Inside Fatherhood

The future of recalls and product info, CPSC take note

by Bill on January 20th, 2008

As you may have noticed, I frequently post notices about product recalls from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I find the CPSC website to be a great tool for staying abreast of which products have been deemed unsuitable for use. However, I realized this morning there is no inclusive resource which states which products have undergone testing and passed, or have undergone no testing at all.

I believe the general presumption had always been that if a toy were on the market, it was relatively safe and recalled only in rare instances. However, in light of the large number of recent problems with lead levels in toys, my assumption has become more that products should be assumed not to be trustworthy unless verified to be so. I’ve adopted an “guilty until proven innocent” perspective.

My charge to the Consumer Product Safety commission is that a new level of transparency should be implemented with children’s products. Information regarding which tests have occurred on which products should be made readily available to consumers. If no tests have been performed on a given item, I would like to know before I make my purchase decision. Especially with young kids, toys inevitably end up in their mouths so I want to know that there isn’t lead on them before I buy it.

Much like the expanded labels on food which describe the dietary contents, I would like to have knowledge of what levels of potentially harmful materials and finishes are used in a product. If not to this extent, at least an indication as to what standards or independent testing has taken place for a particular item. As consumers we are put in the position of being unable to make a fully informed decision about what we are bringing into our home and letting our children play with.

I don’t think this is an outrageous wish, but I don’t think that toy companies would readily comply with such a request. Such an initiative must come from the government as it would never come organically from the majority of manufacturers. Thus, I think the CPSC should begin influencing companies to make information about their products more transparent or available to the general public. If this does not occur through labeling, it should be otherwise be published by the CPSC.

Share This

Related Stories

The Week in Recalls 4/13 - 4/20
The Week in Recalls 6/16 - 6/22
The Week in Recalls 4/6 - 4/12
The Week in Recalls 6/23 - 6/29
The Week(s) in Recalls 4/21 - 5/3

POSTED IN: recalls