around or running around, can ingest them.
    And holiday decor, Christmas trees, this kind of automatic 
light for the Christmas tree--you can press this if it is 
linked to a plug, can overheat, or the tree itself can ignite 
if candles are used. Different materials, unsafe materials in 
menorahs, as well as Christmas trees, can cause fires. And in 
fact, from 2016 to 2018, there were about 100 Christmas tree 
fires and about 1,100 candle fires resulting in 30 deaths and 
180 injuries.
    There is a lot of work to do in educating the public. But 
in addition to education, enforcement is also important--
enforcement by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which 
needs more resources. It has been, unfortunately, underfunded 
and it faces roadblocks in conducting recalls, leaving 
consumers in the dark about what products may be dangerous to 
their families.
    The CPSC is required to go through an extraordinarily 
burdensome rulemaking process that slows down many needed 
product standards, preventing action from being taken on well 
established dangers. So, we need to fortify the CPSC with 
additional resources, sufficient to do enforcement, and also, 
more adapted resources, so they can do their job more 
effectively. They are the main watchdog and warning system for 
consumers, so that these kinds of tragedies can be prevented.
    And that is the key word, prevented. These kinds of 
accidents, injuries, deaths can be prevented if we take action 
to stop the hidden problems in many of these toys. Hidden in 
plain sight, warnings will help caregivers and parents before 
they buy or after someone provides a gift, to make sure that 
holidays are really a time of joy, not tragedy.
    With that, I will turn to the Ranking Member.

              STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN, 
                  U.S. SENATOR FROM TENNESSEE

    Senator Blackburn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to 
say welcome to our witnesses, and we also have two witnesses 
that are joining us remotely today. So, we thank you all for 
being here. And we thank our staffs, who have worked to bring 
this hearing together and to have this happen for us today.
    We have had some really insightful hearings this year on 
consumer products. Now, we have spent a lot of time looking at 
the online space. And we have had TikTok and Snapchat and 
Facebook and Instagram and all of your platforms that, 
unfortunately, are adversely impacting children and families. 
And so, it is appropriate that, today, we look at the physical 
space and how important it is that, at this time of year, we 
look at what is happening in that space of toys and the 
excitement that comes with holiday decor and making certain 
that the supply chain is a safe one for products that are going 
to be put on the shelves. And we are hearing a lot about supply 
chains these days. So, what is getting through, let us make 
certain that it is safe.
    Now, as a mom and a grandmother, I am especially attuned to 
all of this. And the issue about the button batteries, which we 
have discussed, is one that I have looked at and have firsthand 
experience with. My little 15-month-old granddaughter has a 
dancing, light up, singing octopus that she absolutely loves. 
And she taps it on something and it, you know, springs into 
action. And it has--she ran the batteries out on it. So, my 
husband had to change the batteries. So, he opens the back, and 
it is the button battery. I sent him to the garage, to the 
trash can, to empty the batteries, and then, to get the 
replacement batteries, so that it would work. But that is the 
kind of thing that becomes a hazard and you do not expect that 
to be a hazard. But we know that it does. So, we thank you, Ms. 
Hamsmith, for being here, for sharing your story, and for the 
awareness that you bring to the issue.
    And today, we are also going to hear about the voluntary 
steps that retailers can and should be taking, as they look at 
product safety. A big part of this is standards development. 
And many times, people will say, ``Well, why do you think it is 
so important that we keep standard setting in the U.S. and not 
let China get into the business of standard setting?'' And one 
of the reasons that this is so important is because, when you 
look at the supply chain, you look at innovation, you look at 
the products that are getting in there, we have a certain set 
of guidelines that are vitally important to us, in order to 
protect what, eventually, gets through that supply chain and 
makes it to the shelves in our stores and, thereby, what people 
have access to and what they are taking into their homes.
    We are very concerned about what we see happening with some 
of the infiltration of counterfeit products, things that are 
infringed on copyrights and are sold online and people end up 
with this in their home. We--a few years ago, when I was in the 
House, we had a Tennessee family who had purchased a hoverboard 
online. And this is when hoverboards were the big gift item 
that year, and they found one online. And, of course, it caught 
on fire and their house burned.
    So, these are the things that we watch out for, to make 
certain that the supply chain is going to be safe. And as more 
consumers are buying from third-party platforms, that they are 
going to have the insight into where these products are coming 
from and why these products might be unsafe. And this is an 
area that the Chairman and I have discussed, where section 230 
comes into play with needed reforms that would make certain 
that products that are on these third-party platforms are going 
to be as advertised.
    Now, we know that the CPSC, as the Chairman said, has a 
role to play in all of this. They have a new Chairman that has 
just taken the role over there, and we are looking forward to 
what they are going to bring forward, as far as doing their due 
diligence. But to all of our witnesses today, the Toy 
Association, looking at the health of children, looking at 
these supply chains, it is important that everyone do their due 
diligence to make certain that products that are placed, in the 
marketplace, are safe.
    So, Mr. Chairman, thank you for this. Thank you, again, to 
our witnesses, and look forward to today's hearing.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you, Senator Blackburn, and 
again, thanks for your cooperation.
    Our witnesses today are a really great panel. Trista 
Hamsmith is a parent advocate and founder of Reese's Purpose. 
Ms. Hamsmith's daughter, Reese, passed away at 18 months old 
from injuries that she suffered after ingesting a button 
battery in December 2020. Since then, Ms. Hamsmith has 
testified before the Consumer Product Safety Commission. She 
has created a National Button Battery Awareness Day. She 
founded a non-profit, Reese's Purpose, which advocates for 
legislation that would create national standards for consumer 
products with button batteries.
    Hannah Rhodes, Consumer Watchdog Associate, United States 
PIRG. Hannah is the author of a recent United States Public 
Interest Group report entitled, as it has been for 36 years, 
``Trouble in Toyland''. Before her work at U.S. PIRG, she 
worked for Kids in Danger, also known as KID, as a product 
safety intern. She is a graduate, B.A. summa cum laude in 
Political Science and German, from DePaul University.
    Joining us remotely, Ben Hoffman, who is Chairman of the 
American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Injury, Violence, 
Poison Prevention, Executive Committee. Dr. Hoffman is a 
pediatrician and nationally recognized expert in child injury 
prevention and education. He currently serves as Director of 
the Tom Sargent Safety Center at Doernbecher Children's 
Hospital and as Director of the Oregon Center of Children and 
Youth with Special Needs.
    And we are joined remotely, as well, by Joan Lawrence, 
Senior Vice President for Standards and Regulatory Affairs at 
the Toy Association--Toy Industry Association. Ms. Lawrence 
manages the Toy Industry Association's product safety programs, 
encompassing the development of safety standards and consumer 
and industry safety education. Ms. Lawrence chairs the ASTM 
Subcommittee on Toy Safety, which is responsible for the 
continuing development of toy safety standard ASTM F963.
    So, we will hear first from Ms. Hamsmith and then from Ms. 
Rhodes, Dr. Hoffman, and Ms. Lawrence, separately. Ms. 
Hamsmith, the floor is yours.
    Ms. Hamsmith. Can we start the video please?
    Senator Blumenthal. And I understand you have a video. OK. 
Apparently we do not have the audio part of--we will make sure 
it is in the record though.
    [The information referred to can be found on the following 
website: https://vimeo.com/522470572?ref=em-share]

  STATEMENT OF TRISTA HAMSMITH, MOTHER, PARENT ADVOCATE, AND 
                    FOUNDER, REESE'S PURPOSE

    Ms. Hamsmith. Good morning. My name is Trista Hamsmith, and 
I am here to share why enacting legislation to make consumer 
products that use button batteries safer is so important and 
impress on you why time is of the essence, especially now as 
families prepare for another holiday gift-giving season. Button 
batteries are a hidden hazard every day, but the risk 
exponentially rises during the holiday season given how many 
toys, decorative items, and gifts require the use of button 
batteries.
    Reese Elizabeth Hamsmith, known affectionately to those 
closest to her as ReRe, was born into this world a spunky, 
sassy, full-of-life little girl on June 13, 2019. At only 16 
months old, Reese took the attention of an entire room the 
moment she walked in with her spirited demeanor, inquisitive 
attitude. She lived life in a way that most will never know. 
She loved hard, she played hard, and she fought harder.
    One morning, we noticed that Reese was snotty, stuffy, and 
not her usual self. So, we took her to the doctor. She was 
diagnosed with croup and given a steroid shot. We were sent on 
our way. The following day, we noticed a button battery missing 
in our home. We rushed to the hospital and a quick x-ray 
confirmed that she had, in fact, swallowed that battery. Reese 
had emergency surgery to remove it and spent a few days in ICU.
    I remember being so scared when we were finally able to go 
home, as we were no longer allowed to give her solid foods. The 
plan was liquid foods only for four to six weeks and then, we 
would rescope. I took a deep breath and went to the store to 
stock up on every possible thing that might satisfy her.
    It was such a great few days back home with Reese. One of 
those days we went to Target, where she saw this little 
dinosaur. She looked at it and bravely roared for all of Target 
to hear. It is probably one of my favorite, and one of my last 
good memories of her.
    Reese was still very raspy, so that Friday I decided to err 
on the side of caution, and we went back to the doctor. They 
were worried that a hole might have been created. Once these 
batteries are removed from emergency surgery, they actually can 
continue to burn, and hers did. A hole was burned through her 
esophagus and through her trachea, creating a fistula, which 
acts as a tunnel connecting the two. We now had our liquid food 
going where it did not need to be, and we had air going where 
it did not need to be. The following morning, they took her 
back to surgery. She came back sedated and on a vent, and she 
also got a tube button so that we could administer nutrition 
straight to her tummy.
    This was the start of our last 40 days. Over those 40 days, 
Reese endured dozens of scopes, x-rays, multiple collapsed 
lungs, a 12 1/2-hour surgery, withdrawal from being addicted to 
the medications, and multiple codes. She was going to be put on 
a trach, which was going to put us on the road to recovery and 
the path back home, and we were just about a week away from 
that. I was almost numb, at this point, to the many procedures 
that they asked us to do.
    This morning, they asked for a scope--a bedside scope. We 
had done it plenty of times. They said it needed to be done, 
and so we did. This one was different, though. The entire team 
was bedside, doing their thing, and the nightmare began. The 
beeping, the yelling, the flashing lights, no pulse, no pulse, 
again and again.
    I paced. I pressed my hands on the glass and I cried, yet I 
was in shock, at the same time. This time, she did not come 
back. That is right. I watched my baby die more than once. I 
got to hold her that day, but it was a week too soon and she 
was blue, and she was lifeless. And it seemed like the life had 
ben taken out of me, too.
    Unfortunately, I am not the first, nor will I be the last 
parent to have to live this nightmare. Early on, when Reese was 
still fighting her battle, I knew I wanted to spread awareness. 
At the time, I imagined it would be with Reese by my side. But 
I guess my plan was not the plan.
    Her earthly battle may be over, but her true battle, her 
true plan, and her true purpose has just begun. Button battery 
ingestion is a growing threat to children. There were 3,500 
button battery ingestions reported in 2020. However, it is 
estimated, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, that only 
11 percent of cases are reported, meaning this is happening to 
over 30,000 annually, in the U.S. alone. There was a 93 percent 
increase in ER-related button battery ingestions in 2020.
    Once ingested, these batteries can cause severe tissue 
burns in as little as 2 hours, and as I said before, will 
continue to burn even after removed. 61.8 percent of ingestions 
come from the product. They are not coming from our trash can. 
They are not coming from our junk drawers. They are coming from 
products that are failing to securely close these batteries in.
    I am asking for your support to mandate guidelines to make 
all consumer products safer. Button batteries are the fastest 
growing and highest margin segment in the battery market. With 
double digit industry growth projected for production of and 
products using button batteries, these incidents will only 
continue to rise and pose a bigger threat for children.
    It has been estimated that a child swallows a button 
battery every 3 hours. Think about that. In the time this 
committee meets today, at least one child, possibly more will 
have swallowed an unsecured battery and face a lifetime of 
health issues, or worse, end up dying. Children often obtain 
loose or unsecured batteries and ingestions usually go unseen, 
making the critical window for survival absent, by the time 
they are discovered.
    Last Christmas, our family gathered but it was not to 
exchange gifts and sing carols. It was to celebrate Reese's 
life. With the holidays upon us again, who knows how many 
unsecure and unsafe items will be given as a gift with the best 
intentions and love, and to make it into unsuspecting families' 
homes.
    We never knew about the dangers of battery ingestion. I 
hear from families all over the country, on a daily basis, that 
they did not either. They share with me their story, their 
heartache, sometimes their near miss, and their long roads to 
recovery. It is a club that I never wanted to be in, and I wish 
I was not standing here alone, because that would mean Reese 
would be by my side.
    Please do not let the death of my daughter, Reese, and her 
purpose be in vain. Children's safety is a non-partisan issue. 
We all have children that we love, and we want to protect, 
whether it is our own children or other children in our lives. 
Help me protect all children of the United States, so that we 
never have to hear a story like Reese's again. Thank you for 
your time.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Hamsmith follows:]

    Prepared Statement of Trista Hamsmith, Mother, Parent Advocate, 
                     and Founder of Reese's Purpose
    Good morning Chairwoman Cantwell, Subcommittee Chair Blumenthal, 
Ranking Member Blackburn, and members of the committee, thank you for 
inviting me here today. My name is Trista Hamsmith and I am here to 
share why enacting legislation to make consumer products that use 
button batteries safer is so important and impress upon you why time is 
of the essence, especially now as families prepare for another holiday 
and gift-giving season. Button batteries are a hidden hazard to young 
children, the elderly and pets every day but the risk exponentially 
rises during the holiday season given how many toys, decorative items 
and gifts require the use of button batteries. I'm here today to 
implore you to protect families from what mine suffered through just a 
year ago.
    My daughter, Reese Elizabeth Hamsmith, known affectionately to 
those closest to her as ReRe, was born into this world as a spunky, 
sassy, full-of-life little girl on June 13, 2019. At an early age, 
Reese took the attention of an entire room the moment she walked in 
with her spirited demeanor and inquisitive attitude. She lived life in 
a way that most will never know. She loved hard, played hard, and 
fought harder. Reese swallowed a button battery in October 2020 and 
lost her fight on December 17, 2020, at just over eighteen months old. 
Reese was an example for us all. This is her story.
    Reese seemed sick. Not her spunky self. We took her to the 
pediatrician, and she was diagnosed with croup. Croup is a common 
misdiagnosis for button battery ingestion, as the early symptoms can be 
similar. After returning home we noticed a button battery missing from 
a device. We tore the house apart but couldn't find it. A quick Google 
search had us rushing to the emergency room. An x-ray confirmed that 
she had ingested the battery and doctors performed emergency surgery to 
remove the battery. We stayed in the PICU a few days, and doctors 
released Reese on a liquid-only diet.
    At her next visit, the pediatrician diagnosed her with stridor and 
Reese was readmitted. A scan revealed a hole in both her esophagus and 
her trachea. The two holes created a passage, known as a fistula. The 
fistula acted like a tunnel between the esophagus and trachea, allowing 
air into her stomach and food and liquid into her lungs.
    We learned that the fistula was only one centimeter above the 
carina, a ridge of cartilage where the trachea divides and heads toward 
the lungs. This location made it extremely difficult to place a 
breathing tube. Any movement she made could cause the tube to move too 
high and send air to her stomach through the fistula or too low and 
collapse a lung. The plan was to keep her sedated and let her rest for 
a week, that was the last time we saw our daughter as herself. Monday 
evening, Reese went into respiratory code and the decision was made to 
move Reese to Texas Children's Hospital given their expertise and 
equipment to treat Reese. For us, it was lots of waiting. Reese spent 
her time showing her spunky self by fighting the sedation. I think 
every doctor and nurse there learned her personality through her 
sedation battles.
    On December 1, 2020, a few weeks after Reese swallowed the button 
battery, surgeons would attempt to close the holes in her esophagus and 
trachea. The surgery was an all-day event, and the doctors successfully 
repaired the fistula. A week passed, and they took Reese off the 
ventilator. I left the room to grab dinner, and when I returned, I 
walked into a nightmare. I remember hearing someone say, ``Starting 
compressions!'' I was then looking at my lifeless child as the nurses 
and doctors tried to save her. I had never prayed that hard in my life. 
Fortunately, we were able to get her back.
    Reese was reintubated, the doctors wanted to give her some more 
time to heal before again removing the breathing tube. On December 14, 
we tried again. It was shortly after removing the breathing tube that 
the doctors and I decided she wasn't strong enough. The look in her 
eyes and face was heartbreaking, telling me without words, ``Mommy, do 
something.'' We reintubated her again. Doctors began to discuss more 
seriously performing a tracheostomy.
    I had been so terrified of the tracheostomy. However, after two 
unsuccessful attempts by Reese to breathe without intubation, I was 
welcoming it. Our path was getting harder, but she was still with us. 
Two long days went by before they performed the procedure. Around 6:30 
pm, doctors inserted the tracheostomy tube. She would need another week 
on sedation for healing.
    We were ready to move on to our new normal, and we were excited 
Reese hit that next mark in getting closer to going home. I went to 
sleep that night, excited that in one week I would see her awake again. 
Around 2:30 am I woke up to a full room. Our head ENT was there among 
the crowd, and I knew this was a bad sign. Reese's numbers on the vent 
didn't look right. They wanted to take her back to surgery to place a 
different tracheostomy tube that would be a better fit. After a couple 
of hours, Reese got back to the room with yet another surgery complete.
    At 8:30 am, the room was full of noise again. Her numbers were not 
looking right. Doctors started a bedside scope to determine what was 
going on. My real nightmare began here. Shortly after beginning, the 
beeping started. I looked up at the screen and watched all of Reese's 
numbers drop. The last number I saw was ``six'' before my head fell, 
and I began to pray. When I looked back up, I saw ``zero''. They 
immediately started compressions. There I was again, watching them try 
to bring life back to my baby. It went on for thirty or forty minutes. 
They couldn't get her back.
    Early on, when Reese was still fighting her battle, I knew that I 
wanted to spread awareness about the danger of button batteries. At the 
time, I imagined it would be with Reese by my side. I guess my plan 
wasn't the plan. In Reese's hospital room sat a plaque that read, ``He 
has a plan, and I have a purpose.'' We always knew Reese would do big 
things in this world. Her Earthly battle may be over, but her true 
battle, her true plan, and her true purpose had just begun.
    Button Battery ingestion is a growing threat to children:

