Safety agency no match for threat

You'd have to live under a pretty big rock to avoid the news that Americans are being bombarded with unsafe products. In the last few months, the recalls have included baby cribs, bicycles, flotation equipment, appliances and millions of Chinese-made toys. Last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that the number of recalls in October for products with lead set a 30-year high. Given the grim environment, you would expect the agency would be pulling out the stops to protect American consumers. Instead, its acting head is lobbying Congress not to give the agency more money or authority.

Nancy Nord, the safety commission chief, has asked Congress not to approve legislation doubling the agency's budget and increasing its staff and policing power. She said some of the new safety measures were impractical and that a vast expansion of enforcement powers would bury staff in paperwork and divert their attention from the worst offenders.

Nord insists that the agency has sufficient resources even though the recalls of recent months show it cannot keep pace. The commission's staff of 420 is half its 1980 level. Senate legislation that would increase staff by 20 percent is modest. Given that 15,000 products fall under the agency's jurisdiction, those new hires are necessary if the United States hopes to stem the flood of dangerous imports. The commission also needs a bigger enforcement hammer. Increasing the maximum fine to $100-million, from $1.8-million, would make manufacturers more accountable. It would no longer be cheaper to roll defective products into the cost of doing business.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday called for Nord to resign. Nord is the wrong person at the wrong time to protect U.S. consumers, as more everyday household products come from overseas. The hands-off regulatory approach has not worked; it has put Americans of all ages at physical risk and shaken confidence in global trade. Congress should provide the commission with the money and staff it needs and stay on the agency until it performs to a level the public expects.

[Last modified October 30, 2007, 21:25:22]