Sunday, August 30, 2009  CPSIA - A Rich Irony, Courtesy of the
CPSC  As you probably know by now, Mattel won approval from the
CPSC for its seven proprietary overseas labs to conduct official
and certified safety tests under the CPSIA. The AP recently
reported on this decision, and noted that the approval was
seemingly secret, as it was absent from the CPSC website and was
not announced by press release. For the first time in recent
times, I found myself agreeing with a consumer advocate on a
safety issue (Mike Green was quoted in the article noting the
irony of this approval). The AP article generated a firestorm of
commentary, such as the angry post of Holly Jahangiri on
Mattel, of course, lobbied to include this cost-saving provision
in the new law. I have known of its existence for quite some
time, and yes, it always stunk. Mattel is largely individually
responsible for the maelstrom that spawned the CPSIA. How lovely
that Congress saw the "logic" of making things a bit easier for
them. To heck with Smal