Personal Injury Law

Bill Banning Lead and Phthalates in Kids? Products Now Goes To President Bush

By Altman & Altman

A bill banning lead and six kinds of phthalates has been sent to US President Bush. The bill, called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, was passed by both the House and the Senate last week?both times by overwhelming majorities. Despite objections by the Bush Administration to parts of the bill, the President is expected to sign it.

The bill bans virtually all lead in products made for kids 12 years of age and under. The call for tougher lead standards comes in the wake of the 45 million plus toys and kids products that have been recalled since last year, with many of the products manufactured in China containing excessively high levels of lead.

Exposure to too much lead can seriously affect a child?s development. Side effects can include hyperactivity, inattentiveness, learning disabilities, hearing problems, physical development problems, permanent brain damage, and death.

The bill bans six kinds of phthalates from kids? products. While phthalates, often found in baby bottles and other products with plastic, cannot be verified as posing any definite harm to humans, animal tests have shown that the chemicals could potentially trigger early puberty in females and cause genetic defects in males.

Other provisions in the bill include:

? Doubling the Consumer Product Safety Commission?s budget to $136 million by 2014.

? Providing workers that report product dangers with whistle-blower protections.

? Strengthening all-terrain vehicle regulations, including banning three-wheel ATV?s.

Not toying around: Congress OKs bill to ban chemicals in some products, USA Today.com, August 1, 2008

Congress sends Bush bill banning lead in toys, AP, July 31, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Consumer Product Safety Commission

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (PDF)

Full post as published by Boston Injury Lawyer Blog on August 08, 2008 (boomark / email).