NCL blasts proposal to eradicate the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
Media Contact: Lisa McDonald, Vice President of Communications, 202-207-2829
CPSC is the nation’s product safety authority, protecting the public from injuries and death from consumer products
Washington, DC – According to a leaked document, the Trump Administration is finalizing plans to eliminate the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and absorb the agency’s functions within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“America first shouldn’t put product safety last,” said Daniel Greene, Senior Director of Product Safety and Consumer Protection at the National Consumers League. “The CPSC is enshrined in law as an independent agency with the Congressional mandate to protect the American people from injury and death from hazardous consumer products.”
Over its fifty-year existence, the agency has developed a body of safety standards, enforcement actions, consumer education campaigns, and safety surveillance and recall processes, none of which can be transferred by executive authority to a new agency.
“Should the Trump Administration’s plans come into action, our nation’s product safety net would simply be eradicated, with an unproven cop on the beat and no safeguards to enforce. The result: more deaths and injuries,” said Greene.
The draft HHS budget request for Fiscal Year 2026 proposes to eliminate “CPSC and reduces funding for CPSC’s administrative and support functions.” The proposal states that a new division will be created within the HHS to carry out the CPSC’s functions.
The National Commission on Product Safety, which was established by law in 1967, recommended that Congress enact an omnibus Consumer Product Safety Act committing the authority and resources of the Federal government to the elimination of unreasonable product hazards and establishing an independent Consumer Product Safety Commission to be concerned exclusively with the safety of consumer products. Congress followed through on this recommendation, shortly thereafter establishing the CPSC.
This small agency with a large mission has helped spur a 43 percent decline in residential fires, 47 percent decrease in fire deaths, and 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.
Greene has warned that the Trump Administration’s unprecedented assault on the federal government could have dire effects on the CPSC.
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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
