Volume 157, No. 120 covering the 1st Session of the 112th Congress (2011 - 2012) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“PROVIDING GREATER AUTHORITY AND DISCRETION TO CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1489 on Aug. 2, 2011.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PROVIDING GREATER AUTHORITY AND DISCRETION TO CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY
COMMISSION
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speech of
HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Monday, August 1, 2011
Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2715, a bill which places profits ahead of public health; especially the health of children. Though some flexibility in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act's implementation is warranted, this bill goes too far.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, there is no safe level of exposure to lead. Even the most minute exposures, including so-called
``trace'' amounts, have enduring health effects. Lead has many of the same chemical properties as calcium, which is why the body takes it up and deposits in the brain and in bone. However, once lead enters the brain, it doesn't leave. Commonly seen health effects of lead exposure include delays in neurological and physical development, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, lower IQ, hearing loss, reduced attention span, and extremely aggressive behavior. A growing body of research links criminal activity to exposure to lead, which stands to reason given this list of effects.
This bill provides industry with several exemptions from the law and enhances its ability to self-regulate, an approach that has already proven to fail to protect public health. First, the bill exempts all products from the lead standards contained in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act except children's products. Though children are disproportionately susceptible to lead exposure, it is a disproven myth that adults are not susceptible. Adults suffer many of the same effects which are harder to detect because there are no programs to test blood lead levels, BLL, in adults.
This bill sets forth a series of harmless-sounding criteria to be used to grant specific exemptions that facilitate exposure to lead. If a company decides it wants to manufacture a product that can only be made with dangerous amounts of lead, that is now perfectly acceptable. In exchange, that company would need to show that the product is unlikely to be eaten, even though most lead exposure actually occurs through habitual hand-to-mouth activity after hands come into unwitting contact with the vast array of consumer products that contain lead. That company would also need to show that blood lead levels--of children only--would not be affected. That is not a difficult hurdle since blood only remains in the body for about two weeks before it is expelled or taken up into the brain or bone, where it is nearly impossible to detect.
This bill also gives manufacturers the ability to initiate a petition to exempt their products, without any way to prevent the well-worn tactic of applying for so many exemptions, and submitting so much information, much of which is meaningless, that the agency is effectively paralyzed with work. Worse, the bill allows the CPSC to make decisions about exemptions based solely on information submitted by the manufacturer. It is an inherent conflict of interest to turn over the burden of proof of harm to the company that stands to profit handsomely if no harm is proven. Citizens, advocates, and the CPSC do not have the resources to be able to generate enough information arguing against exemptions to match the volume of applications and information the manufacturers will put out. Chemical companies have been using this tactic for decades to push toxic chemicals through the approval process.
The bill also contains blanket exemptions for narrow interests like off-road vehicles, bicycles, books, and magazines, even though the products are meant for children and most Americans would be surprised to learn that they contain lead at all.
There is a balance to be struck between unnecessarily burdensome regulations and protection of public health. This bill fails to strike that balance.
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