If pending legislation passes, the CPSC may make retailers test their wares, and make retailers legally responsible for the products they sell. CPSC chair Nancy Nord said yesterday at a press conference, “the ultimate responsibility at the end of the day to make sure that their products are safe and if they do not, we will take enforcement activity at the product sellers.”

Previously, CPSC action has focused on manufacturers. Interesting. The cynic in me says this is a sure sign of how well manufacturers have the CPSC in the pocket. You know they’re just itching to not be on the hook. Wouldn’t it be more cost effective to focus on the source of the goods, rather than after the fact? On the other hand, everyone in the supply chain should bear some responsibility for the safety of the goods they sell. Perhaps if manufacturers know they can’t make a defective product and have it be sold anyway, they will be more careful about what they make in the first place?

In addition, Nord announced the CPSC would use new funds to post full-time inspectors at high-traffic ports, took time to defend trips she took that had come under political fire and scrutiny, to decry presidential candidates using the CPSC issue as a political tool, to describe the media frenzy around 2007 product safety as having approached “hysteria”, and settled once and for all that she definitely, definitely, did not break Mom’s favorite lamp back at the old Cedar Brook house.

Safety Push Focuses on Retailers [WSJ]
(Photo: AP)

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