E-Gov Spotlight: Centralized Product Recall Portal Needs Significant Improvements

The idea behind the U.S. government-run website Recalls.gov represents the best, most practical qualities of the Internet: to help consumers with valuable, timely, up-to-date recall information. Spanning six federal agencies, Recalls.gov aims to be a 'one-stop shop' for consumers concerned about the safety of the products they buy for themselves and their families. It is supposed to make finding recall information easy and efficient. However, the intentions of Recalls.gov are severely hampered by poor implementation, resulting in an unusable, inconvenient website.

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Product Safety Law Gets the Lead (and Other Things) Out

Thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), toys and other children’s products are safer. Five years ago, the critical law set strict standards to protect children from exposure to lead and other harmful chemicals. These standards are crucial to ensuring that children’s products are safe and free of dangerous toxins.

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Five Important Reasons to Share and Gather Data on SaferProducts.gov

This month marks the fifth anniversary of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), which provided a long overdue upgrade of critical safety protections for consumer products. The CPSIA revitalized the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and created the publicly available safety incident online database, better known as www.SaferProducts.gov.

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Product Safety Regulator May Lack Resources to Implement New Mandates, Safeguards

Although the nation's premier consumer product regulator, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), has been crippled by budget cuts and staffing losses in the past, it has seen increases in its resources and responsibilities since 2008. However, advocates argue that a much larger influx is required to ensure that the CPSC has the resources it needs to protect Americans and eliminate dangerous products from the marketplace.

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Peering Behind the Curtain: Consumer Protection Agency Proposes Public Credit Card Complaint Database

In December, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a public online database of consumer complaints about credit cards. The database would empower consumer choices on credit cards and position the agency as a leader in government transparency. However, the financial industry opposes disclosure and may use its considerable political influence in an effort to block public access to the information.

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Confidence in Crib Safety: Are Regulatory Hoops and Delays Putting Babies at Risk?

Nowhere is safety more important than in children's toys and products. A number of regulatory agencies share responsibility for ensuring that children are not exposed to harmful toxins or dangerous products, but legislative gaps and procedural hoops have delayed needed protections. A new report by Clean and Healthy New York concludes that while some crib mattress manufacturers have made products less toxic, a "significant portion of the crib mattresses in the U.S. market contain one or more chemicals of concern" and may still pose risks to babies.

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Spending Bill Would Hide Consumer Safety Risks, Money in Politics

Consumer product safety risks would be concealed and influence peddling in government contracting would remain out of public view under the provisions of the fiscal year (FY) 2012 spending bill approved today by the House Financial Services and General Government appropriations subcommittee.

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Public Database of Product Safety Complaints Coming Next Year

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted today to create a public database of product safety complaints. The database, which will be located at SaferProducts.gov, is scheduled to launch in March 2011.

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