NCL sounds the alarm about the weakening of vital product safety database
NEISS Injury Data Is a Lifeline for Consumer Protection—Now It’s Under Threat
Media Contact: Lisa McDonald, Vice President of Communications, 202-207-2829
Washington, DC – According to recent reports, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will end the collection of certain injury data vital for CPSC standards, recalls, and education campaigns.
“You can’t fight what you can’t see,” said Daniel Greene, the Senior Director of Product Safety and Consumer Protection at the National Consumers League. “The CPSC’s product safety databases are vital tools of illumination, providing safety regulators with valuable information necessary to establish safety standards, initiate recalls, and educate the public. Without such data, the CPSC will be flying blind, significantly harming this indispensable safety agency from carrying out its lifesaving mission.”
The CPSC operates an injury surveillance called the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which includes injury data from a nationally representative sample of hospitals. But due to staff reductions at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reports suggest that the CPSC is expected to stop collecting injury data associated with motor vehicle crashes, falls, alcohol, adverse drug effects, aircraft incidents, work-related injuries, and other incidents.
“This is an attack on public safety,” Greene added. “From the car seat that fails in a crash, to the toy that sends a child to the ER, to the medication that causes severe side effects—every one of these threats requires data to detect, analyze, respond, and ultimately save lives. Ending this collection is not just shortsighted. It’s dangerous.”
NCL is calling on the Trump Administration to reverse course—before a vital injury surveillance system is gutted beyond repair.
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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.