   There were 4000 button battery ingestions reported in 2020 
        \1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Texas Poison Control

   However, it is estimated that only 11 percent of all cases 
        are reported, meaning this is happening to 36,000 children 
        annually and any one of these incidences could prove deadly \2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Estimate from Dr. Kris R. Jatana, MD, FACS, FAAP, Director of 
Pediatric Otolaryngology Quality Improvement at Nationwide Children's 
Hospital. Member of National Button Battery Task Force

   The CPSC released data on injuries during COVID that shows a 
        93 percent increase in ER-treated injuries related to button 
        batteries during the study period \3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ Effect of Novel Coronavirus Pandemic on Preliminary NEISS 
Estimates, Consumer Products Safety Commission Report

   61.8 percent of ingestions under the age of 6 are coming 
        from the product. Not the trash can or junk drawer but from 
        products that are not properly securing the closure of these 
        batteries \4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Litovitz T, Whitaker N, Clark L. Preventing battery ingestions: 
an analysis of 8648 cases. Pediatrics. 2010 Jun;125(6):1178-83. doi: 
10.1542/peds.2009-3038. Epub 2010 May 24. PMID: 20498172.

   Once ingested, button batteries can cause severe tissue 
        burns in as little as 2 hours and can cause lifelong injuries 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        and death

    From 1977, when the U.S. began tracking button battery ingestion 
deaths, through mid-2018, 59 children had lost their lives. That 
doesn't even begin to count the near misses and injuries, both minor 
and severe. In December 2020 alone, we know of two toddlers who were 
lost after accidental button battery ingestion--my Reese and another 
little boy from North Carolina. How many more children and families 
have to needlessly suffer before we do better to protect our children? 
Australia recently passed mandatory industry standards after three 
children died and numerous others were consistently injured from 
accidental button battery ingestion. The United States needs to do 
better. I am asking for your support to mandate guidelines to make all 
consumer products safer.
    Button batteries are the fastest growing and highest margin segment 
in the battery market. With double-digit industry growth projected for 
production of and products using button batteries, these incidents will 
only continue to rise and pose a bigger threat for children. Everyday 
items that use button batteries include watches, scales, and key fobs. 
Items attracting children and pets, such as LED light remotes, flashing 
jewelry, clothing and shoes, and musical cards and ornaments are part 
of a very long list that pose increased danger during the holiday 
season.
    On September 21, 2021, Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D) from IL, my 
Congressman Jodie Arrington (R) from Texas and Ted Liu (D) from CA, 
introduced Reese's Law--H.R. 5313 \5\ to the House of Representatives. 
In the wake of this rising threat I ask this committee and governing 
body to prioritize protecting our children from the danger of button 
batteries by passing a companion bill to Reese's Law, H.R. 5313 and 
getting this made into a law immediately.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr5313/BILLS-117hr5313ih.xml
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It has been estimated a child swallows a button battery every 3 
hours. Think about that. In the time this committee meets today, at 
least one child (possibly more) will have swallowed an unsecured 
battery and face a lifetime of health issues or worse, end up dying. 
Children often obtain loose or unsecured batteries and ingestions 
usually go unseen, making the critical window for survival absent by 
the time they are discovered.
    Last Christmas our family gathered, but it wasn't to exchange gifts 
and sing carols, it was to celebrate Reese's life. With the holidays 
upon us again, who knows how many unsafe items will be given as a gift 
with the best intentions and love and make it into unsuspecting 
families' homes. We never knew about the dangers of battery ingestion. 
I hear from families all over the country on a daily basis that they 
did not either. They share with me their story, their heartache, their 
near miss, and long road to recovery. It is a club that I never wanted 
to be in. I wish I wasn't standing here in front of you alone because 
that would mean my baby girl would still be here.
    Please don't let the death of my daughter Reese--and her purpose--
be in vain. Children's safety is a nonpartisan issue. We all have 
children that we love and want to protect, whether it's our own 
children or children in our lives. Help me protect all children of the 
United States so we never have to hear a story like Reese's again. 
Thank you for your time.
    For an extended overview of Reese's story please watch this linked 
video.
    https://vimeo.com/522470572?ref=em-share

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    

    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you so much, Ms. Hamsmith. We 
will not have questions for you, as I mentioned to you when we 
spoke before your testimony. Your story is so compelling I do 
not think there is a need for questions. But in a certain 
sense, because a picture is worth a thousand words, that 
photograph of Reese, I think, says it all. And this tiny 
battery which, as you say, causes 30,000 injuries every year, 
we have no precise or accurate measurements because they do not 
need to be reported. There is no requirement that they be 
recorded or reported.
    And so, you are also right that the cause of child safety 
ought to be bipartisan and the best example of it is what 
Senator Blackburn and I are doing, in Reese's memory, Reese's 
Law, which will require warnings and it will require a 
sufficient compartment fastening of this battery within this 
kind of device, wherever it is. And these devices are very 
common. They are found throughout homes in all kinds of common 
items, but they need to be screwed in. They need to be fastened 
so that they do not pop out. And that is also a standard that 
will be imposed by Reese's Law.
    So, my hope is that we will find bipartisan support 
throughout the Senate and the Congress for this law, and we 
could not be more grateful to you for being here today. Thank 
you so much.
    We will go now to Ms. Rhodes who is with us here.

 STATEMENT OF HANNAH RHODES, CONSUMER WATCHDOG ASSOCIATE, U.S. 
                 PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP

    Ms. Rhodes. Good morning Chairman Blumenthal, Ranking 
Member Blackburn and members of the subcommittee. My name is 
Hannah Rhodes, and I am a Consumer Watchdog Associate with the 
U.S. Public Interest Research Group. I appreciate the 
opportunity to participate in this important hearing on holiday 
hazards.
    U.S. PIRG is an independent, non-partisan group that works 
for consumers and the public interest. For 36 years, U.S. PIRG 
has released the ``Trouble in Toyland'' report, looking at 
trends to determine the potential dangers facing our children 
each holiday season. Our annual report has led to 150 recalls 
of unsafe toys and other important regulatory action.
    For our report this year, our primary focuses were 
counterfeit, knockoff, and mislabeled toys. Toys have strict 
safety standards, including tests for toxic chemicals, small 
parts, and what happens when they are used and abused, as kids 
do. It is alarming that a child could get their hands on a toy 
that has not been tested for safety.
    In October, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in 
Baltimore said they seized a shipment of toys from China that 
contained toxic chemicals. Lab tests conducted by the CPSC 
showed the coatings of the toys exceeded safe levels of lead, 
cadmium, and barium. Toxic chemicals in toys are just one 
example of the dangers counterfeit toys can pose to children. 
Toxic chemicals are especially dangerous because while an adult 
may be able to detect other quality issues, consumers cannot 
see toxic chemicals.
    Potentially unsafe counterfeits are not unique to toys. 
Earlier this month, CBP officials at the Los Angeles/Long Beach 
Seaport said they identified and seized a record-breaking 
number of counterfeit and other prohibited merchandise during 
Fiscal Year 2021. The products were appraised at more than $760 
million. Given how common this problem is, this holiday season, 
consumers should be on the lookout for counterfeits when 
shopping for any product, especially if they are opting to shop 
online. When purchasing an artificial tree, it is important to 
identify that it has a label saying it is fire resistant. When 
purchasing decorative lights, consumers need to look for a 
label from an independent test laboratory to confirm they have 
been tested for safety.
    Our advice for consumers on how to identify counterfeit 
products online includes reading through each entire product 
listing to identify mislabelings and misspellings, researching 
the seller, being wary of reviews, and being skeptical of very 
low prices.
    In offering consumers advice about how to protect 
themselves this holiday season, we also highlight the problems 
that we are confronted with as consumers. Unfortunately, the 
burden is on the consumers to identify counterfeit, knockoff 
and mislabeled products ? which can be difficult for those who 
are unfamiliar with lab testing certification, age warning 
labels and what the manufacturer's brand logo looks like.
    Small metal objects are among the most dangerous small 
parts. They can harm both children and adults. High-powered 
magnets, button cell and coin cell batteries have different 
components, but share the same risk. If someone swallows them 
they can cause serious injury that requires invasive procedures 
to fix, and they can even kill the person who swallows them. In 
October, new data released showed that from 2010 to 2020, 
hospitals reported to the CPSC 1,072 cases of ingested magnets. 
Not every hospital reports to the CPSC, so those numbers may be 
much higher.
    For our annual report, we purchased from Amazon this G-WACK 
magnet set that I have here with me today. Advertised as a 
magnet set with non-magnetic steel balls and a magnetic base, 
we found that the smallest steel balls in the set were 
magnetic. Whether that is an error in the manufacturer's 
distribution or what was listed on Amazon does not really 
matter. What matters is a child could swallow the magnets, 
especially if the parents do not believe that the balls in the 
set are not magnetic.
    The National Capital Poison Center reported that children 5 
years old or younger ingested 1,843 button cell batteries in 
2019, with 1,502 of those cases requiring medical treatment. 
Another children's accessory I brought with me today also 
exemplifies the risk of coin cell batteries in consumer 
products. K & M International recalled 42 models of the Wild 
Republic Slap Watches in May. This slap watch was purchased 
through eBay last week, 6 months later. The Wild Republic Slap 
Watches were recalled because the coin cell battery could fall 
out and be ingested by children.
    What the slap watches also exemplify is another issue 
confronting consumers this holiday season--the ability to 
purchase recalled products online. Consumers are able to learn 
about recalled products on Saferproducts.gov. But the burden is 
still on the consumer, who may not be aware that it is illegal 
for any resale seller to sell a product that they know, or 
should know, has been recalled. It is important that host sites 
monitor listings for dangerous products and remove them. For 
recalling companies, they should promote the recall to the same 
extent as they do for promoting and marketing the product to 
begin with.
    U.S. PIRG supports the INFORM Act to help prevent 
counterfeit and other dangerous items from ending up in 
Americans' homes. We support Reese's law and the CPS rules to 
require child-resistant closures on consumer products that use 
button cell and coin cell batteries. We support the CPSC using 
strong enforcement action to prevent high-powered magnets from 
continuing to be sold and we encourage the CPSC to consider a 
more protective small parts test.
    As a leader in protecting children from dangerous toys 
since the mid-1980s, we are happy to work with the committee. 
We all want to keep our youngest Americans safe. Thank you 
again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I look 
forward to answering your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Rhodes follows:]

   Prepared Statement of Hannah Rhodes, Consumer Watchdog Associate, 
                  U.S. Public Interest Research Group
    Good morning Chairman Blumenthal, Ranking Member Blackburn and 
members of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and 
Data Security. My name is Hannah Rhodes and I am a Consumer Watchdog 
Associate with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). I 
appreciate the opportunity to participate in this important hearing on 
holiday hazards that Americans may experience in these upcoming weeks.
    U.S. PIRG is an independent, non-partisan group that works for 
consumers and the public interest. Through research, public education 
and outreach, we serve as counterweights to the influence of powerful 
special interests that threaten our health, safety or well-being.
    For 36 years, U.S. PIRG has released the Trouble in Toyland report, 
looking at trends to determine the potential dangers facing our 
children each holiday season.\1\ Our annual report has led to more than 
150 recalls of unsafe toys and other important regulatory action.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ U.S. PIRG, ``Trouble in Toyland: 36th Annual Toy Safety 
Report'' (Nov. 11, 2021) (online at: https://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/
files/reports/Trouble-In-Toyland_2021/PIRG_Trouble-In-
Toyland_2021.pdf).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Counterfeits, Knockoffs and Mislabeled Products
    For our report this year, one of our primary focuses was 
counterfeit, knockoff and mislabeled toys. Toys have strict safety 
standards, including tests for toxic chemicals, small parts, and what 
happens when they are used and abused, as kids do.\2\ It is alarming 
that a child could get their hands on a toy that has not been tested 
for safety given the hard work done by elected officials, consumer 
advocates and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), all 
of whom have helped create and enforce modern safety standards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ CPSC, ``Toy Safety Business Guidance & Small Entity Compliance 
Guide'' (online at: https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/
Business-Education/Toy-Safety-Business-Guidance-and-Small-Entity-
Compliance-Guide).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In October, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials in 
Baltimore announced that they seized a shipment of toys from China that 
contained toxic chemicals.\3\ A shipment of seven boxes that had been 
detained for investigation included 295 packages of Lagori 7 Stones, a 
children's game. Lab tests conducted by the CPSC showed the coatings of 
the toys exceeded safe levels of lead, cadmium and barium.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ CBP, ``Baltimore CBP, CPSC Seizes Children's Toys Excessively 
Coated in Dangerous Chemicals'' (Oct. 21, 2021) (online at: https://
www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/baltimore-cbp-cpsc-seizes-
children-s-toys-excessively-coated-dangerous).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Toxic chemicals in toys are just one example of the dangers 
counterfeit toys can pose to children. They are especially dangerous 
because while an adult may be able to detect other quality issues, 
consumers can't see toxic chemicals, so they can go undetected unless 
subjected to lab testing.
    Counterfeits are not unique to the toy industry. Earlier this 
month, CBP officials at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport said they 
identified and seized a record-breaking number of high-value 
contraband, counterfeit goods and other prohibited merchandise during 
Fiscal Year 2021.\4\ The products were appraised at more than $760 
million using Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ CBP, ``CBP at the LA/Long Beach Seaport Reports Record-Breaking 
Year for Seizures of Counterfeit and Prohibited Merchandise'' (Nov. 12, 
2021) (online at: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/cbp-
lalong-beach-seaport-reports-record-breaking-year-seizures).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Given how common this problem is, this holiday season, consumers 
should be on the lookout for counterfeits when shopping for any 
product, especially if they are opting to shop online. When purchasing 
an artificial tree, it's important to identify that it has a label 
saying it is ``fire resistant.'' \5\ When shopping for decorative 
lights, consumers need to look for a label from an independent test 
laboratory to confirm they've been tested for safety.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ CPSC, ``Making a List, Checking it Twice: Tips for Celebrating 
Safely this Holiday Season'' (Nov. 18, 2021) (online at: https://
www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2022/Making-a-List-Checking-it-
Twice-Tips-for-Celebrating-Safely-this-Holiday-Season).
    \6\ CPSC, ``Holiday Decoration Safety Tips'' (online at: https://
www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/611.pdf).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In addition to our Toyland Report, we posted a guide for consumers 
on how to identify counterfeit products when shopping online.\7\ Our 
advice for consumers includes:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ U.S. PIRG, ``Tips to Spot Counterfeit Toys Before You Buy 
Them'' (Nov. 11, 2021) (online at: https://uspirg.org/feature/usf/tips-
spot-counterfeit-toys-you-buy-them).

   reading through each entire product listing to identify 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        mislabeling and misspelling

   researching the seller

   being wary of reviews

   and being skeptical of very low prices when shopping online.

