CPSC’s Tenenbaum Offers Partnership With Makers of Children’s Products

By David Schmeltzer

Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum offered welcome news to the makers of baby cribs, toys, strollers and other children’s products recently when she asserted that her federal regulatory body will take special care to make its decisions based on science, not politics, and that she looks forward to a continued partnership with the industries she regulates. Not only will this approach affect whether companies need to make modifications to the products they have manufactured for years, but it most assuredly will impact the recall process and could make the difference between whether a manufacturer must manage a recall.

Tenenbaum, who has been at the helm of the CPSC since July, 2009, made her remarks in the keynote address of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association Summit Meeting in Washington, D.C., in mid-March.

“I come before all of you this afternoon in the spirit of partnership—a partnership aimed at restoring the confidence of parents in the products they buy and rely on for their babies and toddlers,” Tenenbaum told the JPMA Summit, which I attended with dozens of other sponsors and industry representatives. “We at the CPSC are committed to ensuring that we base our regulatory actions, including product recalls, on the science and facts related to the issues that come before us.”

JPMA Executive Director Michael Dwyer noted after Tenenbaum’s speech that manufacturers must on their own address widespread safety concerns, regulatory issues, and “the demands of today’s supermoms who want it all.” But the fact that Tenenbaum – serving in a presidential administration reputed to be cracking down unreasonably on industries and companies for regulatory infractions – is offering to partner with an industry under such great scrutiny represents an opportunity that the JPMA and its members cannot afford to miss.

As members of the JPMA well know, product safety continues to be the number one consumer issue their industry faces. Parents turn to federal regulators for protection when they feel manufacturers aren’t looking out for their well-being, or might be putting profits ahead of safety. By taking advantage of Tenenbaum’s olive branch and working openly with the CPSC to safeguard consumers and their families, the children’s products industry can greatly improve its stature over the next few years.

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