For Immediate Release
May 12, 2011
ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN'S PRODUCT SAFETY ENDORSES HOUSE BILL TO REFORM CPSIA
The Alliance for Children's Product Safety, a coalition of small business owners, manufacturers, crafters and entrepreneurs who are impacted by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), issued the following statement in support of the “Enhancing CPSC Authority and Discretion Act of 2011" (ECADA), a bill to be marked up on Thursday, May 12 by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade:
"We strongly endorse this bill and congratulate Subcommittee Chairman Mary Bono-Mack and others who drafted this important legislation in order to bring common-sense to our product safety laws, and provide relief to the thousands of small businesses that have suffered from the overreaching provisions of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).
After almost three years of rancorous debate, Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree that it is time to fix the CPSIA. The law has banned safe products ranging from rhinestones, books, pens and musical instruments to ATVs and bicycles, devastating critically-important industries without proof that children will actually be safer. Congress and the CPSC have received testimony of companies driven out of business by this law, of products withdrawn from the market and of massive cost increases from needless and repetitive testing. The number of companies negatively impacted by the over-reaching provisions of the CPSIA is in the many thousands.
ECADA would enact relatively modest changes to CPSIA, including those requested by both Democratic and Republican Commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The changes to rules governing the presence of lead in children’s products reflect good science and set appropriate, common sense standards to protect the health and well-being of our children while also protecting jobs in difficult economic times.
The Alliance calls on the Committee to ignore the rhetoric from certain groups who accuse anyone who proposes common-sense modifications to the CPSIA of "endangering children" to justify a stifling, over-reaching law which has accomplished little but damaged many fine companies, killed jobs and depressed markets. These are the same groups whose extreme positions on "safety" have included testimony warning about the perils of “bicycle licking" and playing brass instruments in a school band. We cannot allow fear mongering to drive important federal legislation touching vital industries.
There is bipartisan agreement that CPSIA needs to be fixed. ECADA is an important and long overdue step in this process and we urge Congress to finalize this legislation as soon as possible."
The Alliance for Children's Product Safety, Chaired by Rick Woldenberg, is a coalition of small business owners, manufacturers, crafters and entrepreneurs who are impacted by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). For additional information, please visit http://www.AmendTheCPSIA.com/ or contact Caitlin Andrews at 202-828-7637.
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Motorcycle Industry Council
Media Relations
949-727-4211, Ext. 3027
Motorcycle Industry Council Endorses New Legislation
to Stop the Lead Ban on Youth Off-Highway Vehicles
IRVINE, Calif., May 11, 2011 -- The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) today announced its support for, and urged quick passage of, the “Enhancing CPSC Authority and Discretion Act of 2011” (ECADA). The discussion draft of the bill, released yesterday by Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), would end the ban on youth-sized all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and snowmobiles caused by the unintended consequences of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
In a May 11, 2011 letter [http://online2.mic.org/mic/downloads/letter-to-rep-m-bono-mack-05-11-11.pdf] to Rep. Bono Mack, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, Paul Vitrano, MIC general counsel, wrote, “While we continue to believe that the best way to ensure the continued availability of youth off-highway vehicles is to categorically exclude them from the lead content provisions, this proposed legislation, if enacted as drafted, would provide welcome relief and improve safety.”
The MIC letter stated that, since its enactment in 2008, CPSIA has effectively banned the sale of age-appropriate youth off-highway vehicles. As a result, the act has actually created unsafe situations for young riders by reducing the availability of appropriate-sized, speed-restricted youth models.
“The bill contains a provision, Section 3(a), that codifies the lead content limits set by the Consumer Product Safety Commission when it granted a stay of enforcement that, although designed to provide some temporary relief to our industry, proved to be ineffective,” wrote Vitrano. “The bill also mandates a total lead content limit of .03 percent or less for non-metal parts of outdoor recreational products and all other children’s products not primarily intended for age 6 and younger.”
The letter also noted the draft bill contains language (Section 4(a)) that would “eliminate unnecessary, duplicative and costly testing requirements under CPSIA for these vehicles.”
“ATVs and motorcycles do not present any lead-related health risk to young riders, and Congress has made it clear that it never intended the lead content restrictions and testing requirements for toys to apply to these vehicles,” Vitrano noted in the letter.
The MIC also endorsed the bill’s common sense changes to the Public Database to create a more useful database with accurate and relevant information for consumers.
“For more than two years, our industry has worked in a bipartisan manner seeking relief from the unintended consequences of the CPSIA that have needlessly placed youth riders in danger, harmed thousands of dealers, and cost jobs in our industry," concluded Vitrano. “We are grateful this bill will provide our customers and members with a permanent fix to this problem…and strongly urge bipartisan support and quick passage of this important and long-overdue legislation.”
The Motorcycle Industry Council exists to preserve, protect and promote motorcycling through government relations, communications and media relations, statistics and research, aftermarket programs, development of data communications standards, and activities surrounding technical and regulatory issues. As a not-for-profit, national industry association, the MIC seeks to support motorcyclists by representing manufacturers and distributors of motorcycles, scooters, motorcycle/ATV/ROV parts and accessories, and members of allied trades such as insurance, finance and investment companies, media companies and consultants.
The MIC is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with a government relations office adjacent to Washington, D.C. First called the MIC in 1970, the organization has been in operation since 1914. Visit the MIC at www.mic.org.
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First lawyer plant for use in lawsuit?
http://www.saferproducts.gov/ViewIncident/1178593
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