Today the House of Representatives unanimously approved H.R. 4040, the Consumer Product Safety Commission Modernization Act of 2007, that virtually eliminates lead from children’s toys (down to 100 parts per million by 2012) and increases the funding of the CPSC. A Senate committee approved its own version of an anti-lead/pro-CPSC bill in October, but it hasn’t reached a floor vote yet—so sometime (early?) next year a final bill should be hammered out to send to the White House. Unless, of course, the lead toy furor disappears after Christmas.

The House bill would:

• Increase the CPSC’s budget by 30%, its largest increase in 30 years;
• Require manufacturers to place tracking labels on products to improve recalls;
• Provide funds to improve the CPSC’s testing facilities;
• Require testing by independent labs approved by the CPSC;
• Effectively ban lead in children’s products by reducing the allowable amount to 100 ppm 4 years after the law goes into effect;
• Re-institute the CPSC’s full board of 5 commissioners (down to two right now); and
• Raise fines on manufacturers from $1.25 million to $10 million.

CPSC frienemy Nancy Nord must be foaming at the mouth.

“House unanimously endorses toy safety crackdown” [Reuters]
“House Approves Product-Safety Overhaul” [Forbes]
(Photo from “Wild at Heart”)

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