[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 4, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1518-S1519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION REFORM ACT

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I wish to speak as to why the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act is so desperately needed.
  Most parents, and consumers for that matter, will not forget in the 
past--and it was as recent as this past summer--the huge amount of toy 
recalls. There were children's jewelry and toys that were covered in 
lead paint. There were toys with detachable magnets that can cause 
fatal intestinal obstructions. There were stuffed animals with small 
parts that can detach and become a choking hazard. There was a 
children's craft kit containing beads that when swallowed became 
ingested into the child's digestive system; and what came out of those 
beads was the same chemical compound, believe it or not, as GHB, which 
is the date rape drug.
  The Laugh & Learn Bunny became a choking hazard. This magnetized 
building set, as shown on this chart--over 4 million units were sold--
those magnets became ingested into the child's digestive track. Thomas 
the Train, over 1.5 million units were sold, and lo and behold those 
were painted with lead paint. And then the Barbie accessories--675,000 
units of those were sold--had lead paint. And there were other toys. In 
fact, one of them was some kind of little doll where the nose came off. 
It was exactly the size that could get into a child's windpipe and 
cause them to choke to death.
  As a matter of fact, one of the children's hospitals in Florida I 
visited about this very thing gave me a plastic thimble of about the 
size they said they hand out to the children's parents because they 
want them to see the size of anything that could detach--if it did from 
a toy--that is a choking hazard for a child.
  So in visiting with this team of emergency room doctors, they showed 
all these things in real life to me and told me about the invasive 
surgery that then they had to do on children that was traumatic for a 
child who is 4 or 5 years old.
  Then, I had the very sad duty to visit with a momma and a daddy in 
Jacksonville, who left two of their children in a room with a disco 
ball toy. What happened? It became overheated because it was 
illuminated. It became overheated. It caught fire, and it emitted 
enough carbon monoxide to kill both the children.
  Now, these incidents simply should not be happening. Yet with this 
bill Senator Pryor is managing on the floor, we can better ensure 
American parents do not have to face another summer of recalls.
  So this act is going to do a number of things. It would increase the 
number of professional staff who work at the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission. It would ensure consumer access to information about these 
products. It would eliminate lead from children's products. It 
increases civil penalties for wrongdoers. And it protects employees 
from retribution who report violations of consumer product safety. This 
bill also requires the first mandatory standard for toy safety, and it 
requires third-party testing of toys and other children's products.
  What has come to the floor is a combination of different legislation. 
What this Senator had contributed was S. 1833, the Children's Products 
Safety Act, which would require third-party testing of products 
intended for children aged 7 and under. I am very pleased it has been 
included in this overall package.
  There are two provisions that are critical. First, the third-party 
testing provision ensures that all of those toys and products undergo 
testing by a third party prior to entering the stream of commerce. Any 
that did not have the third-party testing would be banned from 
importation. Now, why is this necessary? Because we were letting the 
Chinese industry police itself, and it wasn't doing it, and the 
Government of China wasn't doing the inspecting. So we had the 
substandard and indeed unsafe toys coming to the American consuming 
public.

  Second, this bill would set the first mandatory safety standards by 
adopting the ASTM--the international consumer safety specifications for 
toy safety. That is often referred to as standard F-963. ASTM is a 
nonprofit standard-setting organization. It is an independent 
organization that involves the CPSC--the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission--consumer groups, and the industry in toy standards and the 
development process. The standards contain 100 other toy safety 
specifications, including testing for shock points, flammability, 
toxicity, and noise.
  These standards, in their development process, also provide a fast, 
collaborative process to address these changing conditions. So when the 
detachable magnet issue arose last year, the ASTM standards development 
team recognized the seriousness of the issue. They came up with a new 
magnet safety standard 9 months after the problem was first reported.
  Well, under the provisions of the bill, the updates to the ASTM 
standard will automatically be incorporated into the Federal toy safety 
standard, unless for some reason the CPSC would determine that it 
wasn't going to improve the public safety. So as a result, the 
consumers are going to have the benefit of new toy safety standards 
immediately after the adoption of this legislation.
  Taken together, these provisions will ensure that toys will be tested 
by a rigorous third-party testing process that is constantly updated to 
address new and emerging hazards to our children. Third-party testing 
has been endorsed by a number of consumer groups and a number of the 
manufacturers that realize we have a problem here. So we need to build 
a consensus and get this legislation passed.
  Last year, over 46 million children's products were recalled--can my 
colleagues believe that, 46 million recalled--and almost a fifth of 
those were recalled after a child was seriously injured or killed. It 
is not enough just to recall these toys; we need to make sure they 
never enter the stream of commerce in the first place, and this bill 
provides that safety.
  I wish to say there is also something in here about generators, 
portable generators. If you live in a coastal State such as mine and 
you get hit by a big hurricane--and especially gasoline stations are 
learning they need them because people need to be able to drive

[[Page S1519]]

their cars and they can't get gasoline--well, in any kind of natural 
disaster such as that, people really rely on these portable generators 
to provide electricity. Unfortunately, every year, a number of people 
are severely injured or killed by the carbon monoxide poisoning that 
results from improper generator use. They crank this thing up in an 
enclosed room, and they ultimately are harmed or killed as a result of 
carbon monoxide.
  Section 32 of the CPSC Reform Act requires the CPSC to complete a 
long-pending rulemaking on portable generator carbon monoxide poisoning 
within 18 months of the enactment. When this rule is finalized, it is 
going to require new technologies to stop these tragedies, and it will 
save lives. It is a wonder that the CPSC hadn't already done this when 
folks such as myself are articulating what has happened with the deaths 
in the aftermath of a hurricane and have asked them to do it. Now we 
are going to bring it to fruition because it is going to be required 
under this legislation.
  I again thank my colleague, Senator Pryor, who is shepherding this 
legislation through a tortuous legislative process. I hope all of our 
colleagues will join in supporting this critical legislation.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum, unless the Senator from Arkansas--it looks as if his eloquent 
self is rising to speak.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas is recognized.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, before my dear colleague from Florida 
leaves the floor, I would like to acknowledge his work on this 
legislation. He has been a real go-to guy on these toy issues. In fact, 
he had filed a bill--before we even filed our bill that became the 
committee bill, he filed a bill that basically--I don't want to say we 
took verbatim, but we took large pieces of it and all the concepts of 
it and incorporated his legislation, and it really became the bedrock 
piece of the committee bill, which has now been amended and 
substituted, and now it is the bipartisan bill the Senate is working 
on. So Senator Bill Nelson of Florida really deserves a lot of credit 
for helping to get the ball rolling and getting things moving in the 
right direction.
  In fact, we have so many colleagues who have helped in this process, 
and I will thank them more as the week goes on. But I think of Susan 
Collins of Maine, who came in probably, I don't know, several months 
ago--I don't remember exactly when--and she had a very important role. 
Of course, Senator Stevens really worked hard to make this bipartisan. 
Both of them are Republican cosponsors.
  Again, for all of the Senators who are listening, I would love to 
talk to more Republican Senators about maybe possibly becoming 
cosponsors in the next day or two because, as we saw from the vote 
tonight, this bill does have broad-based bipartisan support. I 
appreciate the effort all of our colleagues have done, but I did want 
to single out Senator Bill Nelson, who has been so instrumental in 
moving this forward.
  Mr. President, if there is no one else who is planning on speaking, I 
suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Nelson of Florida). The clerk will call 
the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, it looks as if we are at the close of our 
business today. Tomorrow, I look forward to returning to the 
consideration of S. 2663, the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform 
Act.

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