    In offering consumers advice about how to protect themselves this 
holiday season, we also highlight the problems that we are confronted 
with as consumers. Unfortunately, the burden is on the consumers to 
identify counterfeit, knockoff and mislabeled products--which can be 
difficult for those who are not familiar with lab testing 
certification, age warning labels and what the manufacturer's brand 
logo looks like.
2. Small Metal Objects
    Small metal objects are among the most dangerous small parts. They 
can harm both children and adults. High-powered magnets, button cell 
and coin cell batteries all have different components, but share the 
same risk--if someone swallows them they can cause serious injury that 
requires invasive procedures to fix, or they can even kill the person 
who swallows them.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ AAP, ``Children's Ingestion of Tiny Magnets, Button Batteries 
Increased Significantly During Pandemic, New Research Shows'' (Oct. 7, 
2021) (online at: https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/
2021/childrens-ingestion-of-tiny-magnets-button-batteries-increased-
significantly-during-pandemic-new-research-shows/).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In October, new data released showed that from 2010 to 2020, 
hospitals reported to the CPSC 1,072 cases of ingested magnets.\9\ Not 
every hospital reports to the CPSC, so the numbers may be much higher.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ CPSC, ``Proposed Rule: Safety Standards for Magnet'' (Oct. 6, 
2021) (online at: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/Proposed-Rule-
Safety-Standard-for-Magnets.pdf?VersionId=2Xizl5izY
1OvQRVazWpkqdJHXg5vzRY_).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    When conducting our annual report, we purchased from Amazon this G-
WACK magnet set that I have here with me today.\10\ Advertised as a 
magnet set with non-magnetic steel balls and a magnetic base, upon 
purchasing one, we found that the smallest steel balls in the set were 
magnetic. There is no information on the strength of these small 
magnets on the toy listing or the packaging. Whether that's an error in 
the manufacturer's distribution or what was listed on Amazon doesn't 
really matter. What matters is a child could swallow the magnets, 
especially if the parents are lax because they believe the balls in the 
set are not magnetic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\ U.S. PIRG, ``Trouble in Toyland: 36th Annual Toy Safety 
Report'' (Nov. 11, 2021) (online at: https://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/
files/reports/Trouble-In-Toyland_2021/PIRG_Trouble-In-
Toyland_2021.pdf).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The National Capital Poison Center (NCPC) reported that children 5 
years old or younger ingested 1,843 button cell batteries in 2019, with 
1,502 of those cases requiring medical treatment.\11\ And it's not just 
a problem for children too young for elementary school. When comparing 
the estimated injuries related to batteries for March through September 
of 2019 and 2020 the CPSC found injuries rose 93 percent for children 
aged 5 to 9 years old.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ NCPC, ``Button Battery Ingestion Statistics'' (online at: 
https://www.poison.org/battery/stats#table2).
    \12\ CPSC, ``Effects of Novel Coronavirus Pandemic on 2020 
Preliminary NEISS Estimates (March-September 2020)'' (Jan. 11, 2021) 
(online at: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/Effect
%20of%20Novel%20Coronavirus%20Pandemic%20on%202020%20Preliminary%20NEISS
%20Es
timates%20%28March%20%E2%80%93%20September%202020%29.pdf?eBqDdRMGIEQOtp.
VG
_9IdBCjlFk262hu).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Another children's accessory I brought with me also exemplifies the 
risk of coin cell batteries in consumer products. K & M International 
recalled 42 models of the Wild Republic Slap Watches on May 12, 
2021.\13\ This Wild Republic Slap Watch was purchased through eBay on 
Monday, Nov. 22, 2021.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\ CPSC, ``K & M International Recalls Slap Watches Due to Coin 
Cell Battery Ingestion and Choking Hazards'' (May 12, 2021) (online at: 
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2021/K-M-International-Recalls-Slap-
Watches-Due-to-Coin-Cell-Battery-Ingestion-and-Choking-Hazards).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Wild Republic Slap Watches were recalled because the coin cell 
battery could fall out and be ingested by children.\14\ The ability for 
the coin cell battery to ``slip out'' reinforces the need for mandatory 
child-resistant closures on consumer products that use button cell or 
coin cell batteries, given the potentially fatal dangers that these 
batteries can cause when ingested.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\ CPSC, ``K & M International Recalls Slap Watches Due to Coin 
Cell Battery Ingestion and Choking Hazards'' (May 12, 2021) (online at: 
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2021/K-M-International-Recalls-Slap-
Watches-Due-to-Coin-Cell-Battery-Ingestion-and-Choking-Hazards).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Recalled Products
    The Wild Republic Slap Watches also exemplify another issue 
confronting consumers this holiday season: the ability to purchase 
recalled products online.
    While it is illegal for any resale seller to sell a product they 
know or should know has been recalled--unless the safety issue has been 
fixed--these products are still being sold.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \15\ CPSC, ``Resellers Guide to Selling Safer Products'' (online 
at: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/ResellersGuide.pdf).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Consumers are able to learn about recalled products on 
Saferproducts.gov. But the burden is still on the consumer, who may not 
be aware of resale regulations.
    It is important that host sites monitor listings for dangerous 
products and remove them. For recalling companies, they should promote 
the recall to the same extent as they do for promoting and marketing 
the product to begin with.
4. Recommendations
    U.S. PIRG is in support of The Integrity, Notification, and 
Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces (INFORM) Act to help prevent 
counterfeit and other dangerous items from ending up in Americans' 
homes.
    We support Reese's law and the CPSC using the rulemaking process to 
require child-resistant closures on consumer products that use button 
cell and coin cell batteries.
    We support the CPSC using strong enforcement action to prevent 
high-powered magnets from continuing to be sold on the market and 
encourage the CPSC to consider a more protective small parts test.
    And as a leader in protecting children from dangerous toys since 
the mid-1980s, we're happy to work with the committee. We all want to 
keep our youngest Americans safe.
    Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. I 
look forward to answering your questions.
                                 ______
                                 
Appendix 1: ``Trouble in Toyland: 36th Annual Toy Safety Report''

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you very, very much, Ms. Rhodes. 
And now, Dr. Ben Hoffman.

STATEMENT OF BEN HOFFMAN, MD, FAAP, CPST-I, CHAIR, AAP COUNCIL 
ON INJURY, VIOLENCE AND POISON PREVENTION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 
        ON BEHALF OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS

    Dr. Hoffman. Good Morning Chair Blumenthal, Ranking Member 
Blackburn, Chair Cantwell, Ranking Member Wicker, and 
distinguished members of the Subcommittee. My name is Dr. Ben 
Hoffman, and I am here today on behalf of the American Academy 
of Pediatrics, where I serve as Chair of the Council on Injury, 
Violence, and Poison Prevention Executive Committee.
    I want to specifically thank Ms. Hamsmith for her very 
stirring testimony, extend my condolences for her loss, and 
just say that part of the greatest opportunity I have had in 
the last several years is to partner with families as a 
pediatrician and as an injury prevention advocate to work 
together on causes like this.
    As Senator Blumenthal mentioned, the holiday season is a 
special time for kids and for families, with the thrill of new 
toys and festive decorations. I myself, as a father, I have 
long treasured the joy of seeing my now grown children enjoying 
the holiday season. But as a pediatrician and expert on injury 
prevention, I know that our annual celebrations can place 
children at risk, which necessitates thoughtful policy to 
prevent injuries from toys, decorations, and other hazards in 
the home.
    Pediatricians routinely counsel families on the best ways 
to stay safe over the holidays. The AAP's parent-facing website 
healthychildren.org has helpful tips for parents on how to buy 
safe toys, how to decorate for the holidays in a safe way, and 
it included some key recommendations that pediatricians often 
give, in my written testimony.
    We also know that the holidays can be a very busy and 
overwhelming time for parents and our safety messages are not 
sufficient to protect children. Parents and caregivers often 
incorrectly assume that toys and products that they have seen 
on store shelves or websites, have been tested and proven to be 
safe for their kids. But many hazardous products make it to 
market with no demonstration of safety for children. The U.S. 
Consumer Product Safety Commission and Congress both have 
critical roles in protecting children from these risks.
    The AAP thanks Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn for your 
bipartisan leadership in co-sponsoring Reese's Law. Button 
batteries are ubiquitous, as we have heard, found in common 
products including remote controls, watches, cameras, toys. The 
batteries are tremendously dangerous if swallowed, as we heard, 
and contact with the child's airway or esophagus immediately 
causes the battery to discharge electricity, which results in 
burns which are immediate, and a life-threatening emergency. I 
have seen children who have suffered life-altering burns to 
their esophagus, or a food tube, after ingesting a button 
battery that was undetected by parents for less than an hour. 
The AAP has strongly endorsed Reese's Law and urges its 
expeditious enactment.
    Another ingesting hazard we expect to see over the holidays 
come from these high-powered magnets that Ms. Rhodes mentioned. 
When two or more magnets are swallowed, the attractive force 
allows them to find each other across different sections of the 
digestive tract, which leads to intestinal injury, rupture, or 
even death.
    During a three-week period in 2019, after the previous ban 
had been vacated, my institutions had three kids admitted in a 
3-week period--sorry, in a 3-week period, where surgeons 
removed a total of 36 tiny magnets from their intestines. I 
personally worked with a 5-year-old boy who swallowed five of 
these magnets and narrowly averted requiring a colostomy, as 
the magnets found each other across multiple loops of bowel and 
cutoff the blood supply. The AAP has endorsed the Magnet Injury 
Prevention Act and we also support the CPSC's efforts to 
address this hazard through a recent mandatory recall and 
through a new safety standard.
    In this season of giving, it is crucial for parents and 
policymakers to be aware of other products that can pose 
hazards for children. The AAP continues to urge Congress and 
the CPSC to protect children from inclined infant sleep 
products, crib bumpers, and other sleep products that can lead 
to suffocation and other infant sleep-related deaths. Holiday 
parties with children running around the house also highlight 
the risk of furniture tip overs and the importance of passing 
the bipartisan STURDY Act, which we urge the full committee to 
markup and advance.
    In closing, I want to note that a strong and fully 
functioning CPSC is critical to keep children safe over the 
holidays and throughout the year. Congress should ensure the 
Agency has the funding, personnel, and statutory authorities 
necessary to proactively address risk to children, before they 
lead to significant injuries and fatalities and to effectively 
recall dangerous products.
    The AAP is grateful to the subcommittee for its focus on 
children's product safety during the holiday season and we look 
forward to continuing to work with you, so that families can 
safely celebrate the holidays and purchase, with greater 
confidence, products that are safe for their children.
    Thank you and I look forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Dr. Hoffman follows:]

Prepared Statement of Ben Hoffman, MD, FAAP, CPST-I, Chair, AAP Council 
    on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention Executive Committee, 
            on Behalf of the American Academy of Pediatrics
    Good Morning Chair Blumenthal, Ranking Member Blackburn, Chair 
Cantwell, Ranking Member Wicker, and distinguished members of the 
Subcommittee:

    My name is Dr. Ben Hoffman. I'm here today on behalf of the 
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a non-profit professional 
organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical 
subspecialists, and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the 
health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents, and 
young adults. I currently serve as Chair of the AAP Council on Injury, 
Violence, and Poison Prevention Executive Committee, leading the 
Academy's work developing our evidence-based policy statements on 
issues related to product safety, our education of pediatricians and 
parents about injury risks, and our advocacy at every level of 
government for policies to keep children safe from injuries.
    In addition to my role with the AAP, I am also a Professor of 
Pediatrics at Oregon Health and Science University and OHSU Doernbecher 
Children's Hospital. I also serve as the Vice-Chair for Community 
Health and Advocacy, as Director of the Oregon Center for Children and 
Youth with Special Heath Care Needs, and as Medical Director of the 
Doernbecher Child Injury Prevention Program.
    I would like to extend our gratitude to the Subcommittee for 
holding this critical hearing. Children's product safety is a vital 
child health priority, and I am grateful for the opportunity to testify 
today about holiday hazards.
    The holiday season is a special time of year for children, and 
often comes with the thrill of new toys and the splendor of festive 
decorations. As a father myself, I have long treasured the joy of 
seeing my now grown children enjoying the holiday season. And as a 
pediatrician and expert on injury prevention, I also know that our 
annual celebrations can place children at risk, necessitating 
thoughtful policy to prevent injuries from toys, decorations, and other 
hazards around the home.
    Pediatricians always counsel families on the best ways to stay 
safe, and the holidays are no different. The AAP's parent-facing 
website healthychildren.org has helpful tips for parents and caregivers 
on how to select and buy safe toys and how to decorate for the holidays 
in a way that enlivens a family's celebration while keeping everyone 
safe.
Pediatrician Recommendations for Holiday Safety
    Holiday decorations can help children feel connected to family 
traditions and be a fun family activity. To help make sure these 
decorations are safe the AAP offers parents and caregivers the 
following recommendations:

   When purchasing a live tree, check for freshness. The 
        needles should be hard to pull off, and should not break when 
        you bend them.

   If you have an artificial tree, make sure it's labeled 
        ``Fire Resistant.''

   When setting up a tree at home, place it away from 
        fireplaces, radiators or portable heaters. Place the tree out 
        of the way of traffic and do not block doorways.

   Check all lights before hanging them on a tree or in your 
        home, even if you have just purchased them. Make sure all the 
        bulbs work and that there are no frayed wires, broken sockets 
        or loose connections.

   Remove all wrapping papers, bags, paper, ribbons and bows 
        from tree and fireplace areas after gifts are opened. These 
        items can pose suffocation and choking hazards to a small 
        child, or can cause a fire if near flame.

    Every year, thousands of children are injured by toys. While most 
of these injuries are minor, toys that are hazardous can cause serious 
injury or even death. The CPSC reports that last year, there were 
nearly 150,000 toy-related, emergency department-treated injuries and 
nine deaths among children ages 14 and younger.i The AAP 
offers the following advice to help families and loved ones choose safe 
and appropriate toys for children:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \i\ Qin A. Toy-Related Deaths and Injuries Calendar Year 2020. U.S. 
Consumer Product Safety Commission, 2021. Accessed at https://
www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/Toy-Related-Deaths-and-Injuries-2020.pdf.

   Read all warning labels. Warning labels give important 
        information about how to use a toy and what ages the toy is 
        considered safe for. However, every child is different, so 
        parents should consider their unique circumstances. Be sure to 
        show children how to use the toy the right way and provide 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        appropriate supervision.

   Make sure all toys and parts are larger than your child's 
        mouth to prevent choking.

   Follow age recommendations on toys, which offer guidelines 
        on the safety of the toy and the ability of a child to play 
        with and enjoy the toy.

   Be careful when buying crib toys. Soft objects, loose 
        bedding, or any objects that could increase the risk of 
        entrapment, suffocation, or strangulation should never be in a 
        crib. Any hanging crib toy (mobiles, crib gyms) should be out 
        of your baby's reach and must be removed when your baby first 
        begins to push up on their hands and knees or when the baby is 
        5 months old, whichever occurs first. These toys can strangle a 
        baby.

   Track recalls from the CPSC and remove any recalled toys 
        immediately.

   Avoid counterfeit products by purchasing from stores and 
        online retailers you know and trust.

