The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is a US federal agency responsible for ensuring the safety of products sold within national borders. It regulates over 15,000 types of products, maintains a hotline for consumer complaints, and can issue recalls or bans on dangerous products. The CPSC also has jurisdiction over imported products. Its decisions sometimes cause controversy, but it believes it must balance safety with not discouraging industries.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is a United States federal agency. It is responsible for overseeing the safety of products sold within national borders that are not regulated by other agencies, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It was created by the Consumer Product Safety Act in 1972 and was revised and expanded by subsequent legislation in 2008. As a federal agency, its regulations are supported by national laws. CPSC’s national headquarters are located in Bethesda, Maryland, and its testing laboratories are located in nearby Gaithersburg, Maryland.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for ensuring that businesses in the United States do not sell unsafe products. Unsafe is defined as a product that could cause injury or death under normal use. The CPSC maintains a hotline that consumers can use to report problems with products. If a problem is reported or otherwise detected, agency specialists will test the product under laboratory conditions. If the agency determines that the product is indeed dangerous, it can issue a recall or ban the item outright, resulting in the product being removed from circulation in the United States.
More than 15,000 types of products are regulated by the CPSC, including toys, tools, and common household chemicals. The CPSC does not regulate vehicles, food and medical devices, or commercial chemicals such as pesticides. Other federal agencies have the jurisdiction to regulate these items. Without approval from the CPSC or other agencies, a product cannot be sold in the United States. The CPSC claims a 30 percent decline in product-related deaths and injuries in the United States from 1980-2010.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission also has jurisdiction over products imported into the United States. For example, a popular item sold around the world is a hollow chocolate egg containing a variety of surprise toys inside. This item was never sold in the United States, however, because the CPSC determined it posed a choking hazard to children. In 2007, a number of toys imported from China were found to contain lead paint, which can be poisonous if handled or ingested. In the ensuing national furor, the US Congress passed new legislation that substantially expands the reach and personnel of the CPSC.
As with all government agencies, decisions by the Consumer Product Safety Commission sometimes cause controversy. A 2003 crackdown on combustible chemicals led some to argue that the agency’s actions would discourage amateur and aspiring chemists from pursuing the field. After the lead paint fiasco in 2007, toy companies feared new regulations could cause them to go out of business. In an increasingly dangerous world, the CPSC believes it must walk a fine line when legislating safety.
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