Pennsylvania Consumer Product Recall Attorneys

Consumer Product Safety Commission

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is a federal agency mandated to protect Americans from potentially dangerous products and services. The Agency was formed in 1972 by an act of Congress. A Chairman and three Commissioners run operations. The President traditionally appoints commissioners from both parties to ensure that the Agency maintains a bipartisan "patina." However, during his second term, President George W. Bush put an individual named Michael Baroody in charge of the CPSC; given Baroody’s former role as the head of the National Association of Manufacturers, this outraged some Democrats, who charged that due to his former role, Baroody’s interests were surely conflicted.

The CPSC does not regulate all products. Other agencies, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FDA, and the NHTSA regulate (respectively) guns, pharmaceuticals & food products, and auto and truck parts. However, the CPSC does have broad regulatory authority over the design, manufacturing, and retailing of thousands of common products, from appliances to stuffed animals to hot tubs to bicycles.

The CPSC functions on a number of levels. It creates safety and regulatory standards by which manufacturers and sellers must abide. It researches potentially unsafe products. It surveys hospital emergency rooms to determine probabilistic statistics for dangers associated with medical devices and procedures (with an eye towards minimizing risks). The Agency also provides information portals (such as a 1-800 number and a website) designed specifically for U.S. consumers who want to find out unbiased information about product regulations, recalls, and safety standards.

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