    While pediatricians offer these recommendations in our public 
education and clinical messaging, we also know that this can be a very 
busy and overwhelming time for parents, and our safety messages are not 
enough to protect children. Parents often assume that the toys and 
products they see on store shelves or online have been tested and 
proven to be safe for their kids, but this is sadly not the case. 
Product-related hazards cause far too many injuries and deaths that 
could be prevented through strong safety standards.
    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Congress have 
critical roles in protecting children from these risks. This 
Subcommittee has a tremendous opportunity to ensure the holiday season 
is safer for children, both through its oversight of CPSC to ensure its 
work is maximally protective of children, and through consideration and 
enactment of strong and child-protective bipartisan legislation that is 
currently before Congress.
Button Batteries
    Button batteries are ubiquitous and useful; powering many toys, 
tools, and consumer products that we all use on a daily basis. Children 
face potentially deadly ingestion hazards from button batteries when 
they come out of common household products, such as small remote 
controls, garage door openers, bathroom scales, cell phones, flameless 
candles, watches, cameras, and digital thermometers. These batteries 
can be tremendously dangerous if swallowed, as the contact with a 
child's airway or esophagus immediately causes the battery to 
immediately discharge electricity, resulting in burns which are an 
immediate, life-threatening emergency. I have seen children who 
suffered life altering burns to their esophagus, or food tube, after 
ingesting a button battery that was undetected by parents for less than 
an hour.
    A recent report from the CPSC showed an alarming 93 percent 
increase in emergency-room treated injuries related to button batteries 
among children ages 5-9 from March through September 2020. Education 
alone cannot protect children from button battery ingestion; Federal 
action is necessary. The AAP supports a mandatory safety standard that 
would require manufacturers to securely enclose all button cell 
batteries and to sell such batteries in child-resistant packaging. 
Manufacturers should also work in support of design changes that would 
eliminate this serious health hazard, even if batteries are ingested.
    The AAP supports Reese's Law, which would protect children against 
the hazardous ingestion of button cell or coin batteries. This 
bipartisan bill would require the CPSC to promulgate a safety standard 
for consumer products containing button cell or coin battery 
compartments. This standard would require these products to secure the 
batteries in a manner that prevents children from accessing the 
hazardous batteries. The bill would also improve warning label 
requirements to communicate the hazard of ingestion and require button 
cell or coin batteries to be sold using child-resistant packaging. 
These measures would help prevent children from accessing button 
batteries in the first place, which would save lives.
High-Powered Magnet Sets
    Another ingestion hazard that we expect to effect children over the 
holidays comes from dangerous high-powered magnets that are marketed as 
toys. When two or more high-powered magnets are swallowed, their 
attractive force (flux) allows them to find each other, even if it is 
across or between different segments of the digestive system. For 
example, a magnet in the stomach will be pulled to a magnet in the 
small intestine, as it will to another in colon, or across loops of 
bowel. These magnet connections can lead to necrosis of the intestinal 
tissue, which can lead to intestinal injury, rupture, and even death.
    Recognizing these serious risks, the CPSC took action to eliminate 
dangerous high-powered magnets from the marketplace. And these steps 
were initially successful; research shows that the CPSC and Health 
Canada efforts to ban high-powered magnet sets were working to protect 
children. Researchers studied the impact of Canada's recall by 
comparing data on magnet ingestion at Toronto's Hospital for Sick 
Children during the two years before the recall (2011 and 2012) and two 
years after the recall (2014 and 2015).ii In the initial two 
years, there were 22 multiple magnet ingestions, six operations and 
nine endoscopic procedures. In the two years after the recall, there 
were five ingestions, one operation and four endoscopic procedures.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \ii\ Rosenfield D, Strickland M, Hepburn CM. After the Recall: 
Reexamining Multiple Magnet Ingestion at a Large Pediatric Hospital. J 
Pediatr. 2017 Jul;186:78-81. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.02.002. Epub 
2017 Mar 10. PMID: 28291530.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Unfortunately, the courts vacated the CPSC standard and recall in 
2015, putting children at risk again from these dangerous products. And 
we have seen the problem return, both in the data and what we are 
seeing in the emergency room. New Federal protections are urgently 
needed. During a 3 week period in 2019, we had 3 children admitted for 
magnet ingestions, and surgeons removed a total of 36 tiny magnets from 
their intestines. I personally met a 5-year-old boy who swallowed 5 
magnets, and narrowly averted requiring a colostomy as the magnets 
found each other across multiple loops of bowel and cut off blood 
supply.
    The AAP has endorsed the Magnet Injury Prevention Act, which would 
create strong safety standards again so that dangerous magnet sets are 
no longer on the marketplace. AAP also supports the CPSC's latest 
efforts to address this hazard through a recent mandatory recall and 
through a new proposed safety standard. Families need clear protections 
so that they don't have to worry that the well-intentioned toy in their 
child's stocking could pose a risk to them or a younger sibling.
Other Product Hazards
    In this season of giving, it is important for parents and 
policymakers to be aware of other products that can pose hazards for 
children. The AAP continues to call attention to the importance of safe 
sleep environments for infants and urges Congress and the CPSC to 
protect children from inclined infant sleep products, crib bumpers, and 
other sleep products that can lead to suffocation and other infant 
sleep-related deaths. The AAP thanks the Commerce Committee for 
advancing the bipartisan Safe Cribs Act (S. 1259), which would ban 
padded crib bumpers. We also strongly support the Safe Sleep Act, which 
would protect children from infant inclined sleep products like the 
now-recalled Fisher-Price Rock `n Play Sleeper. Both of these policies 
passed the U.S. House in June, and we urge the Senate to pass them 
expeditiously. Enactment of these policies, and continued progress on 
CPSC's proposals to remove inclined sleepers and padded crib bumpers 
from the marketplace, would be a welcome improvement and ensure that 
any sleep-related gifts from well-meaning friends and relatives are 
safe.
    Holiday gatherings and parties often mean children running around 
and exploring the house, including climbing on furniture. This 
highlights the risk of furniture tip-overs and the importance of 
passing the bipartisan STURDY Act, which would create a stronger safety 
standard to prevent furniture from tipping over on and crushing young 
children. We urge the full Committee to mark up and advance this bill.
CPSC Effectiveness
    In closing, I want to note that a strong and fully-functioning CPSC 
is critical to keep children safe over the holidays and throughout the 
year. Congress should ensure the agency has the funding, staff, and 
statutory authorities needed to carry out its mission. This includes 
the ability to transparently and proactively address risks to children 
before they lead to significant injuries and fatalities. The AAP 
supports the Sunshine in Product Safety Act, which would repeal Section 
6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, an outdated provision creating 
unnecessary barriers to disclosing information about a consumer product 
that identifies a manufacturer. Section 6(b) delays the release of 
specific and critical safety information, putting children at risk of 
injury and death. For example, there could be a deadly hazard 
associated with a product being given as a gift this holiday season 
that the agency is not allowed to transparently warn consumers about. 
Strengthening CPSC's authorities and increasing its funding would help 
the agency better protect children and save lives.
Conclusion
    The AAP is grateful to the Subcommittee for its focus on children's 
product safety during this holiday season, and we look forward to 
continuing to work with you so that families can safely celebrate the 
holidays. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I look forward 
to you questions.

    Senator Blumenthal. Thanks a lot, Dr. Hoffman. And now, 
Joan Lawrence.

       STATEMENT OF JOAN LAWRENCE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,

               STANDARDS AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS,

                      THE TOY ASSOCIATION

    Ms. Lawrence. I just want to make sure you can hear me. 
Good morning, my name is Joan Lawrence, and I am the Senior 
Vice President, Standards and Regulatory Affairs for The Toy 
Association. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on 
this important topic, Chairman Blumenthal and Ranking Member 
Blackburn.
    Product safety is the top priority for the toy industry 
and, in fact, my role at the Toy Association includes promoting 
toy safety and safe play year-round. Accordingly, I also serve 
as the Chairperson of the Multi-Stakeholder Expert Subcommittee 
on Toy Safety under ASTM International, responsible for the 
ASTM F963 Toy Safety Standard.
    The Toy Association is a not-for-profit trade association 
whose members includes more than 950 businesses, all involved 
in bringing safe, fun toys and games to children. The Toy 
Association and its members have served as leaders in globally 
toy safety efforts. In the 1970s, we helped create the world's 
first comprehensive toy safety standard. The ASTM F963 Toy 
Safety Standard, as it is now known, has been recognized as a 
gold standard for toy safety, and its subcommittee of experts, 
including government, medical and child development experts, 
industry, engineers and inventors, toy safety testing labs, and 
consumer representatives continually reviews the standard to 
keep pace with product innovation, incorporating the latest 
intelligence on product safety and children's behavior and has 
led the world in this regard. In fact, in 2008, the U.S. 
Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act 
which, among its other provisions, made ASTM F963 a mandatory 
Consumer Product Safety rule for all toys sold in the U.S. And 
it requires testing and certification of compliance to the 
standard.
    In effect, Congress also endorsed the work of the ASTM 
Expert Toy Safety Subcommittee and its process for continual 
review. In all, there are over 100 different safety standards 
and tests for toy safety required of all toys sold in this 
country and these standards have been used as a model for other 
jurisdictions. Among the requirements are strict standards for 
the use of magnets and batteries in children's toys.
    For magnets, the use of certain powerful, rare-Earth 
magnets that are small parts and could be swallowed, is not 
allowed in children's toys. Despite this, there remain concerns 
and confusion over adult magnetic products, still available in 
the marketplace, that are small parts and do not comply with 
our toy standard. These products are not children's toys and 
are not safe for children.
    Batteries that are small parts also pose a unique threat to 
young children, particularly those under 3 years of age, who 
may still mouth objects. Since the 1990s, the Toy Safety 
Standard has addressed batteries used in children's toys, 
requiring a locking mechanism on the battery compartment to 
prevent children's access to the batteries. These requirements 
apply to all batteries and toys intended for children under 3 
years of age, and batteries that are small parts, such as coin 
and button cells, in all toys.
    Following a report regarding battery ingestion from various 
consumer products, the ASTM Subcommittee on Toy Safety 
revisited the standard for batteries and found that it was 
providing effective protection, preventing children from 
accessing batteries in a toy. However, consumers were largely 
unaware of the hazard that small batteries could pose if 
ingested. While there was not evidence the toy battery 
compartment locks were failing, there were cases of children 
ingesting batteries that may have been purchased for use in the 
toy and left where a child could access them and that even some 
used or spent batteries can still pose a risk.
    Accordingly, in 2016, requirements were added to the toy 
standard, so that toys that use coin cell batteries include 
labeling to alert consumers to the danger and the importance of 
keeping batteries away from young children. Additionally, since 
many non-toy products common in our homes and in a child's 
environment do not have the same safeguards, the Toy 
Association began recommending that the example of the toy 
standard for batteries be adopted by other product categories, 
as well, to reduce the hazard that these products may pose.
    We have also incorporated messaging as part of our year-
round consumer awareness campaign on the importance of keeping 
children away from batteries from any product. And they are 
closely following the development of several protective 
technologies for the batteries themselves that may offer 
enhanced protection of children in the future.
    As you can see, the safety of toys is a high priority and 
toys are highly regulated in this country. However, I would be 
remiss in not mentioning the concern about counterfeit toys 
being sold in the online marketplaces. The Toy Association has 
continued to raise the concern over the increase in counterfeit 
toys. While all toys are required to comply with safety 
standards, counterfeits, while also skirting intellectual 
property law, may not comply with the range of standards to 
which toys are subject, putting unsuspecting consumers, 
children, and families at risk. Any business selling toys in 
the U.S. must be held to the same high safety standards. 
Accordingly, the Toy Association supports both the INFORM 
Consumers Act and the Shop Safe Act to require more 
transparency and create new accountability to help reduce the 
presence of counterfeits and unsafe products sold online.
    As an industry, we recognize the trust that families place 
in us and in the safety of toys. We take that responsibility 
very seriously and pride ourselves on the effectiveness of the 
toy standard and in its process for revision, seeks to 
continually keep pace with innovation and new information. ASTM 
F963 serves as a model for other countries looking to protect 
the health and safety of their youngest citizens, and for other 
product categories looking to emulate its protected standards 
for children.
    Thank you for the opportunity to speak today and I look 
forward to addressing any questions you may have.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Lawrence follows:]

 Prepared Statement of Joan Lawrence, Senior Vice President, Standards 
              And Regulatory Affairs, The Toy Association
    Good morning. My name is Joan Lawrence, and I am the Senior Vice 
President, Standards and Regulatory Affairs for The Toy Association. 
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the subject of 
Product Safety During the Holiday Season. While I was asked to 
specifically talk today about the topic of batteries used in toys, the 
broader topic for this hearing--Product Safety--is of utmost importance 
to the toy industry and, in fact, my role at The Toy Association 
includes promoting toy safety and safe play year-round. In that effort, 
I also serve as the chairperson of the multi-stakeholder expert 
subcommittee on toy safety under ASTM International, responsible for 
the ASTM F963 toy safety standard which comprises the bulk of U.S. toy 
safety requirements.
    The Toy Association is a not-for-profit trade association whose 
membership includes more than 950 businesses--from inventors and 
designers of toys to toy manufacturers and importers, retailers and 
safety testing labs--all involved in bringing safe, fun toys and games 
to children. The U.S. toy market is $27 billion annually, with an 
annual U.S. economic impact of $98.2 billion. Our members manufacture 
and sell approximately 90 percent of the three billion toys sold in the 
U.S. each year.
    Toy safety is the top priority for The Toy Association and its 
members. Since the 1930s, the Association and its members have served 
as leaders in global toy safety efforts; in the 1970s we helped to 
create the world's first comprehensive toy safety standard, which was 
later adopted under the auspices of ASTM International as ASTM F963. 
The ASTM F963 Toy Safety Standard has been recognized as a ``gold 
standard'' for toy safety. Its subcommittee of experts includes 
government, medical and child development experts, industry, engineers 
and inventors, toy safety testing labs, and consumer representatives. 
The group continually reviews the standard to keep pace with product 
innovation, incorporating the latest intelligence on product safety and 
children's behavior--and has led the world in this regard. In fact, in 
2008 the U.S. Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement 
Act (CPSIA) which, among other provisions, made ASTM F963 a mandatory 
consumer product safety rule for all toys sold in the U.S.--and 
requires testing and certification of compliance to all applicable 
provisions of the ASTM toy safety standard. In effect, Congress also 
endorsed the work of the ASTM expert toy safety subcommittee--and its 
process for continual review.
    In all, there are over 100 different safety standards and tests for 
toy safety, required of all toys sold in this country and these 
standards have been used a model for other jurisdictions. Among the 
requirements, are strict standards for the use of magnets and batteries 
in children's toys.
    For magnets, the toy standard does not allow the use of certain 
powerful rare earth magnets in children's toys and toy components that 
are small parts and could be swallowed. Despite this, there remain 
concerns and confusion over adult magnetic products, still in the 
marketplace, that do not comply with the toy standard. These products 
are not children's toys and are not safe for children. This is a key 
point in our year-round messaging to consumers.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ See www.PlaySafe.org.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Regarding batteries, the use of battery technology in some toys can 
enhance the educational and developmental benefits of play--
incorporating lights, colors, sounds, motion--and fostering motor 
skills, problem solving, language development, learning cause and 
effect, and more.\2\ However, batteries that are small parts pose a 
unique threat to young children, particularly those under three (3) 
years of age who may still mouth objects; certain ingested batteries 
can begin to burn internal tissue in as little as two hours. 
Importantly, to prevent this, since the 1990s the ASTM toy safety 
standard has addressed batteries used in children's toys, requiring a 
locking mechanism on the battery compartment to prevent children's 
access to batteries. These requirements apply to all batteries in toys 
for ages under three years, and batteries that are small parts (coin 
and button cells, for example) regardless of intended age of the 
user.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Resources: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Age 
Determination Guidelines: Relating Consumer Product Characteristics to 
the Skills, Play Behaviors, and Interests of Children, January 2020 . 
And The Genius of Play: https://thegeniusofplay.org
    \3\ See ASTM F963: Reading Room--Products & Services (astm.org)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    When data emerged several years ago from the National Poison Center 
related to battery ingestion, describing incidents related to batteries 
from numerous types of consumer products, the ASTM Subcommittee on Toy 
Safety revisited the ASTM requirement for batteries--and found that it 
was providing effective protection preventing children from accessing 
batteries in a toy. In contrast, however, many of the non-toy products 
common in our homes and in a child's environment, do not have the same 
safeguards to prevent children's access to batteries. As such, The Toy 
Association began recommending that the toy standard for batteries--be 
adopted by other product categories as well. Common consumer products 
such as hearing aids, remote controls, battery-operated watches and 
clocks, and even musical greeting cards have been associated with 
tragic incidents--and should consider immediate action to reduce the 
hazard they pose.
    What we did find in our review of the incidents was that while the 
toy standard's requirement for a locked battery compartment was 
working, consumers were largely unaware of the hazard that small 
batteries could pose if ingested. While there was not evidence that 
battery compartment locks were failing, there were cases of children 
accessing batteries that may have been purchased for use in a toy and 
left where a child could access them, and that even some used/spent 
batteries accessed by children can still pose a risk to them. (In some 
cases, even batteries discarded in the garbage have been found by an 
inquisitive toddler.) Accordingly, in 2016 we revised the ASTM toy 
safety standard to reaffirm the requirement for a locking mechanism on 
the battery compartment--and add requirements that toys that use coin 
cell batteries also include labeling to alert consumers to the danger 
of these batteries if ingested and the importance of keeping batteries 
away from young children. Additionally, The Toy Association has 
incorporated messaging as part of our year-round consumer awareness 
campaign on the importance of keeping children away from batteries from 
any product.\4\ We are also closely following the development of 
several protective technologies for the batteries themselves, should 
they offer enhanced protection of children from the hazard.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ www.PlaySafe.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As you can see, the safety of toys is a high priority--and toys are 
highly regulated in this country. Seen as an effective safety standard, 
ASTM F963 serves as a model for other countries looking to protect the 
health and safety of their citizens--and for other product categories 
looking to emulate its protective standards for children.
    It is also important to keep in mind that, under current law, the 
third-party online marketplace system is not necessarily held to the 
same strict safety regulations. This has created an ecommerce 
environment where third-party sellers can operate anonymously online 
and bypass U.S. safety and testing regulations.
    Every day, there are examples of unsafe and non-compliant toys 
being offered and sold in online marketplaces. Listings frequently 
include toys marketed to children under the age of three that pose 
choking hazards, toys without required labeling, and products with 
battery compartments without a locking mechanism. These products 
sidestep regulations, yet are offered on popular mainstream online 
marketplaces and marketed as appropriate for children. Any business 
selling toys in the U.S. must be held to the same high safety standards 
that apply in the brick and mortar world and which consumers have come 
to know and trust.
    The Toy Association urges Congress to pass both the INFORM 
Consumers Act and the SHOP SAFE Act to require more transparency and 
create new accountability to help reduce the presence of counterfeits 
and unsafe products sold online.
    As an industry we recognize the trust that families place in us and 
in the safety of toys. We take that responsibility very seriously and 
pride ourselves on the effectiveness of the toy standard and in its 
process for revision that seeks to continually keep pace with 
innovation and new information. As you consider legislation to address 
battery safety in consumer products, we urge you to consider what we 
have learned and how we have led in the toy sector--so that the 
protections we have instituted may apply to all consumer products.
    Attachments:

