Edwards Proposes Consumer Product Reform

Edwards Proposes Consumer Product Reform
By Beverley Wang--Associated Press
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
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BEDFORD, N.H. (A.P.) - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards is calling for the resignation Nancy Nord, the acting head of the nation's Consumer Product Safety Commission, saying the Bush administration has failed to protect the public from dangerous products.

"America is facing a crisis of quality in imported products, food and medicine," Edwards said in prepared remarks for delivery Wednesday and provided to The Associated Press. "We can no longer rely on corporations to initiate recall after recall while our government sits on the sidelines and our nation's children and families remain at serious risk.

"Multinational corporations' race to cut costs by off-shoring the production of drugs, toys and other consumer goods has come at the price of quality and safety," the former North Carolina senator said.

Edwards was expected to call for Nord's resignation at a forum scheduled Wednesday morning at a middle school in Amherst, N.H. He said he sent a letter to President Bush on Wednesday demanding Nord's resignation.

Nord and her agency have been criticized for responding too slowly to tainted toys and other products. She and her predecessor also have come under scrutiny for accepting free travel from industries regulated by the commission. Nord has said she will not resign.

In the wake of multiple toy and food recalls for Chinese-made products, Edwards also planned to introduce his own plan to reform the consumer product regulation system. His proposal would:

* Ban consumer regulators from accepting gifts and travel expenses from industries they oversee.
* Improve the Web site for consumer complaints and recalls.
* Ban lead in all children's products, require mandatory independent testing, empower authorities to stop risky children products at the border and increase penalties for companies that produce faulty products.
* Enforce country-of-origin labeling and strengthen food safety inspections and recall powers.
* Station permanent Food and Drug Administration inspectors to conduct spot inspections in countries with significant imports to the United States, beginning with China and India.
* Require China to regulate and trace its chemical exports to counteract drug counterfeiting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7057613,00.html

It doesn't have enough personnel to do its job. Additional regulations won't help if they can't be enforced.