There’s lots of ceremony and testimony in Washington this week about product safety. We’re glad to see all this attention on what we obviously consider a very important issue although we have to admit we wish the recent toy recalls weren’t the cause for much of the current concern.

We’ll be even happier if all this talk leads to action and substantial changes to the way the government and industry oversee the safety of the products sold in the U.S. But so far, we have some reservations about what we’ve seen this week.

For example, the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety, set up in June by President Bush after a series of food and toy recalls, issued a report early this week acknowledging that the recent recalls highlight the need for updated oversight of imported goods. The group made some general suggestions about creating a new strategic framework to monitor imports; more specifics are promised to be announced in November. We applaud this start but here’s what we’d really like to see:

• Increased inspectors at the borders. The Food and Drug Administration inspects only about one percent of the seafood and produce entering the country; the Consumer Product Safety Commission has only 15 border inspectors for the millions of consumer products it oversees.
• A requirement of independent third-party certification for imported products to make sure these goods meet U.S. standards.
• Recall authority for agencies that currently lack it, particularly the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The action continued on Tuesday when in a joint press conference, China announced its agreement with the CPSC to eliminate the use of lead paint on toys exported to the U.S. 

Huh? 

Lead paint on toys has been banned in the U.S. since 1978.  China’s agreement to recognize U.S. regulations is long overdue and should have already been in practice by Chinese manufacturers making toys for the American market. 

But that's not all. On Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, responsible for appropriations to the CPSC, held a hearing to examine toy safety and the staffing and budgetary needs of the under-funded Commission.  Acting CPSC Commissioner Nancy Nord was grilled by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) about the agency's actions in response to the many recent toy recalls.  In addition to Senate members and industry representatives, Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports also testified.  A full version of the testimony, in PDF form, can be found on CU's web site.

More on the Senate hearing
Writing in The Washington Post, columnist Dana Milbank  offers an interesting account of the Senate hearing including the fact that one of the CPSC's two commissioners, Thomas Moore, left the session to go to the dentist.

NPR's report on All Things Considered also captured some of the action.