   Taking Counterfeits Offline (2020)

   Press Release: Toy Association Warns Holiday Shoppers about 
        Counterfeit Toys Sold Online (November 1, 2021)

   Toy Safety Shopping Guide, published by The Toy Association

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you so much, Ms. Lawrence. We are 
very appreciative that we have been joined by the Chairman of 
the Committee, Senator Cantwell. I am going to turn to her for 
any statements or questions that she may have.

               STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL, 
                  U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON

    The Chairwoman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly want 
to thank you, Senator Blumenthal, and Senator Blackburn for 
your leadership on this issue and having a hearing at this 
important time. As we enter the holiday season, consumers are 
purchasing these gifts and presents at record numbers, and we 
need to make sure that our safety is at the utmost level of 
scrutiny.
    I am deeply concerned about how well our current system 
protects consumers, particularly children, from unsafe 
products. We need to do better, as the hearing already has 
pointed out from out witnesses.
    Recalls are important but they are not always adequate. Too 
often, product recalls are not effective at getting dangerous 
products out of circulation. Four and a half years ago, the 
CPSC held a recall effectiveness workshop, which highlighted 
the low effectiveness of recalls. This was then corroborated by 
a GAO report that issued a statement about faulting CPSC, for 
not consistently assigning more recall checks to these high-
risk recalls.
    So, today, I am sending a letter to the CPSC, asking for 
them to improve their recall efficiency and making sure that 
they take steps to improve the process, asking for relevant 
information to show that we need to do a better job at this. 
The importance of this work is underscored by the CPSC's 
current own estimates about emergency rooms treated--198,000 
toy-related injuries in 2020. So, in 2021, 13 toy products have 
been recalled by the CPSC, so far, due to high lead levels, 
risks of children choking on small parts, and other avoidable 
risks.
    So, I wanted to ask you, Dr. Hoffman, what policy 
recommendations would you recommend to improve the CPSC's 
ability to ensure corrective actions? Ms. Rhodes, would you 
support requiring retailers or manufacturers of recalled goods 
to use information collected through the course of sale to 
directly notify consumers and buyers of these known hazards?
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes, we do support recalling companies using 
information that was gathered during the transaction to notify 
customers of recall.
    The Chairwoman. And how well do you think we are doing on 
that?
    Ms. Rhodes. I think certain companies have actually enacted 
that. A good example is Amazon, sometimes, will reach out to 
customers because they have the means to do so. But, typically, 
with recall effectiveness, we have low rates, as you suggested, 
and there is a lack of accountability in the recall 
effectiveness, with recalling companies.
    The Chairwoman. Dr. Hoffman, how effective are we if we are 
not getting the message out?
    Dr. Hoffman. Thank you, Senator Cantwell. I think if we do 
not get the message out, we cannot be effective. And I think 
that we need to think about the recalls from the standpoint of 
the families and consumers and do everything we can to make it 
as friendly for them as possible. I think an example where we 
have had some success, is in child passenger safety around car 
seats. There is, you know, with every car seat that is sold, an 
opportunity to register it with the manufacturer--register the 
owner with the manufacturer with the owner so that they can 
proactively reach out. I think that it has some benefit, 
although, there are still some barriers to getting those 
completed.
    I think this also goes back to the need to have a fully 
staffed and fully functioning Consumer Product Safety 
Commission that can work to meet the needs of families and 
consumers.
    The Chairwoman. So, getting Ms. Boyle appointed so we that 
we can have an active and an aggressive Commission.
    I am reminded--I think this committee dealt with this issue 
once before, as it related to used cars and the process of 
notifying people on how to notify individuals when these cars 
were defaulted and defective. And I think the committee did 
good work, so I am asking the Ranking Member and the 
subcommittee Chair here to--maybe you can look at that as a 
model and let us see what information we get back from the 
CPSC. But let us take action on this. You guys are providing 
great leadership. Thank you.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you very, very much, Chairman 
Cantwell. Excellent point and we will follow up on it and very 
much appreciate your leadership on this issue, as you were 
involved in the used car recall issue, as well. Thank you so 
much.
    And I want to just take the point that Senator Cantwell 
made so well. I have introduced S. 1355 which is the Sunshine 
in Product Safety Act that strikes a section of the current 
law, section 6B, the section that restricts the disclosure of 
information--it actually restricts the disclosure of 
information by the CPSC related to product hazards. It permits 
a manufacturer to challenge the disclosure of information in 
Federal court, if the manufacturer believes the disclosure is 
not ``fair in the circumstances'', which is an extraordinarily 
vague standard. Changes to 6B would improve recall efficiency 
and give the CPSC more of the teeth that it needs to be a real 
tiger, not a paper watchdog.
    Ms. Rhodes, can you comment on that potential change in the 
Sunshine in Product Safety Act?
    Ms. Rhodes. Absolutely. We see with recalls that, once the 
recall is disclosed, consumers can learn about it. But there is 
this whole hidden process with recalling companies and CPSC 
where they can be discussing an unsafe products for weeks, or 
even months, before consumers are even informed. Removal of 6B 
will allow consumers to get information immediately, which is 
especially important when we are talking about products that 
can seriously injure and also kill people.
    Senator Blumenthal. Dr. Hoffman, would you favor that kind 
of change in the law that would permit greater disclosure, and 
more promptly, about hazards in toys?
    Dr. Hoffman. Absolutely. And I think, for many juvenile 
products, that is an issue. We saw that very specifically in 
the issue of incline sleepers when, on April 5th of 2019, it 
was disclosed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission that 
there were 10 deaths associated with those products, and a 
report by Consumer Reports, that came out three days later, 
revealed there actually were 32.
    The fact that products can be identified as hazardous, 
without--and have no--and they are--with a lack of any 
requirement to notify the public around the specific product, I 
think, leads to significant increased risk of injury and death 
for kids.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you. Ms. Lawrence, would you 
favor--will you support that change in section 6B of the Act?
    Ms. Lawrence. Well, prefacing my response by the fact that 
I am not a lawyer, I do understand that 6B is in place, in 
part, because early information in the investigation and 
decisions regarding a recall is often inaccurate, and thus, you 
know, if information was released prematurely, it could be 
misleading to consumers and unfair to the company, you know. 
But I am happy to provide a response from the Toy Association 
on this issue, should you be interested in that, following the 
hearing.
    Senator Blumenthal. I am not only interested, but I would 
request that you provide that response. I hope that the Toy 
Industry Association will support it, because it would simply 
remove time consuming and costly roadblocks to disclosure of 
information to consumers. It permits, in effect, manufacturers 
to block and conceal very severe hazards in toys for lengthy 
periods of time. And I am hopeful that the Toy Industry 
Association will support the Sunshine in Product Safety Act 
that would remove this kind of impediment. So, I will welcome 
and ask you to provide that information.
    In this first round of questioning, let me turn to you, Ms. 
Rhodes, because you brought with you the Wild Republic Slap 
Watch toy, or it is actually an accessory. It is a watch, as I 
understand it. And you held it up briefly, could you hold it up 
again, please? I know it is still in the package, but I gather 
that that watch has a lithium battery that can pop out. Is that 
correct?
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes. It is tucked in behind here, if you can 
see the back of the watch.
    Senator Blumenthal. And a child who has that watch could 
easily pop out the battery?
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes. That is why it was recalled.
    Senator Blumenthal. The battery would look something like 
this. And the battery, in effect, has an acid that eats through 
the lining of the trachea or esophagus in a child who swallows 
it. It is, I guess, the acid that does the damage. But this 
kind of small, button cell battery is found in a wide variety 
of items. Could you list a few of them that are commonly found 
in households?
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes. They can be found in TV remotes; garage 
doors will sometimes have--that clicker will have button cell 
or coin cell batteries. We do find them in children's toys, of 
course. So, objects that are just around the house that you may 
not think of, especially when it comes to TV remotes that may 
just be placed on the table.
    Senator Blumenthal. They are powerful batteries. They are 
useful. They perform an important function. But if they are 
unsafely secured in those common household items, they can be 
swallowed by children, correct?
    Ms. Rhodes. Correct.
    Senator Blumenthal. Dr. Hoffman, could you tell us what 
happens to the esophagus of a child who swallows one of these 
batteries, if it is lodged in the throat?
    Dr. Hoffman. Absolutely. So, those batteries function--
there is a positive side and a negative side. So, the top is 
one and the bottom is the other. If there is contact between 
the two, and there is contact on the positive side and the 
negative side at the same time, it starts to discharge 
electricity. The acid is in the battery and that is what leads 
to the electric charge.
    In the esophagus, which is a food tube of a child, the top 
part of the battery and the bottom part of the battery will be 
contacted by the tissue. And that contact with the tissue will 
allow electricity to begin flowing. And so, it is not actually 
a chemical burn, but it is an electrical burn that happens, and 
it happens immediately, at the first contact between a child's 
tissue and the top and bottom of the battery.
    So, the damage is instantaneous, and the degree of damage 
is a function then of the strength of the battery and the 
duration of time that it is in contact with human tissue. So, 
we can see injury with, you know, within an hour or less. And 
as Ms. Hamsmith's experience tragically showed, you know, 
within a couple of hours that damage can be irreversible and 
potentially fatal.
    Senator Blumenthal. Dr. Hoffman, does the damage continue, 
potentially, after the battery is removed?
    Dr. Hoffman. In the same way that any burn continues to 
cause tissue damage after the source of the burn, the heat 
source, is removed, yes. And especially with electrical burns 
that is true.
    Senator Blumenthal. Is the burn treatable? It would seem 
like the throat is a difficult part of the body to reach, if 
there is a burn in the esophagus.
    Dr. Hoffman. Absolutely. While the gastrointestinal tract, 
the digestive tract, has a significant blood supply, it does 
tend to heal fairly well. But these burns are severe enough 
that they can cause lifelong damage. And if they are deep 
enough and causes, as tragically happened in Reese's case, 
perforation or rupture, it can lead to even longer-term issues, 
as the experience with the Hamsmiths shows.
    Senator Blumenthal. There is no requirement now, Dr. 
Hoffman, as I understand it, that hospitals specifically report 
these kinds of injuries, correct?
    Dr. Hoffman. Not as far as I am aware, no.
    Senator Blumenthal. So, the number that we have, which 
itself is absolutely appalling and horrifying, could well be 
only a fraction of the total number. In fact, it has been 
estimated that it is only 11 percent, that 350,000 number.
    Dr. Hoffman. Absolutely. Absolutely.
    Senator Blumenthal. And let me ask you--I know that this is 
more an educated guess on your part than actual documented, 
scientific data, but what could explain the uptick in 
ingestions in 2020? An increase of 93 percent between March and 
September of that year.
    Dr. Hoffman. Yes, I think, Senator, you eluded to this in 
your opening remarks. I think a lot of it has to do with just 
exposure. You know, a child who is not--who is--who lives in an 
environment where there are no button or coin batteries is 
going to have a zero percent chance of accessing one and, 
potentially, ingesting it.
    You know, the period of time we are talking about, we were 
still looking at kids who were home during the day; parents 
were, you know, out of their--broken away from their routine 
and forced to be teachers and workers and babysitters. And, you 
know, while we know that parental supervision and the 
supervision of caregivers is absolutely essential to help 
prevent injuries for children, it is completely insufficient. 
And having kids around products with button and coin batteries 
for longer periods of time with that potentially distracted 
supervision, I think, goes a long way toward explaining this 
tragic increase.
    Senator Blumenthal. Right. And some battery manufacturers 
actually have developed a coating, with a very bitter taste--a 
bitter coating for the batteries, to help signal to kids, or 
others, that they should spit it out. Should we still push for 
some kind of mandatory product safety standard that will secure 
the batteries within whatever the items are?
    Dr. Hoffman. Absolutely, Senator. I think so much of what 
we try to do in injury prevention is install layers of 
protection. I think the bittering agent, there is no data yet 
to support that. I think there is some promise in it. But we do 
not have any hard data to show that it is at all effective. And 
I think, you know, short of eliminating these from an 
environment, doing everything we can to put barriers to access 
in place, which would include making it as hard as possible for 
a battery to be removed, inadvertently, from a product by a 
child who is not supposed to have access to it would be a huge 
step forward.
    Senator Blumenthal. And I know that the American Academy of 
Pediatrics has done a lot to educate parents. Would you say 
that parents are generally unaware or aware of the dangers of 
these batteries?
    Dr. Hoffman. I think it is tremendously variable. You know, 
clearly, Academy policy and everything we have that is designed 
for families, including our healthychildren.org resources, talk 
about this. But there are so--you know, there are so many 
hazards around and these batteries are so ubiquitous, I think 
it is a little bit challenging to get people's attention, and 
certainly to get people's attention to the degree that I think 
the problem warrants.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you. I have a number of 
additional questions, but I am going to turn to the Ranking 
Member and come back whenever she finishes.
    Senator Blackburn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all 
for your testimony. Ms. Rhodes, I want to come to you first. 
You mentioned, in your testimony, CBP apprehending the shipment 
in Baltimore that had the toxic chemicals. And I think it was 
barium, cadmium, let us see, lead. So, how can we help ensure 
that these counterfeit items never get into the supply chain? 
That they are stopped before they come in? And then, likewise, 
CPSC had removed--recently removed some of their inspectors 
from the ports. Talk about those two things very quickly, 
please.
    Ms. Rhodes. I will say that the ports are a little bit 
outside of my general expertise.
    Senator Blackburn. Yes.
    Ms. Rhodes. But when it comes to the----
    Senator Blackburn. But the effect is not.
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes, the effect is not.
    Senator Blackburn. Yes.
    Ms. Rhodes. When it comes to these products, a lot of them 
do come into the ports, but a lot of them are sold online. And 
one of the ways we can stop that is by having hosting platforms 
give customers as much information as they can about who is 
selling the product, as well as making sure that they are 
monitoring for dangerous listings, so American consumers are 
not purchasing counterfeit products online and then, having 
them shipped into the United States.
    Senator Blackburn. Right. And that would get into the 
section 230 reforms that I mentioned earlier, that would allow 
for that transparency and information share.
    Ms. Lawrence, let us go back to what you all at the Toy 
Association can do and how you are sharing information with 
customers. And Chairman Cantwell mentioned what we had passed, 
when I was over in the House that dealt with information to 
purchasers of used cars and maybe using that as a model. But 
talk a little bit about what you all are proactively doing to 
share information with consumers about the dangers of certain 
toys. And I know, at one point, you all had done work on resell 
of toys, things that would show up in flea markets and 
different sales that people would have.
    Ms. Lawrence. Yes, thank you for the question. We have 
great concerns about counterfeit products in particular, 
because we know that these products are skirting copyright law 
and, likely, not complying with our tough toy safety standards, 
as well. So, we have, a couple of years ago, issued a white 
paper on this issue--on the issue of counterfeit toys and their 
increased occurrence in the marketplace and what could be done. 
We revised that white paper again in 2020 and found that the--
that with the increase in online sales, the issue continues to 
increase.
    We are--you know, every day you see numerous products being 
sold on online marketplaces that would violate our top toy 
safety standards. So, we are working to communicate with the 
industry, with policymakers, and with consumers. For consumers, 
we provide information on how to shop the online marketplaces 
more safely, what to look for, what red flags to avoid when you 
are buying toys in an online forum. And more generally, we work 
year-round to educate consumers on how they can choose age-
appropriate toys and toys that are appropriate for their 
families, their home environment, and also, how to supervise 
play. We have a website, playsafe.org, that provides this year-
round messaging for consumers, so that they can understand, you 
know, what goes into toy safety----
    Senator Blackburn. Ms. Lawrence, can I--let me interrupt 
you right there. And you can do this for the record. I would 
like to know what organizations you all are partnering with to 
get this information out. Do you partner with, like, AARP or 
some of these organizations, to educate grandparents who may 
think buying online is the way to do it. And oh, you know, it 
populates the screen and you have got four different options, 
which look like the same toy. And three of them are counterfeit 
but they are at the lower cost. So, why don't you give me a 
list of the organizations that are--you are partnering with. 
And, likewise, Playsafe, how many unique users do you have to 
that website every year? This will help us to understand how 
broadly the information is getting into the community.
    I also--Ms. Rhodes, I am going to come back to you first on 
this. CBP apprehended nearly 3/4 of a billion dollars' worth of 
goods at Long Beach alone, coming in through the port, of 
counterfeit goods. And that does not even touch what is there 
online. So, we know what is coming in through the port. But do 
you all have any way of quantifying counterfeit product that is 
coming into the marketplace online?
    Ms. Rhodes. No, we have no way----
    Senator Blackburn. You do not?
    Ms. Rhodes.--of quantifying.
    Senator Blackburn. OK. Ms. Lawrence, do you all have any 
numbers that would quantify what is coming in illicitly?
    Ms. Lawrence. We would rely on the U.S. Consumer Product 
Safety Commission who, as you mentioned, has inspectors at the 
ports, as well as CBP, to get an estimate of the number of 
products that are arriving in our U.S. ports.
    Senator Blackburn. OK, but you have--all right, but you 
have nothing that quantifies what is being done online?
    Ms. Lawrence. It is very difficult to quantify what is 
being done online because, while 1 day a product may be found 
to be violative, the next day that same seller could remake 
itself under a new name and sell that same product again.
    Senator Blackburn. Right, and we have seen that many times. 
I have got innovators in Tennessee who hold patent and they are 
manufacturing in China. And 1 day, in either an e-mail or in 
their mailbox, they get a flyer for the product that they have 
had the company making for them, at a lesser price. They have 
been ripped off.
    I want to--Ms. Lawrence, I am going to stay with you for a 
second on standards. And talk about the importance of these 
protocols around setting standards for the toy--for the 
marketplace and what you all do, in that regard, to set these 
standards.
    Ms. Lawrence. Well, our Expert Toy Safety Committee, which 
is the ASTM Toy Safety Committee, continually is looking at--
when there is new innovation and products, they look at data, 
they look at incidents--information regarding incidents. They 
look at how children's behavior is changing over time. And all 
of these pieces of information and resources come together to 
drive and identify where emerging hazards may exist, where 
standards may need revision or new standards created.
    I would also mention that listening to recent--Trista's 
story today, from a personal note that is the kind of story 
that keeps someone in the standards setting world up at night. 
And it is the very kind of story that motivates us, our every 
day. It is those kinds of stories that drive us to continually 
look at those standards and revise them as needed, to address 
issues in the marketplace.
    Senator Blackburn. Well, and we thank you all for your 
testimony and for the good work that you are doing. Mr. 
Chairman, I yield back my time.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thanks very, very much, Senator 
Blackburn. I am going to turn to Senator Lujan.

