Safety Agency's Acting Chair Snubs House Hearing on Child Safety

Nancy Nord Declines to Appear on Same Panel as Consumer Advocates

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 7, 2007

• Mattel Settles Suits Over Dangerous Toys • Target To Pay $600,000 For Violating Lead Paint Ban • Tougher Safety Requirements For Children's Products Now In Effect • Toys 'R' Us Launches Unsafe Baby Products Awareness Program • New Safety Agency Chief Pledges Greater Openness • Obama Names New Consumer Product Safety Chair, Boosts Budget • Toymaker Fined $1.1 Million For Consumer Violations • Maryland Stores Stop Selling Toys With Lead Paint • Toymakers, Craftspeople Up In Arms Over New Safety Law • Thrift Stores Protest Ban on Lead Toys • Target Launches In-Store Recall System • Do's and Don'ts of Holiday Decorating • New Jersey Finds Recalled Toys in Four Stores • Mattel Agrees to Lower Lead Paint Levels in Toys • Consumers Cautioned About Dangerous Toys • Soon-To-Be-Banned Plastic Toys Flooding the Market • Safety Agency Warns of Safety Hazards in Cribs --- • More Consumer Safety News • Recall Notices

There was a notable absence at yesterday’s House Consumer Protection subcommittee hearing on the safety of children’s products.

Missing was none other than Nancy Nord, the acting chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency that is primarily responsible for ensuring the safety of children's products.

The day before the hearing, the two panels, one consisting of Nord and the other consisting of consumer advocates, were collapsed into one because of scheduling conflicts with floor votes, subcommittee chairman Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) said.

Congressional witness panels rarely mix government administrators with private sector witnesses – a ceremonial tradition intended to show respect to governmental authority.

“Although unusual, we have had to have one panel in the past and mix government witnesses with other witnesses,” Rush said.

When Nord discovered that she would be sharing her panel with two consumer advocates from the Consumers Union and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, she decided not to attend or to send another Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) representative.

CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese said Nord wanted to avoid debating with the consumer advocates and said she doesn’t have to be in the same panel with them to get their input.

“She has an open door policy for the consumer groups,” Vallese said.

But Democrats who made the paneling decision, and consumer advocates said regardless of tradition, Nord, a Bush appointee, should have attended.

“I hope we can get past standing on ceremony and deal directly with saving children’s lives,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said.

“It’s more important to get the information out than to stand on formalities,” said Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety for the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a nonprofit consumer advocacy group.

Weintraub also said Nord has always made herself available for the CFA.

Many Republicans at the hearing said the Democrats’ decision to combine the panels was disrespectful and squandered the value of the hearing.

“I'm very disappointed, but sympathetic, to why chairwoman Nord was not here,” Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) said. “As the acting chairwoman of a federal agency, this Committee should have given her the courtesy that she deserved.”

“Due to the Majority's actions, this Committee was robbed of key insight that could have benefited our society. I still do not consider yesterday's hearing to be legitimate,” Burgess continued.

“I fully support Chairwoman Nord’s decision,” Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) said. “Denying this courtesy to the chairperson of a regulatory agency appears to be unprecedented in this Committee.”

On September 28, 2004, when Stearns chaired the same subcommittee, he put then-Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Thomas Leary on the same panel with consumer advocates for similar reasons. Leary arrived, seemingly without argument, and according to the archived footage of the hearing, no one even mentioned it.

Yesterday's hearing focused on four bills that aim to protect children from an assortment of potentially harmful products including toys and cribs.

Rush said the decision to combine the panels, was not meant to be disrespectful, but rather so that the hearing, and the legislation, would not be held up.

“I have respect for pomp and circumstance,” Rush said. “However, if there are time restraints, the priority of this chairman is to make sure the people’s business is conducted in a timely manner.”

No Chair

Just one day before the Senate Commerce Committee was set to vote on Bush’s controversial pick, Michael Baroody, the executive vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers withdrew.

“The good news is that the Bush administration’s candidate has been withdrawn,” Consumer Federation of America spokesman Jack Gillis said. “The bad news is that this agency remains leaderless and without a quorum of commissioners.”

The CPSC needs at least three commissioners to perform regulatory activities and to levy fines. The commission has not had three commissioners since former chairman Hal Stratton, another Bush appointee, abruptly resigned July 15, 2006 to become a lobbyist.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Act, which created and governs the CPSC, the two remaining commissioners can continue their regulatory activities for six months after a vacancy has been created. After those six months, their powers are stripped until the President fills the vacancy and as of Jan. 15, 2007, that has been the case.

If Bush takes as long as he did last time to find a replacement, the commission will remain powerless for another six months.

For months, CPSC spokespeople have assured ConsumerAffairs.com that no new regulations were being held up by the lack of a quorum. But yesterday the agency's staff warned consumers who own a Kazuma Meerkat 50 Youth All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) that children are at severe risk of injury or death due to multiple safety defects with this off-road vehicle.

The unusual warning -- which carries no legal weight -- was apparently issued because the CPSC lacks a quorum and currently has no authority to require companies to provide accident or injury information. The CPSC said Kazuma has refused to cooperate with its inquiry.

Without a quorum, the CPSC is unable to act on any of several pending issues, including:

• A rule that would limit the percent of lead found in children’s jewelry.
• Legislation that would make upholstered furniture less flammable.
• Updated design legislation for portable generators.
• Safety standards for all-terrain vehicles.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |