Draft plans to gut the independence of the CPSC are dangerously misguided and would leave Americans at greater risk of being harmed by unsafe products
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As reports circulate about White House plans to restructure federal health agencies and drastically slash public health programs, Consumer Reports (CR) today denounced an overlooked and significant part of the plan: a proposal to eliminate the independent, bipartisan Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and put the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in charge of overseeing the safety of more than 15,000 types of consumer products.
William Wallace, CR’s director of safety advocacy, said, “This dangerously misguided proposal would leave American families at greater risk in their own homes. It would take critical data-driven safety rules that protect babies, children, and adults nationwide, and immediately expose them to political whims. Consumers depend on the CPSC to enforce our safety laws, stop dangerous imported products at the border, and warn them when there’s a hazardous product on the market—or already in their homes—that could injure or kill them.
“The CPSC’s ability to take strong action based on scientific evidence is critical to keeping people safe, and it’s tied directly to its status as an independent agency relatively insulated from day-to-day politics. If you take that away, the CPSC all too easily could become a tool for the political interests of the White House, regardless of which party is in charge.”
According to the draft budget proposal by the Office of Management and Budget, which reports directly to the President, a newly created HHS division would become responsible for protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death from consumer products. It would take the place of the CPSC, which was specifically established by Congress in 1972 to be insulated from the political pressures associated with being under the control of the President as “[a]n independent regulatory commission … consisting of five Commissioners who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate” where “[n]ot more than three of the Commissioners shall be affiliated with the same political party.”
Gabe Knight, CR’s senior safety policy analyst, said, “It cannot be overstated how damaging it would be to eliminate the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This small but vital agency is often the only one responsible for stopping dangerous toys, baby products, appliances, and electronics from harming the public. The White House should immediately abandon its reckless proposal and leave it out of its final budget request. If the White House doesn’t reverse course, Congress must assert itself and reject any attempts to undermine the lawmaking powers of our elected representatives. Congress should hold the administration accountable to federal law and preserve the CPSC as the independent, bipartisan consumer safety watchdog it has supported for more than fifty years.”
Media contact: Michael McCauley, michael.mccauley@consumer.org