               STATEMENT OF HON. BEN RAY LUJAN, 
                  U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO

    Senator Lujan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you 
and the Ranking Member for today's important hearing, and for 
all of the witnesses to be here, especially the powerful 
testimony, Ms. Hamsmith. The story needs to be heard more and 
more. And I know that other outlets have done their due 
diligence to make sure parents and families are aware. But just 
thank you for continuing to be an advocate and the courage and 
the strength to be with us today. Thank you.
    Mr. Chairman, as the holidays are upon us, and we are 
always reminded that it is supposed to be a time to come 
together and to celebrate family and community. This hearing is 
really important because, as we heard with the powerful 
testimony today, often times these toys are given with the best 
of intentions and without, maybe, even the proper warning of 
what should be on there, which is what the advocacy is.
    And that is only made worse with counterfeit products. 
Because, if you have products that we know that are being 
manufactured under the guidelines and the regulatory 
environment, and they are still missing the mark, what happens 
when a product is counterfeit.
    In addition to that, we also know that there is price 
gouging taking place. And I was proud to join Senator 
Blumenthal, our Chairman, in introducing a piece of legislation 
called Stopping the Grinch Bots Act, which is contributing to 
that. And when there are fewer, in this case, gaming devices 
that are out on the market, then there are more counterfeits 
that enter, and then, more dangers that result from that. 
Parents deserve fair pricing and safe products, not just for 
this time of year, but for all parts of the year.
    Ms. Rhodes, you outlined, in your testimony, the 
availability of counterfeit goods online is a problem year-
round. So, in my home state, one of the other areas that we 
have concerns with with counterfeit products are Native 
American art, crafts, which have caused local artists millions 
and millions of dollars. Most of the imitations are created 
overseas, imported, and then, sold here in the United States as 
genuine. It is a violation of Federal law and needs to stop. 
And it is just, every time I get a chance to talk about it, I 
remind everyone that you are going to go to jail if you are 
doing this, once you are caught. And you will get caught.
    What is more, counterfeit safety gear can also cause 
people's lives. Last year, in the Energy and Commerce Committee 
hearing, when I was a member of the House, there was a 
counterfeit bike that was brought in, a counterfeit bicycle 
helmet that was brought in, and they asked if I would stand on 
that bicycle helmet. I told them, well, I might crush it under 
normal circumstances. But they assured me, by standing on one 
that I would wear regularly when I am out riding my bike that 
it would not crush the way that this on did. I stood on it, 
gave it a little bit of pressure, like an eggshell. And earlier 
that year, myself, I had had a pretty serious fall where I went 
over the handlebars. My helmet stopped me from doing additional 
damage, because I went into a bunch of rocks.
    So, these counterfeit goods, in addition to the lack of 
safety standards, could very well cost people their lives. So, 
the question that I have for the panel is, yes or no, do 
counterfeit products online pose a threat to the health and 
safety of consumers? Ms. Rhodes?
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes.
    Senator Lujan. Dr. Hoffman?
    Dr. Hoffman. Absolutely.
    Senator Lujan. And Ms. Lawrence?
    Ms. Lawrence. Yes, they do.
    Senator Lujan. And Ms. Rhodes, what steps should online 
platforms take to eliminate the presence of counterfeit goods?
    Ms. Rhodes. Online platforms should inform the consumers as 
of much information as they can about who they are purchasing 
goods from. They can also--apologies. They can also use their 
platform to navigate what are dangerous listings and make sure 
they are removing them immediately.
    Senator Lujan. So, according to PIRG's Annual Toy Safety 
Report for 2021, your organization also found multiple examples 
of recalled products available for sale online. So, what more 
should these platforms do to ensure that dangerous recall 
products are not available on their sites?
    Ms. Rhodes. For hosting sites, they should make sure that 
they are reviewing for recalling products. But for recalling 
companies, there needs to be more accountability in the system. 
One way could be the CPSC releasing an annual report looking at 
recall participation rates. We can also have recalling 
companies promote the recall the same extent that they would 
promote the product to begin with.
    Senator Lujan. So, recently the CPSC also took action to 
recall more than 10 million magnets that also pose serious 
death concerns, if people were to swallow those rare Earth 
magnets, as well. This year, less than 1/3 of recalled products 
are actually corrected or destroyed. So, there is still an 
uphill battle, even with the current standards of the CPSC. So, 
my question is, how do we improve those numbers and how can 
Congress and CPSC improve the effectiveness of product recalls?
    Ms. Rhodes. Absolutely. And that goes to the recalling 
companies' promoting and marketing, which they could do through 
a bunch of means. This could be through targeted social media 
ads. Just actually promoting the recall on their social media 
pages. They can even use the influencers that they pay to 
promote the product to also talk about the product recall.
    The most important thing is getting awareness into the 
public. And while consumers can learn about recalls and even 
report bad incidents on saferproducts.gov, most consumers are 
not aware that that database exists. So, it is important to 
also market saferproduct.gov and have the CPSC really highlight 
how important that database is and how it can be used by 
consumers.
    Senator Lujan. I appreciate that. Mr. Chairman, I do have a 
few other questions. I will submit them to the record. But 
again, I want to thank the witnesses. And Ms. Hamsmith, I am 
sorry that you have to be here today, but I am grateful that 
you are. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thanks, Senator Lujan. Senator Markey.

               STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD MARKEY, 
                U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS

