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Category Archives: Product Safety

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Agency Comings and Goings

By Sheila Millar, Tracy Marshall and Boaz Green on Posted in Data Security, Privacy, Product Safety
This week has seen several significant changes at the Commission level at both the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). CPSC After several months of stasis, the Senate voted to confirm Peter Feldman as a Commissioner on the CPSC, with a term expiring October 26, 2019. Feldman takes the place… Continue Reading

CPSC Releases Revised Draft Age Appropriate Guidelines for Consumer Products

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety, Regulations
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced potential changes to its 2002 Age Determination Guidelines Relating Children’s Ages to Toy Characteristics and Play Behavior (2002 Guidelines). The new draft guidance, titled Guidelines for Determining Age Appropriateness of Toys (Draft 2018 Guidelines), “addresses toys that have come onto the market since the last update and… Continue Reading

CPSC Sues to Force Jogging-Stroller Recall

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) first lawsuit of 2018 is against the maker of popular lines of jogging strollers, Britax Child Safety, Inc. The complaint, to be heard in administrative proceedings, concern’s Britax’s B.O.B. jogging strollers. The company and its 2011 merger partner, B.O.B. Trailers, Inc., have been importing and distributing the strollers… Continue Reading

CPSC Nominations Update

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety, Regulations
President Trump resubmitted the nominations of Ann Marie Buerkle as chair and a second term as commissioner, and Dana Baiocco as commissioner (replacing Marietta Robinson (D)) of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The Senate received the nominations on January 8, 2018. On December 21, 2017, the United States Senate returned some 120 nominations to… Continue Reading

FDA Issues Final Guidance on Interoperable Medical Devices

By Sheila Millar, JC Walker and Tracy Marshall on Posted in Connected Products, Product Safety
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized its recommendations on September 6, 2017 on how to secure interoperable medical devices’ interactions with other devices and information systems. The FDA’s initial guidance, drafted in January 2016, was designed to help manufacturers develop safe, secure information exchange systems in connected medical devices. The updated guidance incorporates… Continue Reading

Trump Administration Sets Stage for Republican Majority at CPSC

By Sheila Millar and JC Walker on Posted in Product Safety, Regulations
Having previously nominated Acting Chairman Ann Marie Buerkle to serve as the permanent chair, and with Senate Commerce Committee hearings held on her confirmation on September 27, 2017, President Trump has nominated lawyer Dana Baiocco to serve a commissioner on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Baiocco would serve for a standard 7-year term… Continue Reading

What’s Happening at the CPSC

By Sheila Millar and JC Walker on Posted in Product Safety
Acting Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chair Ann-Marie Buerkle recently released an update regarding CPSC’s current projects, some of which involve stakeholder participation. Mid-Year Adjustments The Commission has approved its FY 2017 Mid-Year Review and Proposed Operations Plan Adjustments. Top priority has been given a project concerning improving the safety of lithium ion batteries. In addition,… Continue Reading

CPSC Issues Safety Warning for LayZBoard Hoverboards

By Sheila Millar and JC Walker on Posted in Product Safety
It is no secret that hoverboards – two-wheeled, battery-powered, self-balancing scooters – have proved enormously popular with kids and teenagers. But allegations regarding defective battery packs have triggered recalls. The latest hoverboard incident was associated with a fatal fire in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania last March. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) started an investigation into… Continue Reading

Kawasaki Settles with CSPC for $5.2 Million for Alleged Failure to Report Defects

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., of Japan; Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A., of Foothill Ranch, California; and Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp., U.S.A., of Lincoln, Nebraska, agreed to pay a $5.2 million civil penalty over allegations that Kawasaki failed to report floorboards cracking during normal operation of various Teryx4 recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs) during two separate periods, which… Continue Reading

CPSC Staff Recommends Rejecting Organohalogen Petition

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety, Regulations
In 2015, a group of non-government organizations (NGOs) filed a petition with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), asking CPSC to categorically ban additive organohalogen flame retardants (OFRs) from the market in the U.S. in many significant consumer product categories. OFRs include a very broad set of diverse chemical compounds added to consumer products to… Continue Reading

California Department of Toxic Substances Control Releases Draft Alternatives Analysis Guide

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety
On December 12, 2016, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released a draft Alternatives Analysis (AA) Guide under the state’s green chemistry program, Safer Consumer Products (SCP). Under the SCP program, product designers and manufacturers are encouraged to reduce or eliminate the use of certain targeted chemicals in their products, and the Guide… Continue Reading

Best Buy Agrees to Pay $3.8 Million for Selling Recalled Products

By Sheila Millar and JC Walker on Posted in Product Safety, Regulations
Mega-retailer Best Buy agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle allegations that the company distributed and sold recalled products, a violation of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) after the 2008 amendments. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff alleged that the retailer sold more than 600 recalled units, including over 400 Canon cameras, to… Continue Reading

California Adds Styrene to Proposition 65 List; Proposes NSRL

By Peter L. de la Cruz and Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety, Regulations, Uncategorized
On April 22, 2016, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) added styrene to the Proposition 65 list of carcinogens. OEHHA maintains a list of chemicals required under Proposition 65 (formally, the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act) that are “known to the state” to be reproductive toxicants or carcinogens based on… Continue Reading

CPSC Obtains Record $15.45 Million Settlement from Dehumidifier Manufacturer

By Sheila Millar and JC Walker on Posted in Product Safety
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today announced that it had obtained a record $15,450,000 settlement of civil penalty liability from three Gree Electric entities (Gree Electric Appliances, Inc., of Zhuhai; Hong Kong Gree Electric Appliances Sales Co., Ltd.; and Gree USA Sales, Ltd.) (collectively, Gree). (The settlement is provisional until after the public… Continue Reading

CPSC May Get New Authority Over Liquid Nicotine Containers for E-Cigarettes

By Sheila Millar and Azim Chowdhury on Posted in Food and Drug, Product Safety
For all of you who know the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), you know that the agency distinctly does not have authority over tobacco or tobacco products. This arguably wasn’t always the case. Early on, the American Public Health Association petitioned the CPSC to regulate cigarettes containing more than 21 mg of tar. When the… Continue Reading

Vermont Chemical Reporting Rule Moves Forward, but with Delay

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety, Regulations
The Vermont Department of Health won approval for its new, burdensome children’s product green chemistry reporting program from the state’s Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules on November 19, 2015. The final version of the Toxic Substances in Children’s Products Rule took effect on December 10, 2015, and follows from the state’s 2014 green chemistry bill,… Continue Reading

Vermont Department Issues Final Proposal on Children’s Product Chemical Disclosure

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety, Regulations
The Vermont Department of Health has released the final proposed version of its Toxic Substances in Children’s Products Rule (although it is not yet available on the Department’s website) adopted under state’s 2014 green chemistry law, Act 188. The rule, largely unchanged from the proposal, is now scheduled to go before the state’s Legislative Committee… Continue Reading

CPSC Versus FDA Recalls: What You Need to Know

By Evangelia Pelonis and Sheila Millar on Posted in Food and Drug, Product Safety, Regulations
Selling to consumers is generally a beneficial enterprise for all involved, but occasionally businesses will need to recall products, for a myriad of reasons. When that happens, different sets of rules apply depending on the type of product that is impacted. If your product falls under the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) jurisdiction, one… Continue Reading

Industry Victory in Prop 65 Appeal: Exposure Averaging Upheld

By Leslie T. Krasny and Sheila Millar on Posted in Food and Drug, Litigation, Product Safety
A California appeals court has affirmed a trial court ruling that averaging exposure to reproductive toxicants over a relevant “window of susceptability” time period specific to the chemical, and across product lots, was appropriate in a Proposition 65 case involving lead in baby and toddler  foods.  Environmental Law Foundation v. Beech-Nut Corp., (A129831, Alameda County… Continue Reading

Green Chemistry – The State of the States

By Sheila Millar on Posted in Product Safety
For the consumer products industry, there is little question that state green chemistry laws are becoming increasingly complex and challenging. Laws are in place from California to Maine, and proposals are bubbling up around the country. States as diverse as Connecticut, New York, Florida, Oregon, and even Mississippi are considering their own green chemistry laws.… Continue Reading
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