The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 required the Consumer Product Safety Commisssion (CPSC) to establish and maintain a publicly available, searchable database on the safety of consumer products and other products and substances regulated by the CPSC. We have been following the agency's implementation of the statutory mandate and (since last year's election) the House of Representatives' efforts to kill or defund it. The database continues to operate here, for the time being.
As explained in this piece by David Lazarus at the LA Times, the House has recently voted to cut off all funding for the database. Here's the beginning of his article:
What is it about consumer protection that Republican lawmakers don't like? Is it that they want to see their constituents fleeced and flimflammed by businesses? Is it that they don't care? Or is it something as craven as carrying water for corporate interests simply because that's where the money is? Whatever the reason, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee has approved a spending bill that not only slashes the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission but also cuts off all funding for a recently launched database of product-safety complaints.The online database is one of the most important consumer tools to emerge from Washington in years. It enables people to report potentially faulty or harmful products, as well as to research goods before making a purchase. "If this bill passes, it will destroy the database," said Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety for the Consumer Federation of America. "They're trying to pull the plug on a vital consumer resource."
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