Toward safer toys

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Goaded by millions of product recalls, Congress has passed tough new legislation to keep lead and other toxic substances out of children's toys. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act sets new standards, strengthens the Consumer Product Safety Commission and makes it easier for the public to learn of potentially dangerous items. Although mainly focused on children's products, the act also bolsters regulations for all-terrain vehicles.Approved overwhelmingly at the end of July, and signed into law by President Bush last week, this is the most substantial overhaul of product-safety rules in years. Although limited in scope, it could portend greater activity on several fronts, from foods and pharmaceuticals to foam mattresses. Public infrastructure may even get its due.Under Bush, the political climate has generally been regulation-averse. But 2007 was dubbed "the year of the recall," as millions of children's products were found to contain lead paint or to present other hazards. Many of the items came from loosely regulated China, dramatizing the challenges of globalization. Yet the Consumer Product Safety Commission, established in 1973 to address such concerns, had dwindled in staff and funding, and had almost no clout.Now its budget is slated to double by 2014, to $136 million. And it will have welcome new authority to monitor testing and to impose civil penalties.Over the past several months, U.S. toy companies sought to allay public fears by announcing increased testing. But such steps were voluntary, meaning that the reassurances could go only so far. They also made it difficult for companies to compete on a level playing field. The new national standards should minimize confusion and provide the uniform oversight the industry itself finally sought. (Unwilling to wait for Congress, more than a dozen states recently passed new product-safety laws, creating some conflicting regulations. The new federal law should help alleviate the confusion.)Importantly, the law requires testing by independent laboratories of products aimed at children age 12 or younger. That makes it far more likely that hazardous substances will be found before they enter a child's mouth. The new law also reduces the amount of lead allowed in such items (virtually none), and bans (in some cases temporarily) six kinds of phthalates, chemicals found in plastics that have been linked to cancer and reproductive problems. A new Web database will be set up to air complaints, and whistleblowers will get new protections. No system can ever perfectly ensure product safety. But the new law should reduce injuries to our children.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)