    Senator Markey. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. This is 
just such an incredibly important hearing.
    When parents put a Christmas gift under the Christmas tree, 
they assume it is safe. They assume nothing can go wrong. They 
think that they are making their child happy. They want their 
children to look up at them with big smiles, as they are 
unwrapping all of these presents under the Christmas tree. And 
the Consumer Product Safety Commission's job is to make sure 
that the smile stays on the faces of those children and 
parents.
    And we know that, historically, because of unscrupulous 
manufacturers of goods, that counterfeit products, that 
mislabeled items, that recalled products, just to name a few of 
the categories that exist, make their way under Christmas 
trees, all across our country. And children are the victims. 
And the Consumer Product Safety Commission is supposed to be 
the cop on the beat to make sure that those children are not 
harmed in our country.
    So, the examples are just so many that it is hard to focus 
on all of them, but children are especially vulnerable to toxic 
substances. And a minor flaw that would only be an 
inconvenience to an adult, could have serious short- and long-
term consequences for a child. We know that.
    So, from my perspective, this is a very important hearing. 
And what I would ask from you, Ms. Rhodes, is do we need a 
fifth Consumer Product Safety Commission Commissioner, so that 
they can act and put the right kinds of safeguards in place?
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes, we absolutely do.
    Senator Markey. And do you agree with that, Ms. Hamsmith? 
Yes, and Dr. Rhodes, do you agree with that? I mean--I am 
sorry, Dr. Hoffman. I am sorry. Dr. Hoffman.
    Dr. Hoffman. Yes. Thank you, Senator Markey. Absolutely. 
The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that a fully 
functioning and adequately resourced Consumer Product Safety 
Commission is absolutely essential.
    Senator Markey. Yes, thank you. And Ms. Rhodes, is there a 
particular group of products that are of most concern to you?
    Ms. Rhodes. For counterfeit products?
    Senator Markey. Yes.
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes. I think children's toys falls in that 
category because we know children throw toys at the wall, they 
put them in their mouths. So, if there are toxic chemicals or 
they can be causing small parts, those are known hazards. Other 
goods that are particularly concerning are medicine or 
cosmetics, things that are going on our body or in, or we 
swallow them.
    Senator Markey. Yes, thank you. So, yes, this--so, this is 
a very important area. And here is what I will say. All I want 
for Christmas is a fifth Consumer Product Safety Commissioner 
to be put in place. And then, families across the country can 
rely upon the Federal Government to ensure that these bad 
companies--these bad actors do not endanger their children.
    So, let us just work very hard, here in the Commerce 
Committee and in the U.S. Senate, to get that Commissioner on 
the job, to make sure that all of the children in our country 
are protected proactively. That the Commission is working hard 
to make sure these toys, these products are never on the 
shelves in the first place.
    So, I thank all of you for being willing to testify today. 
And hopefully, it will be the spur for us to telescope the 
timeframe, which it takes for us to get that fifth 
commissioner--to get Mary Boyle on the floor of the Senate for 
full consideration.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thanks, Senator Markey. I was going to 
make the same point about the fifth Consumer Protection--CPSC 
Commissioner. Well made, much better than I could.
    Let me ask our other witness, Ms. Lawrence, on behalf of 
the Toy Industry Association, assuming that you support toy 
safety, is it not important they have a fifth Commissioner 
confirmed?
    Ms. Lawrence. Absolutely. The CPSC is a small agency with a 
big mission. And we would support all resources to help them 
see through that mission for all consumer products, including 
the addition of the Commissioner.
    Senator Blumenthal. I really welcome and appreciate your 
support for additional resources. I assume, Ms. Rhodes, you 
agree that additional resources are important for the CPSC?
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes, they are needed for the CPSC to do their 
job and protect consumers.
    Senator Blumenthal. And Dr. Hoffman, would you agree?
    Dr. Hoffman. I absolutely agree.
    Senator Blumenthal. You know, for this agency to be more 
than, as I mentioned earlier, a paper tiger, it has to have 
resources to investigate, to take evidence, to build the case. 
And in addition to eliminating section 6B and the impediments 
it poses to effective education and disclosure, the resources 
are necessary to uncover the hazards in the first place. Would 
you agree, Ms. Rhodes?
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes, they are needed.
    Senator Blumenthal. You know, Ms. Hamsmith, I think, 
mentioned in her written testimony that Australia is one nation 
that has implemented a mandatory product standard to require 
warning labels and child resistant closures on battery-operated 
devices, including toys. These requirements are set to go in 
effect, I believe, in 2022. What do you believe, Ms. Rhodes 
that that kind of requirement would have on toy safety in this 
country? In effect, it is Reese's Law.
    Ms. Rhodes. Yes. I believe it is critical that Reese's Law 
is passed. When speaking to a pediatrician from University 
Hospital, children--rainbow babies and Children's Hospital, we 
learned that button battery ingestions can start to burn holes 
within the first 30 minutes. It is critical that we have these 
safeguards to protect children's health.
    Senator Blumenthal. Dr. Hoffman, you have mentioned that 
you support Reese's Law. Ms. Lawrence, would you agree that we 
should approve Reese's Law?
    Ms. Lawrence. Yes. In fact, the Toy Association applauds 
the work you are doing to help keep children, excuse me--pardon 
me--to help keep children safe from battery ingestion. And we 
recommend that you use the example that has been set in our 
U.S. Toy Safety Standard as a model for what you are seeking to 
do for other product categories.
    Senator Blumenthal. And as you mentioned in your testimony, 
Ms. Lawrence, toys or objects with a play value are required to 
adhere to ASTM F963, which has a set of toy safety standards. 
Would you comment on what effect those standards have had on 
the toy industry?
    Ms. Lawrence. Are you asking regarding batteries, or in 
general?
    Senator Blumenthal. Both. In general, and specifically, 
with respect to toy batteries.
    Ms. Lawrence. OK. Well, those standards are required, by 
law, and companies must demonstrate compliance with third 
party, independent testing by an accredited laboratory and be 
certified that they comply with the standards. We have noticed, 
since this has been made mandatory in the CPSIA Act of 2008, 
that we have seen a decrease in the number of recalls. We have 
also seen a significant decrease in the number of incidents 
related to toys. So, we do see that making these requirements 
mandatory for all products sold in the U.S. has had an impact.
    Regarding batteries, that standard was implemented as part 
of the toy standard in the 1990s. And we, when, you know 
battery ingestion data came out about 10 years ago, we started 
to go through that data and look at what are the scenarios and 
examples where toys were involved somehow. And we found it was 
from situations where batteries were left within a child's 
reach--whether it was a spent battery, or a new battery 
intended to go in a toy. That is how children were getting the 
batteries.
    But the locking mechanism that we have required in our toy 
standard, was upheld because we found that it was working. 
Children were not--that locking mechanism was not failing and 
allowing children to get the batteries that way. But what it 
did tell us was that we needed to put labeling on toys, so that 
consumers really understood how serious a hazard this is for 
children to access batteries from any source. And so, in 2016, 
we implemented that addition to the toy standard, and we have 
found that this has made an impact. In general, most of the 
incidents are not related to toys. And when they are, it is 
because the batteries have been left within a child's reach or 
a child found them in the garbage can.
    Senator Blumenthal. So, I really hope that the Toy 
Association will back Reese's Law. And that when you get back 
to us with that position, that it will be to support Reese's 
Law because it would, in effect, extend or incorporate warnings 
and the compartments or securing, locking, whatever you call 
it, of the batteries within a device, so that they would not 
pop out or be easily accessible to children.
    Dr. Hoffman, let me go back to something that is, sort of, 
a pet peeve of mine. I highlight it every year--balloons. I am 
holding up a couple of examples. If we were not in the U.S. 
Senate, I would do what I normally do in the press conferences 
we have with Conn PIRG in Connecticut, which is to blow up one 
of these balloons and then, pop it and show how the remnants of 
that deflated balloon are so easily swallowed. Can you comment 
on how important a choking hazard balloons can be, if they are 
not properly supervised?
    Dr. Hoffman. Absolutely, Senator. I remember very vividly 
as a--when I was in training in residency, caring for an 18-
month-old child who, on his--at a birthday party, had been 
holding a balloon and an adult came up behind the child and 
tickled them to startle them, which caused the balloon to pop. 
The child inhaled and the balloon lodged itself in the child's 
airway. He, sadly, died as a result of that and that has 
forever impacted me.
    The issue of rubber and latex balloons, especially, it has 
been estimated that it is around 15 children a year die as a 
result of aspiration or ingestion, of either balloons or parts 
of balloons. This is another thing that is completely 
preventable. And I appreciate that people like balloons. They 
are fun. But they are also--they are--they need to be 
considered a hazard.
    We do not see the same risk associated with the mylar 
balloons, which I think are a reasonable alternative for 
somebody who absolutely, positively, had to have a balloon. But 
I think in 2021, it is hard to come up with an argument why we 
need--why we still need latex or rubber balloons, especially 
around kids.
    I think one of the things that needs to be highlighted--you 
know, we spend a lot of time talking about toys. Kids do not 
decide--kids do not care if something is labeled a toy or not 
labeled a toy. If you give a child your car keys and that fob 
has button batteries in it, that child is going to explore it 
and play with it in a way they would play with anything else, 
including, especially for younger kids, putting it in their 
mouth. And so, I think we need to be looking at this from the 
perspective of kids recognizing that everything is a toy and, 
developmentally, they are built to explore. And a lot of that 
exploration involves putting things in their mouth, especially 
for younger kids. And the safest thing we can possibly do is 
ensure that kids do not have access to those products.
    Senator Blumenthal. I think that is a really excellent 
explanation. Not only do kids not know whether something is a 
toy or not, they do not really care or know whether a balloon 
is made of one substance or another--mylar versus any other 
substance. And so, mylar balloons are a pretty good choice. 
Would you agree?
    Dr. Hoffman. I think they are a much safer choice. They are 
not without hazard, but they are a much safer choice.
    Senator Blumenthal. But parental supervision is important 
because asphyxiation can be caused in a matter of minutes, 
correct?
    Dr. Hoffman. Yes. I think parental supervision--you know, I 
mentioned earlier this idea about layers of protection. 
Parental supervision is an absolutely essential layer, but it 
is completely insufficient because nobody's supervision can be 
perfect. And I mentioned earlier, I have had the privilege of 
working with a number of families who have lost children to 
unintentional injury and helping elevate their stories and 
bring their voices to the advocacy work. And one parent--I do 
not know if Senator Blackburn is still there, but a parent who 
has become very close--a very close friend from Tennessee, 
always talks about everybody expects they are going to find the 
loophole. That it is never going to happen to them. But the 
fact of the matter is, it does happen to people. It happens to 
real people who love their kids, who care, who are doing the 
best they possibly can. And all it takes is a second of 
distraction. And nobody can provide the perfect level of 
supervision.
    So, we need those multiple layers and that includes, you 
know, things like closures on battery--closures to ensure that 
batteries cannot be released and removing potential hazards 
from the home and making sure that things do not get to market 
that are fundamentally dangerous. I think that the magnets that 
you mentioned earlier are a really good example of something 
that, you know, to a child, does not matter whether it is 
called a toy or marketed as a toy. To a child, you know, rare 
Earth magnets are a toy, and they end up in the mouth and then, 
they end up in the gut and then, that ends badly.
    Senator Blumenthal. And I am holding up some examples of 
those magnets, Dr. Hoffman, rare Earth magnets. They are very, 
very powerful. They are used on people's desks. They are, kind 
of, playthings for adults. While they are on the phone they can 
fiddle with them. But as you say, a child who walks into a 
parent's home office does not know that they are for the parent 
to fiddle with or play with, not for the child. And they are 
really difficult to separate, but they are composed of a lot of 
these tiny beads. Could you tell us--I tried a little bit 
earlier, what happens exactly to, or can happen to, a child's 
digestive system if they swallow some of these magnets?
    Dr. Hoffman. So, thank you, Senator. If a child--ingesting 
one would not be a problem. Ingesting more than one, those 
magnets are so strong that they are going to find each other 
across the bowel. And if they are inches apart, they will be 
drawn to each other. And what happens is, they squeeze the 
bowel tissue, the gastrointestinal tissue, between them and 
that causes a loss of blood supply, and the bowel dies.
    And so, injury there can happen, also, you know, within a 
matter of a very short period of time, in as short of time as 
an hour. It can lead to perforation of the intestine, which is 
a very serious, life-threatening condition. And as happens with 
button and coin cell ingestions, they often--they can be hard 
to detect, and they can often go undetected until they have 
caused serious injury.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you. A number of pieces of 
legislation have been mentioned--the STURDY Act, which is led 
by Senator Casey, that requires the CPSC to provide safety 
standards for free standing clothing storage units, such as 
dressers, bureaus, or chests of drawers. And a second version 
of the STURDY Act, we just reintroduced, with consensus 
agreement among a number of the manufacturers. There are other 
pieces of legislation that have been introduced and hope that 
we can move them forward.
    Ms. Rhodes, do you support this legislation?
    Ms. Rhodes. The STURDY Act? U.S. PIRG does not have a 
position on the STURDY Act.
    Senator Blumenthal. And Ms. Lawrence, I think you mentioned 
that you do. I do not know whether, Dr. Hoffman, you are 
familiar with the STURDY Act?
    Dr. Hoffman. Absolutely and the American Academy of 
Pediatrics supports it very strongly.
    Senator Blumenthal. I want to just close by, again, 
thanking our--all of our panelists, our witnesses, this 
morning. You have provided a really powerful record for passing 
Reese's Law. I know that Ms. Lawrence will be providing us her 
position on behalf of the Toy Industry Association. But again, 
to Trista Hamsmith, you have really made this cause a national 
issue and I am very proud to be introducing Reese's Law today 
with Senator Blackburn. We hope it will be approved promptly. 
The sooner it is passed, the more children we can protect and 
the more injuries we can prevent.
    So, I want to thank all of our witnesses and my colleagues. 
The record will remain open for 2 weeks in case there are any 
written questions from my colleagues, or additional answers in 
response to questions from our witnesses.
    And with that, the hearing is adjourned. Thank you.
    [Whereupon, at 11:48 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

                            A P P E N D I X

           United States Consumer Product Safety Commission
                                    Bethesda, MD, December 14, 2021

Hon. Richard Blumenthal,
Chair,
Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security,
Washington, DC.

Hon. Marsha Blackburn,
Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security,
Washington, DC.

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

RE: Comments for the Record for the Subcommittee on Consumer 
            Protection, Product Safety and Data Security Hearing 
            Entitled ``Hidden Holiday Hazards: Product Safety During 
            the Holiday Season''

Dear Chair Blumenthal and Ranking Member Blackburn:

    Thank you for holding the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, 
Product Safety, and Data Security hearing, entitled ``Hidden Holiday 
Hazards: Product Safety During the Holiday Season.'' This hearing 
discussed a number of important consumer safety issues including 
ingestion and choking hazards from items such as button cell batteries, 
toys, and balloons. Such hazards can result in tragedy if not addressed 
properly. The hearing also included testimony about how the Consumer 
Product Safety Commission (CPSC) must improve its effectiveness at both 
traditional ports and those facilitating e-commerce. I agree.
    I am thankful for the attention this hearing brought to these 
critical aspects of CPSC's mission. I write to you, and for the hearing 
record, to share my views and recent efforts regarding small parts 
enforcement, and improving CPSC effectiveness at the ports.
I. The CPSC Small Parts Rule Must Be Enforced
    Choking hazards are dangerous for consumers of any age, but are 
particularly serious for young children. Toys that obstruct children's 
airways were a leading cause of toy-related fatalities in 2020. CPSC is 
aware of at least nine toy-related deaths in 2020 for children 12 years 
of age or younger, six of which were associated with airway obstruction 
hazards.\1\ Another fatality was associated with an aspiration hazard 
involving a nail shaped plastic toy.\2\ Due to delays in death 
certificate reporting, fatality information is not yet complete for 
2020.\3\ Accordingly, these fatality statistics will likely increase 
once reporting is complete. In any event, these fatalities are too 
high, particularly considering the Commission's existing regulation 
banning small parts in toys and other articles intended for children 
under three.\4\ I want to assure the Committee that protecting children 
from choking hazards by fully enforcing the Small Parts Rule is one of 
my highest priorities as a CPSC Commissioner.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ U.S. Consumer Prod. Safety Comm'n, Toy-Related Deaths and 
Injuries Calendar Year 2020 (2021) at 6, https://cpsc-d8-media-
prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/Toy-Related-Deaths
-and-Injuries-2020.pdf?VersionId=XOEWLpoHSpcMtio3Ccab6gn4umXCso.7.
    \2\ Id. at 7.
    \3\ Id.
    \4\ See 16 C.F.R. Sec. 1501.2 (``Small Parts Rule'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    For the past several years, I have made my views clear.\5\ CPSC 
staff's interpretation of the Small Parts Rule is incorrect, 
particularly with respect to flocked toys, but also ``stuffed, plush . 
. . and other figures,'' as explained in the regulation.\6\ The current 
interpretation excludes certain toys that should be treated as per se 
violative, thereby impeding full enforcement. In November 2020, I sent 
a letter to then-Acting Chairman Robert Adler raising this issue.\7\ 
Specifically, I made clear that, in my opinion, CPSC has been 
misapplying the agency's method for identifying toys that fall per se 
within the scope of the small parts rule.\8\ A copy of this letter is 
attached.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ See e.g., Press Release, Statement of Commissioner Peter A. 
Feldman on Flocked Toys (May 6, 2021), https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-
public/COPF%20Statement%20on%20Flocked%20
Toys%20FINAL.pdf; and see, e.g., CPSC Public Hearing on Commission 
Agenda and Priorities for Fiscal Year 2022 (Apr. 7, 2021) (Statement of 
Comm'r Peter A. Feldman) (``it's my understanding that CPSC compliance 
staff still allow dangerous small parts to be sold as is or as toy 
accessories, if they believe that the toy itself is appropriately age 
graded for 3 years or older. I personally believe that this is 
inconsistent with both the regulation and the official policy 
referenced in the regulation, I also believe frankly that it's 
dangerous. . .'').
    \6\ See Small Parts Rule, supra note 4.
    \7\ Letter from Peter A. Feldman. Comm'r, U.S. Consumer Prod. 
Safety Comm'n, to Robert S. Adler, Acting Chairman, U.S. Consumer Prod. 
Safety Comm'n (Nov. 25, 2020) (attached).
    \8\ See Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    These products have known fatalities and at least one near miss,\9\ 
and were previously listed on the U.S. Public Interest Research Group's 
Trouble in Toyland list of dangerous toys.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ Mark Saal, Farmington Mom, 911 Dispatcher Hailed for Saving 
Choking Toddler, Standard-Examiner (July 4, 2013), https://
www.standard.net/police-fire/2013/jul/04/farmington-mom-dispatcher-
hailed-for-saving-choking-toddler.
    \10\ U.S. Pub. Interest Research Group, Trouble in Toyland 2020 
(Nov. 2020), https://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Trouble-In-
Toyland_2020/USP_Toyland-Report_Nov20_web
.pdf (last accessed Dec. 3, 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Earlier this year, the U.S. District Court of New Mexico appeared 
to agree with my position, concluding that these toys and their 
accessories are banned hazardous substances as a matter of law.\11\ 
Given this ruling, I am frustrated that, to date, CPSC has still yet to 
act.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ Schmidt v. Int'l Playthings LLC, No. 1:2019 Civ. 00933, Doc. 
172 at 99-101 (D.N.M. 2021) (relying on CPSC's own guidance to reach 
its conclusion), https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/
new-mexico/nmdce/1:2019cv00933/432865/172/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In October, I met with representatives of the Toy Industry 
Association (TIA) to discuss this issue. It is clear that a difference 
of opinion exists as to the proper enforcement standard. I am also 
attaching an October 11, 2021, media report summarizing this meeting 
with TIA, which I believe accurately describes the industry group's 
position.\12\ Ultimately, it will fall to the Commission to address the 
enforcement policy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\ Sean Oberle, No Room to Interpret Small Parts on Flocked Toys, 
Feldman Tells TA, Prod. Safety Ltr. (Oct. 11, 2021) (attached).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Rest assured, I will continue my efforts within the Commission to 
apply the proper safety standard to these toys. I remain hopeful that 
with a newly-constituted Commission, we may now be in a position to 
correct future enforcement and keep children safe from these known 
hazards. If progress towards full enforcement of the Small Parts Rule 
does not occur, additional oversight and direction from Congress may 
become necessary.
II. CPSC Must Focus and Increase Resources at Ports of Entry
    As witnesses testified during the hearing, interdicting dangerous 
products at the ports must remain one of CPSC's top priorities. 
Following the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 
2008,\13\ CPSC enhanced its safety mission by expanding its presence at 
high-volume ports of entry to conduct screenings and seizures of 
dangerous products. Among other things, CPSC port inspectors routinely 
screen for toys with obvious small parts violations and latex balloons 
that do not include the required warning labels.\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\ The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Pub. L. 
110-314, 122 Stat. 3016 (Aug. 14, 2008).
    \14\ See 16 C.F.R. 1500.19 (requiring latex balloons to include the 
cautionary statement: ``WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD--Children under 8 yrs. 
can choke or suffocate on uninflated or broken balloons. Adult 
Supervision required'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    For nearly six months at the start of the pandemic, then-Acting 
Chairman Adler and his executive leadership team withdrew the agency's 
frontline inspectors from their duty stations, over the concerns of 
some Commissioners and without full transparency to Congress or 
American consumers.\15\ While the initial pullback may have been 
necessary to establish health and safety protocols for our inspectors 
and other relevant inspection and testing personnel, the extended 
absence could and should have been avoided. In an October 2021 report 
to Congress, CPSC Inspector General (IG) Christopher W. Dentel pointed 
out that the lack of a suitable Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) 
program contributed to our absence from the ports.\16\ Specifically, IG 
Dentel found that:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \15\ Letitia Stein and Tricia Nadolny, Hazardous goods found for 
sale after consumer protection inspectors were pulled from ports during 
COVID-19, USA Today, July 14, 2021, https://www
.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/07/14/consumer-product-
safety-risk-after-covid-port-screening-lapse/7938830002/.
    \16\ Off. of Inspector Gen., U.S. Consumer Prod. Safety Comm'n, Top 
Management and Performance Challenges Fiscal Year 2022, at 6 (OCT. 21, 
2021), https://www.oversight.gov
/sites/default/files/oig-reports/CPSC/Top-Management-and-Performance-
Challenges-Fiscal-Year-2022-Final.pdf.

