[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 10 (Thursday, January 30, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S851-S852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CPSC CHAIRMAN ANN BROWN BRINGS CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY MESSAGE TO
NEVADANS
Mr. BRYAN. Mr. President, last month U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission Chairman, Ann Brown, came to Nevada to deliver her vital
safety messages to my constituents in Las Vegas and Reno. Her timely
visit, just before the holidays, when many people are preparing their
homes for visits by friends and relatives, reminded the citizens of my
State of the practical things they can do to keep their homes safe.
In Las Vegas, we visited the home of Ms. Lori Black. Lori and her
husband Mike are the parents of eight children. As we toured their home
with Lori and her youngest daughter Leslie Mika and oldest daughter
Ann, Chairman Brown reviewed the CPSC's baby safety checklist and found
that they had done an excellent job of making their home safe for
children.
In Reno, we visited the home of Lisa and Scott Anderson and their
daughter Lyndsey Sue. There, Chairman Brown was able to point out that
their baby crib passed the soda can test. She demonstrated that a soda
can is useful to measure the spaces between the slats in a baby's crib.
If the soda can cannot go through the slats, then the crib is baby
safe.
Chairman Brown also demonstrated the importance of clipping the loop
at the end of venetian blind cords. She told us in the past 14 years,
173 children had strangled in the loops of curtain and blind cords, but
that as a result of a voluntary agreement she secured from the blind
cord industry, manufacturers are now installing safety tassels at the
end of their cords. She commended the Andersons for making their home
safe for a baby by putting all medicines on an upper shelf far from a
baby's curious hands and having no baby clothes with strings or cords.
In both Las Vegas and Reno, the homes contained smoke alarms, but
lacked carbon monoxide detectors. Chairman Brown emphasized to both
families the necessity of these devices. Every year, about 200 people
die from carbon monoxide poisoning, and thousands are treated in
hospital emergency rooms. With the installation of CO detectors and
annual appliance inspections, these deaths and injuries can be
prevented.
I want to commend Chairman Brown for her valuable work promoting
consumer product safety in Nevada and across the country. The baby
safety program she initiated is a model of the way business and
government can work together as partners to advance the public
interest.
The Gerber Products Co. underwrote the costs of printing the
materials for the baby safety program. This has allowed the CPSC to
make the baby safety checklist and other helpful materials available to
thousands of people throughout the country.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is a small agency with a big
mission--to keep families safe in their homes and at play. It is also
one of the taxpaying public's best bargains in government. CPSC's $42.5
million budget, about 16 cents per capita, helps to attack the $200
billion in annual societal costs and about $30 billion in direct
medical costs. Thus, every dollar appropriated to CPSC has the
potential to address about $5,000 in societal costs and about $600 in
direct medical costs. As one example, the CPSC's work in making sure
baby cribs are safe and removing unsafe cribs from the market has
reduced crib-related deaths from 200 annually to less than 50 deaths
per year. That one project alone saves society nearly $1 billion a
year--or almost 25 times the CPSC's current annual budget.
But the CPSC is most concerned with saving lives and reducing
injuries and
[[Page S852]]
it is working even now on actions to reduce those crib-related deaths
to an even lower figure.
I would like to thank Chairman Brown for bringing her lifesaving
message to the citizens of Nevada and to commend her for her excellent
leadership of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I urge my
colleagues to share the CPSC's baby safety checklist with the new
parents and grandparents in their States.
I ask unanimous consent that the baby safety checklist be printed in
the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Baby Safety Checklist
Bedroom
Put your baby to sleep on her back or side in a crib with a
firm, flat mattress and no soft bedding underneath her.
Make sure your baby's crib is sturdy and has no loose or
missing hardware.
Never place your baby's crib or furniture near window blind
or curtain cords.
Bathroom
Keep medicines and cleaning products in containers with
safety caps and locked away from children.
Always check bath water temperature with your wrist or
elbow before putting your baby in to bathe.
Never, ever, leave your child alone in the bathtub or near
any water.
Kitchen
Don't leave your baby alone in a highchair; always use all
safety straps.
Use your stove's back burners and keep pot handles turned
to the back of the stove.
Lock household cleaning products, knives, matches, and
plastic bags away from children.
Living Areas
Install smoke detectors on each floor of your home,
especially near sleeping areas; change the batteries each
year.
Use safety gates to block stairways and safety plugs to
cover electrical outlets.
Keep all small objects, including tiny toys and balloons,
away from young children.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Santorum). The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Abraham). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. LOTT. Good to see the Senator presiding this afternoon. Shall we
begin the closing process, now, Mr. President? Would that be all right?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________