Coming up on News 4 at 6:30: After manufacturers report potential hazards to the agency in charge of consumer safety, the companies largely control whether the public can see the information.
PORTLAND, Ore. - When a company learns that a product it sells could be defective and dangerous, it has 24 hours to let the federal government’s Consumer Product Safety Commission know about it.The companies keep the products’ full dangers tucked into Substantial Hazard Reports – legally required notifications - then oftentimes forbid the CPSC from making the details public.
That “Substantial Product Hazard” report includes, among other things, details of potentially dangerous incidents, including injuries and deaths associated with the product.It doesn’t define “substantial product hazard.”It doesn’t require an immediate public alert or warning.And it keeps those reports confidential.
“This provision of law is . . . potentially responsible for killing people, and that is a stark, stunning truth about our law,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal. The Connecticut Democrat is sponsoring a bill to repeal Section 6.Consumer advocates say those substantial hazard reports should be made public – especially if a product has been recalled.
IKEA Malm dressers remained on the market for nearly two years after the company submitted its substantial hazard report, records show. Section 6, which Trumka calls the “gag rule,” of the federal consumer law gives the power to the manufacturers to decide what the CPSC can publicly release or say about a product. That means that in most cases the CPSC can’t issue alerts, warnings or recalls without the consent of the manufacturers and can’t provide records under FOIA without that company review.
The companies instructed the CPSC to strip from the documents, among other things, the dates they first were notified of an issue with their products and details of injuries or deaths. Between the time the 51 product makers contacted the federal government, and a recall was agreed upon, consumers continued to unwittingly buy and use products that manufacturers and the CPSC knew could harm them.
Fisher-Price, for example, first learned of a death associated with the Rock N’ Play in 2011, federal court records show. By the winter of 2018, the death toll had grown to 14, according to what it reported to the CPSC. While friends and families showered her with gifts – including a Rock N’ Play, staff members at the CPSC were fretting over the deaths associated with the sleeper.
“She’s very long. I think that came from her father, for sure. She had really long fingers too. And I thought, ‘Oh, she’s going to play guitar. She’s going to play guitar like her dad,’” Richter said. John and Erika’s lives fell apart. They left their Washington, D.C. apartment that day and never returned. They moved to Portland, Oregon for what they hoped for a fresh start.
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