By Darrell A. Hughes Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A Washington advocacy group on Tuesday criticized the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for failing to implement strict toy safety regulations, but urged lawmakers to ensure the agency receives additional funds for the next five years.
Liz Hitchcock, spokeswoman for the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups said the agency's increased budget is necessary to ensure the Consumer Product Safety Commission adequately oversees testing procedures on toys and the enforcement of civil penalties on violators.
Legislation passed in August doubled the agency's budget to $136 million by 2014.
Hitchcock, however, said because the agency failed to require that toy manufactures and stores remove all toxic products from their shelves immediately, "consumers should avoid purchasing soft and plastic toys indefinitely."
The agency told companies last week that "they could keep selling toys with toxic phthalate chemicals until they run out of them." Hitchcock said.
The same bill that gave the agency funding also charged the Consumer Product Safety Commission with enforcing new strict phthalate standards by Feb. 10, 2009 along with a ban on toys containing lead. Phthalate is a chemical used in plastics to create elasticity. Prolonged exposure to it is believed to cause birth defects.
Agency spokeswoman Julie Vallese said the law is unclear and lawmakers "should have done their homework on how the agency would be required to carry out its regulatory authority when it comes to such words as ban and standards."
Those terms "carry very different meanings" regarding how the agency's regulatory capabilities could be enforced, Vallese said.
However, Liz Hitchcock, spokeswoman for the consumer interest group, said the agency is misinterpreting the law. "Congress clearly intended the new law to stop the sale of toys containing toxic phthalates in February," Hitchcock said.
The group released its 23rd annual toy safety report, which found that 80,000 children under the age of five were treated in emergency rooms last year for injuries related to toys.
In 2007, high levels of lead paint greatly contributed to the recall of 45 million toys and children's items. Roughly 80% of toys imported into the U.S. are from China, the group's program director Ed Mierzwinski said.
According to the bill, in 2009, toy makers will have to abide by strict regulatory standards that prohibit the manufacturing and sale of products that contain harmful chemicals. Yet, products currently on shelves can be sold until stock depletion. Hitchcock said this "could take years."
House Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush plans to hold a hearing to clarify the bill's confusion. If Congress returns for a lame duck session in December, Rush, D-Ill., aims to hold the hearing at that time.
"It is important that the subcommittee conduct oversight to determine that the commission is implementing the law as originally intended," Rush said in a letter to other lawmakers.
-By Darrell A. Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6684; darrell.hughes@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2008 15:18 ET (20:18 GMT)

Publié le 25 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones