Child product safety laws
Child product safety laws are a series of regulations designed to protect children from hazardous consumer products. These laws emerged prominently in the 1970s, beginning with the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970, which aimed to ensure that hazardous household products were packaged in a manner that prevents children from accidental ingestion. The establishment of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1972 marked a significant advancement in child safety, providing the authority to set mandatory safety standards and oversee recalls of unsafe products.
Over the years, various acts have been amended to enhance child safety, including regulations on flammable fabrics for children's sleepwear and the prohibition of lead-based paint in toys. The CPSC also implemented specific safety standards for a wide range of children's products, including cribs, high chairs, and toys, emphasizing features that prevent choking hazards, electric shocks, and injuries from sharp edges.
The impact of these laws has been significant, with notable reductions in poisoning deaths among young children and fatalities related to cribs and hazardous toys. Such comprehensive regulations reflect an ongoing commitment to ensuring the safety of children in their everyday environments.
Child product safety laws
Legislative acts designed to safeguard children from unreasonable product risks
Fueled by activist Ralph Nader and consumer advocacy groups, a new era of consumerism reached its peak in the early 1970’s, spawning the passage of several key consumer protection statutes that led to substantial reductions in injuries and deaths among children.
The first consumer product legislation of the 1970’s to address children’s safety was the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970, which required child-resistant packaging of hazardous household products, including medications, in order to prevent children from ingesting those substances. The Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972, a landmark all-inclusive consumer protection statute, established the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an independent federal agency authorized to issue mandatory, industrywide standards and to ban or order recalls of unsafe products.
Children drew a sizable amount of the CPSC’s attention and resources, prompting a host of amendments to existing statutes. The Flammable Fabrics Act of 1953, which mandated rigid test methods for flammable fabrics, was amended in the 1970’s in order to ban the use of cotton in children’s sleepwear sizes zero to fourteen, requiring that all children’s sleepwear instead be made from flame-resistant material. The Lead-Based Paint Poison Prevention Act of of 1971, which prohibited the application of lead-based paint in cooking, drinking, and eating utensils, was amended by the CPSC to ban its use in toys and furniture as well. To prevent low-level lead poisoning among children, the commission banned paint containing more than 0.06 percent lead. The Federal Hazardous Substances Act of 1960, which required warning labels on hazardous household chemical products, was expanded in the 1970’s to prohibit the use of harmful chemicals in a multitude of toys and other children’s articles.
Additionally, the CPSC implemented standards for child-related products from high chairs to skateboards to swimming pool slides. Standards were set for baby cribs, requiring that slats be no more than 2 3/8 inches apart, and for baby walkers, prohibiting exposed parts that can injure fingers or toes. Regulations specified that baby rattles and pacifiers be large enough to prevent choking. Toys in general for children under eight years old were to have no sharp points or edges; electronically operated toys were to be designed to prevent electric shock and burn injuries. Bicycle standards called for reflectors, reliable brakes, pedals with treads, and many other safety features.
Impact
In 1973, growing concern for child safety yielded the Toy Safety Hot Line, a public service that answers hundreds of thousands of calls every year. CPSC studies indicated that child-resistant packaging of hazardous products, coupled with the establishment of poison control centers and public awareness of poison prevention measures, has helped to reduce poisoning deaths in children under five years of age from 216 in 1972 to only 28 in 2000, an 87 percent reduction. Crib-related deaths decreased from 200 in 1973 to 20 in 2000, a 90 percent reduction. Similarly, injuries and deaths from flammable sleepwear, lead-based paint, and hazardous toys declined remarkably since the 1970’s.
Bibliography
Brobeck, Stephen, and Anne C. Averyt. The Product Safety Book. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1983.
Gordon, Sandra, and the editors of Consumer Reports, eds. “Consumer Reports” Best Baby Products. New York: Consumer Reports Books, 2004.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. http://www.cpsc.gov.