Consumer Law

White House Considering Candidates To Head Consumer Product Safety Commission

By Brian Wolfman

by Brian Wolfman

Today's Washington Post has  this article about the White House's consideration of candidates for Chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the government agency charged with protecting the public from potentially dangerous products, ranging from fire-prone mattresses to hazardous cleaning products to lead-laden toys. It is important for the CPSC to have a permanent leader dedicated to consumer protection.

We blogged here, here, here, and here about President Bush's ill-fated effort to place Michael Baroody in the job.  Baroody's main credential for CPSC chair was that he was chief lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers. We have also blogged here and here about the controversy over acting chair Nancy Nord's travels to exotic locations around the world paid for by the industries that she is charged with regulating. We have also reported various times, for instance here, on proposed legislation to enhance the CPSC's powers. The effort at new legislation was spurred in large part by the failure of our regulatory system to prevent the influx of lead-tainted toys from abroad.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on January 26, 2008 (boomark / email).