Protecting Consumers

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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more news

Statistics on Lead in Children's Products

Oct 4, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Today, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced eight more product recalls of children's products. CPSC cites lead contamination as the reason for all eight. Reg•Watch has been working on some back-of-the-envelope calculations on the number of children's product recalls involving lead contamination. So far this year, CPSC has announced 58 recalls accounting for more than 12 million individual products. (More than 11 million of the products — or about 92 percent — were manufactured in China.) These have all been voluntary recalls which CPSC normally negotiates with retailers.

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President Signs PDUFA Renewal/FDA Reform Bill

Sep 27, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Today, President Bush signed into law H.R. 3580, the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007. The law reauthorizes the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, an important source of funding for FDA, just in time to avoid agency layoffs. The law should also improve the ability of the agency to assure the safety of prescription drugs after they have been approved for the market.

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Latest Watcher

Sep 26, 2007 by Matthew Madia

Be sure to check out the latest issue of our biweekly newsletter, The Watcher. Regulatory policy articles this time: Congress Hears Pleas for Expanded Authority and Resources at CPSC New White House Guidelines Fit into Broad Attack on Federal Protections Senate Reviews Agencies' Attempts to Preempt Congress and the States

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Congress Expands FDA User Fee Program, Reforms Drug Safety Process

Congress has passed legislation which will reauthorize a program allowing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to collect fees from pharmaceutical companies in order to conduct drug approvals. The bill will also dramatically expand FDA's regulatory authority in response to recent controversy. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the bill into law soon.

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Congress Hears Pleas for Expanded Authority and Resources at CPSC

A proliferation of children's product recalls due to potentially dangerous exposure to lead has left many turning to the federal government for answers. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has borne much of the brunt for the regulatory failures. Congress is considering solutions including new federal standards for lead, expanding the agency's regulatory authority and increasing agency resources.

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Senate Reviews Agencies' Attempts to Preempt Congress and the States

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Sept. 12 about federal agencies' practice of inserting into regulations language that removes consumers' ability to sue under state tort law those corporations whose products cause harm. In addition, the use of this preemption language limits the ability of state and local governments to protect the health, safety and welfare of their citizens. Federal preemption removes the targeted policy area from state and local jurisdiction and makes it almost exclusively a federal policy issue.

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Congress Finally Finishes FDA Reform Legislation

Sep 21, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The House and Senate have both passed the final version of the PDUFA reauthorization/FDA reform bill. The bill now goes to the White House where the president is sure to sign it. The Pump Handle blog has all the details on the final version: "Congress's FDA Bill Includes Reforms"

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New Food-Borne Illness Database

Sep 18, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has launched a new database providing information on food-borne illness outbreaks that occurred in the U.S. from 1990-2004. (CSPI defines outbreaks as "events where two or more people become ill from eating the same food.") The database, "Outbreak Alert!," breaks down over 5,000 outbreaks by food type, pathogen and location. It also lists the number of cases resulting from each outbreak. Check it out here.

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For Better or Worse, Industry Pushes for Regulation

Sep 17, 2007 by Matthew Madia

The Sunday New York Times featured an article on the efforts of U.S. industry groups to push for federal regulation. As the article points out, this represents a marked shift in the traditional conception of industry's views on regulation. Historically, industry representatives often see regulation as costly and vexing. A graphic in the article briefly summarizes 14 examples of new federal regulations supported by manufacturers or industry lobbyists.

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Toy Safety Hearing Leaves Questions Unanswered

Sep 13, 2007 by Matthew Madia

In today's Washington Post, columnist Dana Milbank reports on yesterday's Senate hearing on toy safety and the Consumer Product Safety Commission's role in assuring it. The hearing, held by an appropriations subcommittee responsible for approving CPSC's budget, featured testimony from Nancy Nord, acting chairman of the commission.

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