Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Whereas, on October 27, 1972, Congress passed, and President Richard Milhous Nixon signed into law, the Consumer Product Safety Act ( 15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq. Commission Whereas, for 50 years, the Commission has acted to fulfill the purposes of the Consumer Product Safety Act, which include (1) protecting the public against unreasonable risks of injury associated with consumer products, substantial product hazards, imminently hazardous consumer products, and products in violation of consumer product safety rules; (2) assisting consumers in evaluating the comparative safety of consumer products; (3) developing uniform safety standards for consumer products and minimizing conflicting State and local regulations; and (4) promoting research and investigation into the causes and prevention of product-related deaths, illnesses, and injuries; Whereas, in addition to the responsibilities of the Commission under the Consumer Product Safety Act, the Commission enforces numerous other statutes, including (1) the Federal Hazardous Substances Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1261 et seq. (2) the Flammable Fabrics Act ( 15 U.S.C. 1191 et seq. (3) the Refrigerator Safety Act ( 15 U.S.C. 12111214 (4) the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 ( 15 U.S.C. 1471 et seq. (5) the 15 U.S.C. 8001 et seq. Whereas millions of serious and fatal injuries have been prevented, saving the lives of consumers, (1) developing safety standards; (2) working with voluntary standards organizations to bring industry groups, manufacturers, and consumer groups together to establish voluntary standards; (3) removing unreasonably dangerous products from the marketplace; and (4) holding companies accountable when they fail to meet consumer product protection standards and laws; Whereas the many successes of the Commission in protecting consumers of the United States include (1) with respect to refrigerators, that (A) 96 children died due to being trapped and suffocating in refrigerators between 1973 and 1984; and (B) only 2 children reportedly died under similar circumstances in the 25 years preceding the date of adoption of this resolution; (2) with respect to garage doors, that (A) after the deaths of 46 children involving garage doors during the period of 1982 to 1990, in 1992 the Commission introduced a safety standard; and (B) there have been only 2 child deaths involving garage doors in the decade preceding the date of adoption of this resolution; (3) with respect to fires, that between 1980 and 2018 there was a 43-percent decrease in residential fires, a 47-percent decrease in fire deaths, and a 41-percent decrease in fire injuries; (4) with respect to child poisonings, that between 1972 and 2020 there was an 80-percent decline in pediatric poisonings for children under the age of 5; (5) with respect to bicycles, that (A) the bicycle safety standards developed by the Commission became effective in 1975; and (B) between 1973 and 2020, bicycle injuries in the United States declined 35 percent; and (6) with respect to pools, that between 1975 and 2019, injuries associated with in-ground swimming pools and equipment declined 55 percent; and Whereas the Commission works to meet the ongoing challenges of consumer product safety: Now, therefore, be it That the Senate (1) recognizes the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Consumer Product Safety Act ( 15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq. Commission (2) expresses appreciation for the actions of the Commission taken to protect the people of the United States from dangerous consumer products; (3) acknowledges that while the Commission has made great strides in consumer product safety, the risk of injury or death from consumer products, both new and old, remains; and (4) commits to working with the Commission in furtherance of making consumer products as safe as possible.

Summary: This resolution recognizes the 50th anniversary of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.