        [p]erhaps nowhere was the CPSC's deficits in integrating ERM 
        into its operations clearer than in its decision to remove 
        inspectors from the Nation's ports for a prolonged period at 
        the beginning of the pandemic. A mature ERM process would have 
        allowed for a more nuanced approach which would have better 
        balanced the risks to inspectors against the safety of American 
        consumers.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\ Id.

    It is worth noting that other agencies, including U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection, never pulled back from the ports during the 
pandemic. I remain concerned that the full effect of this lapse will 
never be known, in part because CPSC never conducted a serious remedial 
screening of products that entered the country during this period. 
While CPSC staff did submit a report to Congress as required under Pub. 
L. No. 116-260, I fear the nature of this review lacked the depth and 
detail necessary to account fully for our time away from the ports.\18\ 
The decision to withdraw inspectors placed consumers at risk. The 
failure to conduct comprehensive inspections of product inventory 
continues this risk.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ Staff Report to Congress Pursuant to Title XX, Section 2001 of 
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L. No. 116-260) Port 
Surveillance (June 25, 2021), https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/CPSC-
Report-to-Congress-Consolidated-Appropriations-Act-Port-
Surveillance.pdf?iYw
rKt8RXocIVYSMoXm5uiL7VfItQIIZ.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The good news is that CPSC returned its inspectors to the ports 
after the months-long absence.\19\ Although our inspectors are back at 
work, more needs to be done. In particular, it continues to be my 
position that we must increase the number of inspectors at traditional 
high-volume ports and to grow our fledgling e-commerce inspection 
program. CPSC will always face challenges in denying bad actors access 
to our markets and interdicting dangerous products. Our first and best 
line of defense is to stop these products from entering American 
commerce before they get to physical or digital store shelves.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \19\ See USA Today, supra note 15.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As part of the 2022 Operating Plan, the Commission added 27 new 
port inspectors at traditional high-volume and e-commerce ports of 
entry and increased resources for our compliance staff in the field. I 
am proud to have supported this plan.\20\ Given the supply-chain issues 
facing many of our largest ports, I believe it is imperative that these 
busy hubs of commerce have a robust CPSC presence. Moreover, I support 
increasing our presence at non-traditional ports to address the 
emerging challenges e-commerce presents. Commerce is not conducted the 
same way as it was in 1972, when the agency was created. To function 
properly, and to keep American consumers safe, CPSC must adapt to modem 
modes of transportation and distribution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \20\ Press Release, Dana Baiocco and Peter A. Feldman, Comm'rs, 
U.S. Consumer Prod. Safety Comm'n, Joint Statement of Commissioners 
Dana Baiocco and Peter A. Feldman on the Passage of the Fiscal year 
2022 Operating Plan (Sept. 28, 2021), https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/
FY22OpPlanJointStatement.pdf?VersionId=vYdSOfbkYTyz.Xpl9UOof1AACeGW3evJ.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Conclusion
    Although CPSC cannot prevent every death, we must work to minimize 
injuries and hazards to the American public. This starts with properly 
enforcing our law and regulations and creating a robust and modem port 
inspection team. I will continue to advocate for these priorities and 
stand ready to work with the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation to improve CPSC's ability to fulfill its 
mission.
    Thank you again for holding this important hearing, and all your 
work protecting American consumers from dangerous products. Please do 
not hesitate to contact me with any questions.
            Sincerely,
                                          Peter A. Feldman,
                                                      Commissioner.
Enclosures

cc: The Honorable Maria Cantwell, Chair, U.S. Senate Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The Honorable Roger F. Wicker, Ranking Member, U.S. Senate Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
                                 ______
                                 
                              ENCLOSURE A

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                              ENCLOSURE B

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                 ______
                                 
    Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Amy Klobuchar to 
                             Hannah Rhodes
    Products Sold Online. I am concerned about safety when consumers 
buy products online. In July, the Consumer Product Safety Commission 
(CPSC) filed suit against Amazon to recall hazardous products sold on 
Amazon.com, including 24,000 defective carbon monoxide detectors that 
fail to alarm, numerous flammable children's sleepwear garments, and 
nearly 400,000 hair dryers sold without the required devices that 
protect against shock and electrocution.

    Question. In 2020, online sales represented more than 21 percent of 
total retail sales for the year--up 44 percent from 2019. What action 
needs to be taken to further protect consumers, particularly from 
dangers online?
    Answer. U.S. PIRG supports the language of The Integrity, 
Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers 
(INFORM) Act to help prevent counterfeit and other dangerous goods from 
ending up in American's homes.\1\ We also support ensuring that online 
platforms that host third-party sellers verify that the consumer 
products being sold have undergone the proper safety testing and have 
the appropriate certifications.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Congress.gov, ``S.963--INFORM Consumers ACT'' (online at: 
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/936/text).
    \2\ CPSC, ``Testing & Certification'' (online at: https://
www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Testing-Certification).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Ben Ray Lujan to 
                             Hannah Rhodes
    Flocked Toys and Small Parts. I recognize that PIRG's 2020 Trouble 
in Toyland report advocated for the recall of flocked toys with small 
parts such as the Calico Critters Yellow Labrador Twins. I am deeply 
concerned by potentially hazardous products remaining available, 
especially given reports concerning the death of a young child in New 
Mexico and a near-death incident for a boy in Utah.

    Question. What steps should the CPSC take concerning these 
products?
    Answer. U.S. PIRG continues to advocate that the Calico Critters 
flocked toys and accessories be recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product 
Safety Commission (CPSC) and that these products pose a dangerous 
choking hazard.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ U.S. PIRG, ``Trouble in Toyland: 35th Annual Toy Safety 
Report'' (Nov. 12, 2020) (online at: https://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/
files/reports/Trouble-In-Toyland_2020/USP_Toyland-Report_Nov
20_web.pdf).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 ______
                                 
    Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Amy Klobuchar to 
                            Dr. Ben Hoffman
    STURDY Act. After Ted McGee, a 22-month old from Apple Valley, 
Minnesota was killed by a falling IKEA Malm dresser, I worked with the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and IKEA to recall these 
dangerous products. I also joined Senators Casey and Blumenthal in 
reintroducing the STURDY Act earlier this month to protect children 
from injuries and deaths related to furniture tip-overs. The bill 
directs the CPSC to create safety standards for dressers and other 
storage units.

    Question. You highlighted this bill in your testimony. How will 
legislation like this be critical in helping address dangers in the 
home?
    Answer.
    Dear Senator Klobuchar:

    Thank you for submitting this question for the record for the 
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and thank you for your work to 
protect children from injuries and deaths related to furniture tip-
overs. The AAP strongly supports the STURDY Act and urges the Senate to 
advance this bipartisan legislation expeditiously. According to the 
CPSC, a child is sent to the emergency department every 60 minutes 
following a furniture tip-over incident, and one to two children die 
every month. These tragedies can and must be prevented, and the best 
solution is to design a safer dresser that will not tip over and harm 
children. I care for families with young children who live in rental 
properties with a landlord who has prohibited installation of wall 
anchors for furniture. For these families, the only way to protect 
their children from furniture top-overs would be ensuring the furniture 
itself was not a risk.
    The STURDY Act would require the CPSC to create a mandatory safety 
standard for dressers and other clothing storage units to prevent child 
fatalities and injuries. The new standard would require testing to 
simulate the weights of children up to 72 months old; require testing 
measures to account for scenarios involving carpeting, drawers with 
items in them, multiple open drawers, and the dynamic forces of a 
climbing child; and mandate strong warning requirements. These 
provisions would significantly improve on the current voluntary 
standard by better representing the real-world risks children face from 
furniture tip-overs. Parents and caregivers need a strong mandatory 
standard to protect children from furniture tip-overs, and the STURDY 
Act would direct the CPSC to implement one quickly. Thank you again for 
your bipartisan leadership of this important legislation.
                                 ______
                                 
 Responses submitted on Behalf of The Toy Association by Alan Kaufman, 
                       due to J. Lawrence illness
 Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Richard Blumenthal to 
                             Joan Lawrence
    Product Safety Information. Please provide the Toy Industry 
Association's position on S.1355, the Sunshine in Product Safety Act, 
and whether the Toy Industry Association supports a change Section 6(b) 
of the Consumer Product Safety Act, which creates roadblocks and 
unnecessary delays to the disclosure of product safety information to 
consumers.
    Answer. There has been from time to time a push by certain special 
interests to repeal section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 
U.S.C. 2064(b)), arguing that this section of the CPSA prevents the 
public from knowing about product safety problems in a timely manner, 
but this argument does not hold water on closer analysis. They also 
argue that this clause is unique among regulatory agencies, but neglect 
to mention that so is section 15(b) of the CPSA.
    Section 6(b) of the Act was intended by Congress as a 
counterbalance of sorts to section 15(b) of the same act, which 
requires manufacturers and importers to immediately notify the CPSC of 
any information that would suggest the existence of a substantial 
product hazard or a noncompliance to a consumer product safety rule. 
Given that the agency has interpreted ``immediately'' to mean within 24 
hours, and penalties for late or non-reporting are potentially 
significant, companies typically initially report without sufficient 
time to complete an investigation, determine the accuracy of such 
information, or identify key details or circumstances for the initial 
15(b) report. This is the information 6(b) initially ``protects''--and 
which those who seek to repeal 6(b) want access to. However, this 
initial information is often wrong, is revised later based on more 
thorough investigation, and in many cases further investigation 
determines that no defect or hazard actually exists. Releasing the 
information, prior to review and investigation, would flood consumers 
with misleading and frightening information--and further confuse 
consumers if a retraction has to be issued later. At the same time, it 
would unfairly tar perfectly safe products based on premature release 
of incorrect information.
    Section 6(b) is actually a requirement which ultimately works to 
the benefit of consumers. Here is what CPSC says about it in their 6(b) 
fact sheet:

        ``Section 6(b) prohibits the Commission from disclosing 
        information about a consumer product that identifies a 
        manufacturer or private labeler unless the Commission has taken 
        ``reasonable steps'' to assure 1) that the information is 
        accurate, 2) that disclosure of the information is fair in the 
        circumstances, and 3) that disclosure of the information is 
        reasonably related to effectuating the purposes of the CPSA and 
        of the other laws administered by the Commission. Before 
        disclosure of such information, the Commission must provide the 
        manufacturer or private labeler with an opportunity to comment 
        on the accuracy of the information. The Commission may not 
        disclose such information for at least 15 days after sending it 
        to the company for comment.''

    So, the CPSC currently can release this information with only a 15-
day delay, even over manufacturer objections, if it is accurate and 
fair. We are of the opinion that section 6(b) provides a minimal and 
reasonable check on CPSC to be certain that product-or manufacturer-
specific information must be reviewed by the agency for accuracy and 
fairness prior to release, and that manufacturers have an opportunity 
to comment on the accuracy and fairness as well. While 6(b) may delay 
the release of preliminary, inaccurate, and misleading information, it 
does not in any way delay CPSC from releasing information that is 
necessary to carry out its mission.
    ``Eliminating 6(b) to improve consumer access to vital 
information'' sounds like a laudable goal, but, in reality and as 
described here, 6(b) avoids bombarding consumers with useless, 
incorrect information on the safety of consumer products. Further, 
eliminating 6(b) would strip even minimal manufacturer protections from 
the law.
                                 ______
                                 
    Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Amy Klobuchar to 
                             Joan Lawrence
    Hazardous Toy Imports. In June 2021, Customs and Border Protection 
agents, working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) 
inspectors, intercepted nearly 400 children's toys containing hazardous 
chemicals and unsafe design posing a significant hazard to children at 
the Houston Seaport.

    Question. What more should be done to ensure that imported consumer 
products are safe, particularly for our children?
    Answer. Thank you for asking this, Senator. The Toy Association has 
long supported CPSC's Port Operations as one of the most effective and 
efficient ways to interdict non-complying product before it enters U.S. 
commerce. Further, all toys entering and sold in the U.S. must comply 
with mandatory toy safety standards and be certified as compliant with 
all relevant safety testing.
    We believe that additional enhancements can be made to improve the 
effectiveness of port operations and oversight--and ensure that 
imported products are safe. Among the improvements that could be made 
are the following: greater funding and more personnel for the agency's 
port operations arm; an increase in CPSC's testing laboratory capacity 
to reduce the current 28-day turnaround to release compliant product 
(e.g., this could be achieved by the CPSC using agency-approved 
independent laboratories--or labs of partner government agencies such 
as FDA's).
    Additionally, it is important to note that with the increase in 
online sales, there is also an increase in counterfeit and knock-off 
products being sold online--and growing concern about the safety of 
these products that may not comply with mandatory standards and 
testing. As such, to ensure that children's toys are safe, increased 
attention by the CPSC to counterfeit and knock-off products being sold 
to consumers via online sites is called for, including increased 
surveillance of online platforms and enhanced efforts to work with the 
Postal Service and parcel delivery companies to inspect the many 
direct-to-consumer packages that are sold on e-commerce sites (and fall 
below the $800 de minimis value requiring formal entry).
    I should add that The Toy Association is fully supportive of the 
INFORM Act, which will begin to address some of these issues, and urge 
all Senators to support it as well.
                                 ______
                                 
    Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Ben Ray Lujan to 
                             Joan Lawrence
    Labeling Requirements. According to the Toy Association, up to 
ninety-six percent of parents don't rely on age grading for toys, even 
though these labels are often in place to ensure child safety.

    Question. How should product labels be updated to ensure they are 
providing parents the critical information they need to ensure child 
safety?
    Answer. Thank you, Senator, for your question. We believe that 
choosing age-appropriate toys is critical to ensuring safe and fun 
playtime, while enhancing the developmental benefits that play 
provides. As such, much of our outreach to consumers includes advice to 
follow the recommended age when selecting toys for children. Age 
recommendations (``age grading'') on toys are intended as safety 
guidance and incorporate the developmental features of children at a 
given age--and the specific features of the toy. Such age grading 
typically follows the authoritative guidance of the U.S. Consumer 
Product Safety Commission on this topic (See CPSC Age Determination 
Guidelines for reference).
    Our year-round messaging to consumers includes guidance on the 
importance of reading and following age grading on toys. We know that 
consumers may be tempted to ``age up'' on toys when they think that 
their child is more advanced than average; our messages emphasize the 
importance of following the recommended age nonetheless (``It's not 
about how smart a child may be, it's safety guidance and should be 
followed.''). See also www.PlaySafe.org.
    In addition to the manufacturers' recommended age on most toys, 
toys that contain certain design features (e.g., small parts, small 
balls, marbles, or certain other features called out in mandatory toy 
safety standards) are also required, by law, to carry specific warning 
labels that describe the hazard and specify a minimum appropriate age 
requirement for the toy.\1\ In some cases, the age prescribed for the 
mandatory warning label may be different (lower) than the toy's overall 
recommended age; this may be confusing to consumers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Child Safety Protection Act (CSPA).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Toy Association is currently exploring, with outside experts 
and CPSC Human Factors staff, whether any changes to current industry 
practice can be proposed that will reduce confusion and improve 
consumer adherence to age labels.

                                  [all]