“America first” shouldn’t put product safety last
By Daniel Greene, Senior Director of Consumer Protection & Product Safety Policy
Who wants “shock and awe” when plugging in an electronic device? What parent wants a “chainsaw” to be taken to the institutions validating that toys are safe? What senior wants to “dismantle” the safety net helping prevent falls and common injuries to the older Americans?
The Trump Administration’s unprecedented assault on our bedrock federal institutions may undermine a key line of defense against dangerous products and household hazards: the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC).
The CPSC protects the public against unreasonable risks of injury or death from consumer products through education, safety standards, regulation, and enforcement. The agency is charged with regulating 15,000 types of consumer products.
During the Biden Administration, the CPSC finalized over fifty rules and standards, including banning crib bumpers and establishing standards for adult portable bed rails, mattress flammability, and infant sleep products. In Fiscal Year 2024, the Commission actively facilitated the establishment of 26 voluntary safety standards and negotiated and implemented 333 recalls involving 41 million products. The CPSC submitted over 56,000 takedown requests to e-commerce platforms and sellers, resulting in more than 58,000 banned or previously recalled products being removed from such sites. The agency conducted approximately 1,000 inspections, surveillance efforts, and recall effectiveness checks to ensure compliance with product safety law.
In recent weeks, the Trump Administration has begun to execute an ambitious plan to reduce the size of government. It’s curbed the authority of independent federal agencies like the CPSC, imposed spending freezes, and fired civil servants. Every federal agency is required to produce an Agency Reduction in Force and Reorganization Plan by March 13. Such plans must seek to achieve significant staff reductions, reduced budgets, and reduced real property footprint.
Efforts to dramatically reduce the CPSC’s resources, staff, and facilities could substantially diminish the Commission’s ability to carry out its mission: product safety.
Product safety should be standard. The norm, not the exception. Not a choice, but an expectation.
After all, these are products we rely on – products we are in constant contact with, such as appliances, toys, furniture, electronics, clothing, and power tools. They’re in our living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and sheds. They’re what we wear and where we sleep. They’re used to cook and clean. They’re what our children play with.
Safety cannot be assumed, however. It must be established and maintained. For in the product safety space, there is a dangerous safety paradox which may compel producers to put profits over people.
Competitive pressures encourage producers to drive down prices by cutting corners and ignoring readily available safety features. After all, consumers are price sensitive. Twenty-five cents can make the difference between executing a sale and losing business to your competitor.
Further, consumers assume that every product for sale is safe. They cannot readily identify risks associated with a particular product. Consumers are completely at the mercy of representations made by the producers. Consider this example. Can we really expect the everyday furniture shopper to tell whether a dresser complies with tip-over standards? Of course not. Between 2013 and 2023, 217 deaths were attributed to furniture tip overs. Yet, it is nearly impossible to distinguish safe from unsafe furniture.
In such an environment, safety can take a back seat to savings.
Many manufacturers of table saws refuse to equip their devices with safety features that prevent or mitigate the severity of contact injuries. These manufacturers save a few hundred bucks per saw. But nearly 50,000 consumers must seek medical treatment for table saw injuries each year, costing society $1.28 billion to $2.32 billion annually. There are approximately 10 amputations a day that could be totally prevented with safe saw technology.
Over one million crib bumpers were sold each year despite being attributed to 83 fatalities and 60 injuries. Manufacturers generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue from selling these products.
Many manufacturers failed to meet voluntary safety standards for adult portable bed rails, resulting in 310 fatalities between 2003 and 2021. They saved $5.40 per unit.
It’s a perilous race to the bottom that poses a clear and present danger to the American people.
Approximately 49,000 product-related deaths and 34 million product-related injuries occur each year. These are not just statistics. These are lives cut short. Livelihoods ruined. Maimed breadwinners. Injured children.
Falls, fires, poisoning, and suffocation remain persistently high, accounting for four out of five deaths. Everyday product categories – such as stairs, ramps, beds, pillows, chairs, exercise equipment, bathtubs, and bicycles – are frequently involved. The young and the elderly are particularly vulnerable.
Consumer product incidents account for $1 trillion in costs to society each year, for medical bills, emergency services, lost productivity, insurance, workplace loss, legal costs, and property damage.
And, of course, there are some costs that simply cannot be captured in dollars and cents. Clearly, the cost of care and loss of income of an injured breadwinner is measurable in dollars, but we cannot measure the psychological loss of their role as a provider.
Prudent government intervention is necessary to address the unacceptable risk posed by harmful consumer products. The CPSC provides that prudent government intervention.
This small agency with a large mission has delivered. CPSC standards and enforcement activities have helped spur a 43 percent decline in residential fires, a 47 percent decrease in fire deaths, and a 41 percent reduction in fire injuries. Child poisonings have decreased by 80 percent. Bicycle injuries dropped by 35 percent. Deaths from refrigerator door entrapments and garage door incidents have been virtually eliminated. Crib deaths have plummeted by 80 percent. Injuries associated with baby walkers have been slashed by 88 percent. Pool and pool equipment injury rates have decreased by 55 percent.
The results are clear. The CPSC saves lives. It protects the health and safety of the American people and creates clear rules of the road for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. It ensures that safety is engrained in the design and manufacturing of each product. It gives industry a safe space to pursue their profit motive while fulfilling their obligation to protect customers. And through product recalls and enforcement it establishes a level playing field that ends the race to the bottom. Thus, we must preserve the CPSC and ensure the agency has the appropriate tools, resources, and personnel to carry out its lifesaving mission.
By Sally Greenberg, CEO of the National Consumers League
