I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6468 
To provide that certain water beads products shall be considered banned 
hazardous products under section 8 of the Consumer Product Safety 
Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 21, 2023 
Mr. PALLONE (for himself, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, and Ms. PETTERSEN) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide that certain water beads products shall be consid-
ered banned hazardous products under section 8 of the 
Consumer Product Safety Act, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ban Water Beads 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CERTAIN WATER BEADS PRODUCTS CONSIDERED 
BANNED HAZARDOUS PRODUCTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—On and after the date that is 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, a water 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Nov 28, 2023
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6468.IH
H6468
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
beads product, without regard to the date of manufacture 
or importation, shall be considered a banned hazardous 
product under section 8 of the Consumer Product Safety 
Act (15 U.S.C. 2057). 
(b) ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS.—If the Consumer 
Product Safety Commission determines such action would 
eliminate or adequately reduce a risk of injury, the Com-
mission may promulgate, under section 553 of title 5, 
United States Code, regulations to carry out 1 or more 
of the following: 
(1) With respect to paragraph (1) of subsection 
(c) of this section, adding to the list of materials 
that compose a water beads product. 
(2) With respect to paragraph (2) of such sub-
section, adding to the list of products that are de-
fined as water beads products. 
(3) With respect to paragraph (3) of such sub-
section, adding to the list of product categories ap-
plicable to water beads products. 
(c) WATER BEADS PRODUCT DEFINED.—In this sec-
tion, the term ‘‘water beads product’’ means a consumer 
product that— 
(1) is composed, in whole or in part, of water- 
absorbing 
superabsorbent 
polymers, 
such 
as 
polyacrylamides and polyacrylates; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Nov 28, 2023
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6468.IH
H6468
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
(2) at the point of sale to a consumer, contains 
at least 1 individual bead that can— 
(A) fit entirely within the cylinder de-
scribed in section 1501.4 of title 16, Code of 
Federal Regulations; and 
(B) through water absorption, expand to a 
size of at least 3 millimeters (in 1 or more di-
mensions); and 
(3) is designed, intended, or marketed as— 
(A) a toy (as such term is defined in sec-
tion 3.1.91 of ASTM F963–17 (Standard Con-
sumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety), or 
any successor to such document); 
(B) educational material; or 
(C) art material or art material product 
(as such term is defined in section 23(b)(1) of 
the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (15 
U.S.C. 1277(b)(1))). 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:01 Nov 28, 2023
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H6468.IH
H6468
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB